FlaLaw » Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law

Friday’s Dunwody Lecture examines Supreme Court’s Affordable Care Act decision

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:41:42 +0000

By Matt Walker
Senior writer

A leading legal expert from Georgetown University Law Center will discuss the implications of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, during the 32^nd annual Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

Randy Barnett, the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at the Georgetown University Law Center, will present the lecture, “Who Won the Obamacare Case (and Why Did So Many Law Professors Miss the Boat)?” Friday at 10 a.m.in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center. The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Florida Law Review.

Barnett has written and commented extensively on the Affordable Care Act and represented the National Federal of Independent Businesses as their case against the ACA was presented before the Supreme Court last spring. In addition to discussing the decision’s general implications, Barnett will look at fundamental misunderstandings he perceives among the legal academic community regarding the decision’s import. Barnett’s lecture precedes an article of the same name to be published in an upcoming edition of the Florida Law Review.

Randy Barnett

The Florida Law Review Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law series was established by the U.S. Sugar Corporation and the law firms of Dunwody, White, & Landon, P.A. and Mershon, Sawyer, Johnston, Dunwody & Cole in honor of Elliot (JD 33) and Atwood Dunwody (JD 33). The honorees were brothers who dedicated their lives to the legal profession and who set a standard of excellence for The Florida Bar. As graduates of the University of Florida College of Law, they labored long, continuously and quietly to better the social and economic conditions in Florida.

The series is intended to perpetuate the example set by the Dunwody brothers by providing a forum for renowned legal scholars to present novel and challenging ideas.

An archived video of the Dunwody Lecture will be available at www.floridalawreview.com following the event.

Supreme Court’s Affordable Care Act decision to be examined at Dunwody Lecture

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:07:02 +0000

By Matt Walker
Senior writer

Randy Barnett, the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at the Georgetown University Law Center, will present the lecture, “Who Won the Obamacare Case (and Why Did So Many Law Professors Miss the Boat)?” Friday, March 22, at 10 a.m.in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center. The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Florida Law Review.

The series is intended to perpetuate the example set by the Dunwody brothers by providing a forum for renowned legal scholars to present novel and challenging ideas.

An archived video of the Dunwody Lecture will be available at www.floridalawreview.com following the event.

News Briefs: Feb. 18, 2013

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 15:52:55 +0000

LIC Notes: Honoring Lawton Chiles: Walkin’ Lawton by John Dos Passos Coggin

Walkin’ Lawton is an in-depth biography of the late Gov. Lawton Chiles (JD 55). Author John Dos Passos Coggin conducted more than 100 interviews with Chiles’s family, friends, and coworkers, and also utilized a wide variety of news sources, political papers, and even the governor’s own progress reports from his 1,000-mile walk. A full review of Walkin’ Lawton has been published by the Tampa Bay Times and is available online at http://www.tampabay.com/features/books/review-john-dos-passos-coggins-new-biography-focuses-on-walkin-lawton/1271175.

The Legal Information Center has two copies of the book, which may be requested through its online catalog.

Sixth annual Wolf Family Lecture March 13

The topic of the sixth annual Wolf Family Lecture on the American Law of Real Property on March 13 at 11 a.m. in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center is “Property Law and the Rise, Life, and Demise of Racially Restrictive Coveneants.” The lecture will feature Carol Rose, the Gordon Bradford Tweedy Professor Emeritus of Law and Organization and Professorial Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School.

The lecture is free and open to the law school community and general public.

The Wolf Family Lecture Series was endowed by a gift from UF Law Professor Michael Allan Wolf, who holds the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, and his wife, Betty.

Past scholars who have delivered the Wolf Family Lecture in the American Law of Real Property include Thomas W. Merrill, Charles Evans Hughes Professor of Law at Columbia Law School; Gregory S. Alexander, A. Robert Noll Professor of Law at Cornell Law School; Lee Fennel, Max Pam Professor of Law at the University of Chicago; Joseph William Singer, Bussey Professor of Law at the Harvard Law School; and Vicki L. Been, Boxer Family Professor of Law and director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University School of Law.

