Leonard L. Riskin
Chesterfield Smith Professor of Law

• Published “The Place of Mindfulness in Healing and the Law,” in Shifting The Field of Law & Justice 99-120, Center for Law and Renewal (Linda Hager, Bonnie Allen & Renee Floyd Meyers, eds) (2007).
• Made a panel presentation on “Accessing our Inner Awareness and Intentions to Improve Conflict Resolution Practice: The Practical Role of Inner Work” at the Association for Conflict Resolution Conference in Phoenix.
• Gave a luncheon address on “Awareness and Ethics in Dispute Resolution” at a conference on Ethics in Dispute Resolution at South Texas College of Law.
• Served as a commentator (by telephone) at a conference on Buddhism and Dialogue, sponsored by the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

Elizabeth A. Rowe
Assistant Professor

• Participated as a member of a panel at the International Trademark Association’s meeting in Orlando on November 9th on teaching trademark law.

Christopher Slobogin
Stephen C. O’Connell Chair; Affiliate Professor of Psychiatry; Adjunct Professor, University of South Florida Mental Health Institute; Associate Director, Center for Children and Families

• His book, Privacy at Risk: The New Government Surveillance and the Fourth Amendment, was published by the University of Chicago Press.

UF Law Faculty in the News

Jon L. Mills
Professor; Director of Center for Governmental Responsibility; Dean Emeritus

• Houston Chronicle, Nov. 9. Appeared in an article discussing his backing of legislative leaders who say any gambling deal with the Seminole Indians must have the Legislature’s approval. He prepared the opinion at the request of House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami. Rubio is against allowing the Seminoles to have anything more than Class III slots. The article concluded with Mills saying the federal law is silent on who should negotiate such compacts on behalf of states, but the Florida Constitution gives the Legislature, not the governor, the power to “make fundamental determinations of policy.”
• Palm Beach Post, Nov. 15. Served as a Florida legal expert in an article about Gov. Charlie Crist signing an agreement with the Seminole Tribe of Florida today allowing the Indians to conduct Las Vegas-style slot machine gambling and card games, including blackjack, at the tribe’s seven casinos. Issued in a press release by House Speaker Marco Rubio, “Mills advised that any gambling compact between the state and the Seminole Tribe is invalid without legislative ratification.”

Kenneth B. Nunn
Professor; Associate Director, Center on Children and Families

• Tallahassee Democrat, Nov. 10. Quoted in the article discussing the racial composition of the jurors in the trial of eight former Bay County boot camp employees who were found not guilty of felony aggravated manslaughter of a child in the death of Martin Lee Anderson, who died Jan. 6, 2006, one day after he was hit, kneed and his limp body dragged by drill instructors at the camp. Anderson was black; five defendants were white, two black and one Asian. When jury selection ended Sept. 26, no blacks were on the panel. Civil rights advocates say jury selection is a focus of an ongoing federal civil rights investigation. On whether a racially diverse jury have mattered, Nunn said, “People from different cultural backgrounds will interpret the video differently, depending on the race of people in the video. There is a cultural bias in all of us.”

• Presented a talk titled “The Challenge of Protecting Trade Secret Information in a Digital World,” at a conference at the George Washington School of Law on Sept. 28.

Christopher Slobogin
Stephen C. O’Connell Chair; Affiliate Professor of Psychiatry; Adjunct Professor, University of South Florida Mental Health Institute; Associate Director, Center for Children and Families

• His article, “The Supreme Court’s Recent Criminal Mental Health Cases: Rulings of Questionable Competence” was the lead piece in the October issue of the ABA’s Criminal Justice Magazine.

UF Law Faculty in the News

Kenneth B. Nunn
Professor; Associate Director, Center on Children and Families

• ABCNews.com, Sept. 27. Quoted in article discussing the nationwide support and protests of the Jena Six students. Many experts were interviewed by ABC regarding the racial divide and punishments associated with both the white and black students. Regarding the level of bias in the system, Nunn said, “Do we have a criminal justice system that mistreats people on the basis of race? No. The principle is not the issue, but the practical application [of law] is where you see the problems.” The public at large basically thinks that these cases are aberrations, Nunn said, and that’s one reason why so much attention is paid to them. “It’s the idea that it’s the redneck sheriff doing this and not the way we sort of stack the odds against black criminal defendants. We can point to a few bad apples, say, ‘See, it’s them,’ and the rest of us feel great because we’re demonstrating how we disagree with racism.”

Christopher Slobogin
Stephen C. O’Connell Chair; Affiliate Professor of Psychiatry; Adjunct Professor, University of South Florida Mental Health Institute; Associate Director, Center for Children and Families

• St. Petersburg Times, Sept. 28. Quoted in a story on what the paper called the “swift but cautious” investigation of a city council member accused of sexualy abusing one of his adopted daughters, which included a phone call from the police chief to the mayor informing him of the allegations. Slobogin said it is unusual that the police chief informed the mayor of a criminal investigation, but if no details of the allegations were shared, he said it would do little harm. “The fact that this guy (Baker) was kind of his boss, muddies the waters a bit,” Slobogin said.

Barbara Bennett Woodhouse
David H. Levin Chair in Family Law; Professor; Director, Center on Children and Families and Family Law Certificate Program; Co-Director, Institute for Child and Adolescent Research and Evaluation (ICARE)

• Miami Herald, Sept. 28. Quoted in an article discussing a custody battle over a five-year-old Cuban girl and the recent ruling . Woodhouse said that a ruling in favor of the Cubas family could help propel Florida closer to other states that emphasize children’s interests over birth parents’ rights. “When there is a serious detriment to the child, that should be taken into account,” Woodhouse said. “You can’t treat a child like a piece of property. . . . Let’s not just look at blood. Let’s look at actions, conduct.”

• The Christian Science Monitor, Sept. 21. Quoted in an online article written about the recent questions of bias in U.S. justice regarding the “Jena 6″ case in Louisiana. “The public at large basically thinks that these cases are aberrations, and that’s one reason why so much attention is paid to them,” Nunn said. “It’s the idea that it’s the redneck sheriff doing this and not the way we sort of stack the odds against black criminal defendants. We can point to a few bad apples, say, ‘See, it’s them,’ and the rest of us feel great because we’re demonstrating how we disagree with racism.” The article concluded with Nunn verbalizing his underlying belief with the criminal justice system, “The problem in the criminal justice system is the problem generally with the law. You always have great leaps forward and tiny steps backward.”

Christopher Slobogin
Stephen C. O’Connell Chair; Affiliate Professor of Psychiatry; Adjunct Professor, University of South Florida Mental Health Institute; Associate Director, Center for Children and Families

• The Gainesville Sun, Sept. 20. Quoted in an article discussing his recent presentation about the Constitution and surveillance by the U.S. government. Slobogin discussed his three classifications of surveillance, the impact 9/11 has had on our privacy and how the government is eroding the 4th Amendment. “The Fourth Amendment, I think, requires the government to act reasonable,” he said. “(Ultimately), if the government wants to prosecute someone, it probably can.”
• The Independent Florida Alligator, Sept. 20. Quoted in an article discussing the presentation he delivered on government surveillance. Slobogin said, “The government should have to provide a justification for surveillance that’s proportionate to the intrusion involved. As far as the constitution is concerned, there is virtually no limit on what the government can do outside of intercepting domestic communication.”