UF Journal of Law and Public Policy hosts symposium on media law on March 14

Should false statements of fact be protected under the First Amendment? That was the question at issue in United States v. Alvarez, a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court case overturning the Stolen Valor Act, which attempted to criminalize individuals for lying about receiving a military medal. More recently, however, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a new version of the Stolen Valor Act, creating penalties for individuals who lie about receiving military medals and who profit from the deception.

This is the topic of the 2013 Journal of Law and Public Policy’s Annual Symposium, which will be hosted March 14 in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center at the UF Levin College of Law. Panelists include UF Law Professor Lyrissa Lidsky, attorney Craig D. Feiser and Colonel Michael L. Smidt, staff judge advocate of U.S. Special Operations Command.

The event will begin with a reception at 11:30 a.m., a panel discussion at noon and a question-and-answer session. It will be open to students, professors and practitioners.

Come and hear what these experienced professionals have to say on this controversial issue. CLE credit will be offered. Click here for more information on the symposium or here for more information on JLPP.

Dean hosts Music Night March 17

Got a hidden musical talent? Show it off at the upcoming Music Night 2013 to be held Sunday, March 17, at 7 p.m. at the home of Dean Robert Jerry and his wife, Lisa. All students and faculty are invited – but the “ticket” to attend is that you must bring a dessert and agree to perform a musical piece (play an instrument or sing a song). A piano will be available. Each participant can bring one guest. Space is limited, so sign up is on a first-come, first-serve basis. To register, stop by the Dean’s Office and see Doris Perron.

CSRRR spring lecture, panel examines Trayvon Martin case on March 20

The Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations’ 10th annual Spring Lecture & Panel Discussions, “At Close Range: The Curious Case of Trayvon Martin,” will feature New York Times visual op-ed columnist Charles Blow. The event is March 20 in the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom, HOL 180.

Participants include UF faculty and graduate students from history, journalism, African-American studies, sociology, anthropology, law, education, political science, English, philosophy and health services research. Panelists will discuss a range of topics including racial bias and media perspectives and they will recommend policy changes.

Blow joined The New York Times in 1994 as a graphics editor and quickly became the paper’s graphics director, a position he held for nine years. Blow went on to become the paper’s design director for news before leaving in 2006 to become the art director of National Geographic Magazine.

Blow often appears on CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight, Starting Point and AC360. He has also appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, the Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell and Hardball with Chris Matthews, Headline News’ The Joy Behar show, Fox News’ Fox and Friends, the BBC and Al Jazeera, as well as numerous radio programs.

32nd Annual Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law

The Florida Law Review welcomes Professor Randy Barnett as the 32nd Annual Dunwody Distinguished Lecturer in Law. Barnett, the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at the Georgetown University Law Center, will discuss the recent United States Supreme Court decision upholding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at 10 a.m. on Friday, March 22, in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Barnett has written and commented extensively on the Affordable Care Act and represented the National Federal of Independent Businesses as its case against the ACA was presented before the Supreme Court last spring. Barnett will discuss the general implications of the court’s landmark decision, as well as fundamental misunderstandings he perceives among the legal academic community regarding the decision’s import. Barnett’s lecture, “Who Won the Obamacare Case (and Why Did So Many Law Professors Miss the Boat)?” precedes an article of the same name to be published in an upcoming edition of the Florida Law Review.

For additional information, contact the Florida Law Review at www.FloridaLawReview.com or 352-273-0670.

Electronic Discovery for the Small and Medium Case April 4-5

The University of Florida Levin College of Law and Electronic Discovery Reference Model are pleased to announce the first-of-its-kind conference devoted to “Electronic Discovery for the Small and Medium Case.” The conference will be held April 4 and 5, 2013, at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and will be broadcast live. Students may view the webcasts free of charge.

The conference will focus on solutions to the difficulties, issues, and decisions that attorneys face in competently and cost-effectively handling e-discovery in small and medium cases. The conference will feature demonstrations of a new generation of right-sized e-discovery software and tools for each phase of the e-discovery process in small and medium sized cases and include starter e-discovery toolkits for each in-person attendee.

The toolkits will contain trial licenses for e-discovery software used to preserve and collect electronically stored information (ESI) from desktops to the web; convert collected ESI to usable forms; perform rapid, powerful searches; and facilitate production of relevant, responsive ESI. Representatives from AccessData, Catalyst, Digital WarRoom, iConect, kCura, LexisNexis Litigation Solutions, Nuix, Pinpoint Labs, X1 Discovery and others will be on hand to demonstrate the ease and accessibility of their products – helping attendees test-drive their toolkits.

Online attendees will receive a limited version of the e-discovery toolkit; for the full toolkit you must attend in person.

Whether you attend in person or watch the live stream, don’t miss this chance to learn how to translate e-discovery challenges into a winning strategies.

For more information:

News Briefs: Feb. 11, 2013

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:04:59 +0000

UF LGBT Affairs’ Gator Allies program at UF Law on Wednesday

The Diversity and Community Relations Committee and OUTLaw (UF Law’s gay-straight alliance) are pleased to announce that Lauren Hannahs, director of LGBT Affairs at UF, will present the Gator Allies program at UF Law on Wednesday at noon in HOL 345. All are welcome.

Gator Allies is an educational opportunity offered by LGBT Affairs that focuses on relevant issues that affect the LGBTQ community, while offering the opportunity to engage with the question: what does it mean to be an ally to the LGBTQ community?

The Gator Allies program is designed to provide participants with:

Increased awareness and understanding of current LGBTQ issues, and LGBT history
Further understanding of heteronormativity and homophobia and how it affects everyone (not just LGBTQ people)
Further understanding of what it means to be an ally to the LGBTQ community
Skills and resources in being an ally across multiple contexts and communities

LIC Notes: vLex: A World of Information – with Translations

vLex is a database that provides access to current legal materials for 129 countries. While the exact materials available on vLex vary by country, they often include case law, legislation, regulations, gazettes, constitutions, legal books, journals and news coverage. Materials provided are generally in the official language of the country. vLex is able to automatically generate unofficial translations into 12 language options, including English.

The UF Legal Information Center provides access to vLex to UF faculty, staff, students, and UF Libraries visitors. The vLex link is located on our webpage under Foreign & Comparative Law Research: http://www.law.ufl.edu/library/library-information/find-a-database

If you are a UF faculty or staff member or a student and would like to access this database from home, you will need to follow our remote access procedures first.

Sixth annual Wolf Family Lecture March 13

The Wolf Family Lecture Series was endowed by a gift from UF Law Professor Michael Allan Wolf, who holds the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, and his wife, Betty.

Dean hosts Music Night March 17

Got a hidden musical talent? Show it off at the upcoming Music Night 2013 to be held Sunday, March 17, at 7 p.m. at the home of Dean Bob Jerry and his wife, Lisa. All students and faculty are invited – but the “ticket” to attend is that you must bring a dessert and agree to perform a musical piece (play an instrument or sing a song). A piano will be available. Each participant can bring one guest. Space is limited, so sign up is on a first-come, first-serve basis. To register, stop by the Dean’s Office and see Doris Perron.

CSRRR spring lecture, panel examines Trayvon Martin case on March 20

32nd Annual Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law

Barnett has written and commented extensively on the Affordable Care Act and represented the National Federal of Independent Businesses as their case against the ACA was presented before the Supreme Court last spring. Barnett will discuss the general implications of the court’s landmark decision, as well as fundamental misunderstandings he perceives among the legal academic community regarding the decision’s import. Barnett’s lecture, “Who Won the Obamacare Case (and Why Did So Many Law Professors Miss the Boat)?” precedes an article of the same name to be published in an upcoming edition of the Florida Law Review.

For additional information, contact the Florida Law Review at www.FloridaLawReview.com or 352-273-0670.

Electronic Discovery for the Small and Medium Case April 4-5

The University of Florida Levin College of Law and Electronic Discovery Reference Model are pleased to announce the first-of-its-kind conference devoted to “Electronic Discovery for the Small and Medium Case.” The conference will be held April 4 and 5, 2013, at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and also will be broadcast live. Students may view the webcasts free of charge.

For more information:

News Briefs: Feb. 4, 2013

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:42:45 +0000

LIC Notes: Proposed Florida Constitutional Amendment: A full-time legislature

On Jan. 29, Florida Sen. Jeff Clemens submitted a proposed amendment for the State Constitution. He recommends that rather than a 60-day regular legislative session, the Florida Legislature should meet year-round. A summary of Clemens’ plans can be found in the news story by Michael Peltier published in the Jax Daily Record on Jan. 30, 2013, http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=538647

The text of the proposed amendment is available at: http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2013/0512/BillText/Filed/PDF

Dean hosts Music Night March 17

32nd Annual Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law

Barnett has written and commented extensively on the Affordable Care Act and represented the National Federal of Independent Businesses as their case against the ACA was presented before the Supreme Court last spring. Barnett will discuss the general implications of the court’s landmark decision, as well as fundamental misunderstandings he perceives among the legal academic community regarding the decision’s import. Barnett’s lecture, “Who Won the Obamacare Case (and Why Did So Many Law Professors Miss the Boat)?” precedes an article of the same name to be published in an upcoming edition of the Florida Law Review.

For additional information, contact the Florida Law Review at www.FloridaLawReview.com or 352-273-0670.

Electronic Discovery for the Small and Medium Case April 4-5

For more information:

Renowned scholar discusses Wall Street Reform Act at 30th Dunwody Lecture

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 19:56:52 +0000

Renowned scholar Richard A. Epstein, the inaugural Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at New York University Law School, spoke to more than 100 guests March 25 at the 30th Annual Florida Law Review Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law. (Photo by Vincent Massaro)

By Margaret Rowell Good
Special to FlaLaw

A handful of judges, alumni of the Florida Law Review, law school professors and students filled the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom at the University of Florida Levin College of Law to hear one of the nation’s preeminent Law and Economics scholars give a lively and entertaining lecture on the Wall Street Reform Act.

Epstein, prior to joining the faculty at NYU, was the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago. Epstein has also served as the Peter and Kirstin Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution since 2000.

Although the lecture was entitled “The Constitutionality of the Wall Street Reform Act,” Epstein admitted that he had not read the entire “sprawling conglomeration of multiple provisions” and proposed instead that he discuss one section of the Act, a subject “dear to the hearts of everybody (at the lecture)” – debit interchange rates.

Section 1075, commonly known as the Durbin Amendment, is the only section of the Act that has been subject to constitutional scrutiny.

Epstein is a member of the legal team representing TCF Financial Corporation, the bank bringing the constitutional challenge. The case is scheduled for an injunction hearing in federal district court today in Sioux Falls, S.D. As the leading academic spokesman in support of a more vigorous interpretation of the property clauses of the Constitution, Epstein discussed the confiscatory nature of Section 1075, which deals with the debit card interchange system.

Through Section 1075, which was passed into law in July 2010, the Federal Reserve gained regulatory control over the fees that banks charge businesses when customers use debit cards. Walgreens initially lobbied for the Amendment, which would relieve retail businesses of some of the transactional fees charged in debit card transactions.

Epstein noted that in the last five or six years, debit card revenues have exceeded credit card revenues and debit card usage has continued to grow. Although Epstein would take that as a sign of a robust and thriving market, this is not the inference that Walgreens and Sen. Dick Durbin made. According to Epstein in this “topsy turvy economy and economic theory that we have today, the greater your level of success, the greater exploitation you have committed against the unsuspecting.”

The Federal Reserve, as the agency responsible for implementing the Durbin Amendment, will require the debit interchange fees be reduced by about 75 to 90 percent. As an example, Epstein explained that for a bank like TCF, with overall profits of $200 million, “the loss of interchange fees is about $80 million, which means that your profits go down to 20 percent of what they previously were.”

The government argues that banks can make up for the interchange loss by imposing higher fees on their retail customers, who, in theory, should be paying less for consumer items because of the transaction fee regulation. Epstein believes that this compensation is not sufficient, and hence the action constitutes a regulatory taking. As Epstein noted, “Nobody would ever say, in a case of land, that if you took a plot of land worth $1 million, it was OK because you gave somebody the right to lease a another plot of land from which you would get $10 even. The fact that there is an existence of a right to get some money as opposed to the full and perfect equivalent of what you’ve lost, which is the constitutional standard” is insufficient.

The Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law was established by the law firms of Dunwody, White and Landon, P.A. and Mershon, Sawyer, Johnston, Dunwody and Cole and the U.S. Sugar Corporation in honor of Elliot and Atwood Dunwody.