“Blood-alcohol tests under fire in DUI cases” (March 11, 2012, Orlando Sentinel)

An Orlando woman suffered mental and physical injuries after her vehicle was struck by a woman charged with drunk driving. Defense attorneys are attempting to have the driver’s blood alcohol test dismissed. Dekle commented on the issue.

From the article:
Emboldened by the success they’ve found in quashing breath-test results, defense attorneys may be looking to employ the challenges in more cases, said longtime prosecutor Bob Dekle of the University of Florida School of Law.

“A defense attorney is going to attack the evidence even if it came down from Mount Sinai on two tablets written by the hand of God,” Dekle said. “That is what they do.”

But if there is a trend of increasing success for defense attorneys, he said it’s likely because DUI prosecutors are among the least-experienced in the State Attorney’s Office.

“They quite frequently confront the big guns: the most experienced, highly prestigious defense attorneys,” he said.

Lea Johnston
Assistant Professor of Law

Johnston’s article “Theorizing Mental Health Courts” was published by the Washington University Law Review. Johnston also presented her current work in progress, titled “Vulnerability and Desert: A Theory of Sentencing the Mentally Ill” to faculty at the University of Georgia.

Shani King
Co-Director, Center on Children and Families; Associate Professor of Law

Professors Ruiz and King presented “Essential Ethics for Advocates: Avoiding the Unauthorized Practice of Law” at The Annual COPAA (Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates) in Miami on March 10.

Lyrissa Lidsky
Stephen C. O’Connell Chair & Professor of Law

“Cincinnati Engineer Sued for Tweet: Do You Fact Check your Tweets?” (March 8, 2012, The Take Away)

In this radio interview, Lidsky was part of a conversation about a Cincinnati man who was sued for making false statements via Twitter about taxpayer money being used for a new municipal project. The lawsuit was dropped when it was ruled the man wasn’t lying. Lidsky said the question here is whether the government could punish someone whose lies aren’t directly harming an individual.

Elizabeth A. Rowe
Professor of Law; Director, Program in Intellectual Property Law

On Feb. 28 Rowe delivered a lecture on the “Basic Principles of Patent Law” to United Nations diplomats at the World Intellectual Property Organization in New York.

Daniel Sokol
Associate Professor of Law

“Apple’s market clout likely to draw more scrutiny” (March 12, 2012, Associated Press)

The U.S. Justice Department is considering filing a lawsuit against Apple based on evidence of the company working with five publishing companies in a scheme to raise the price of electronic books. Sokol commented on why Apple might not have had as much scrutiny in the past as companies such as Microsoft and Google.

From the article:
Apple may simply behave better than some of its rivals, or it may be doing business in areas that are so new that government regulators are still learning how those nascent markets function, says D. Daniel Sokol, an associate law professor who focuses on antitrust issues at the University of Florida.

“To attract antitrust attention, you have to be more than just big. You have to be big and bad,” Sokol says. “It was only 2007 when Apple released the iPhone, and only 2010 when it released the iPad. The company hasn’t had that long to be bad yet, if it is indeed bad.”

Presented “Promoting Agricultural Production, Healthy Communities and Biodiversity through Ecoagriculture” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Fletcher Baldwin

Presented a paper titled, “The rule of law: an essential component of the financial war against organized crime and terrorism in the Americas, Uruguay round,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Commented on the panel, “Financial Crime & Street Crime,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Elizabeth Dale

Commented on the panel, “The Intersection of Law & Society with Public Labor and Employment Law,” and she presented a paper at a panel (which she organized), “Deploying History: Uses of the Past in Constitutional Discourse, Comparative Studies,” at the Law and Society Association conference in Chicago in May.

Nancy Dowd

Dowd made presentations on masculinities and feminist theory at two conferences in March at Harvard Law School and the Center for Applied Feminism at the University of Baltimore Law School.

Joan Flocks

Co-authored a paper titled, “The Role of Employers and Supervisors in Promoting Pesticide Safety Behavior among Florida Farmworkers,” which was published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 53(8):814-824, 2010. Flocks was also one of six invited reviewers nationwide for a report by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, “Assessing the Effects of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill on Human Health” which came out of a June 2010 meeting and is currently available for free in prepublication at http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12949.

Commented on the panel, “Comparative Perspectives on the Environmental/Human Rights Link in the Americas,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Berta Hernandez-Truyol

Commented on the panel, “Comparative Perspectives on the Environmental/Human Rights Link in the Americas,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Lea Johnston

Johnston presented “Wrestling with the Problem: Exploring the Promise of Social Problem-Solving Theory for Representational Competence,” at the American Psychology-Law Society Annual Conference in March, and presented her current work-in-progress, “Mental Health Courts: Theoretical and Empirical Deficiencies,” at the SEALS new scholars workshop in early August.

Pedro Malavet

Presented a paper titled, “Comparative Law as Looking Glass: What Foreign Legal Systems Can Teach us About Ours,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Martin McMahon

Published “Living with the Codified Economic Substance Doctrine” in 128 Tax Notes 731 (Aug. 16, 2010).

Timothy McLendon

Presented “Eco-Constitutionalism: Authority or mandate? Florida’s awkward experience” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Commented on the panel, “Agro-Ranching and the Environment,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Jon Mills

Commented on the panel, “Emerging Legal Issues in Uruguay and the Americas,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Stephen Powell

Presented a paper titled, “Managing the rule of law in the Americas: an empirical portrait of the effects of 15 years of WTO dispute resolution on civil society in Latin America,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Commented on the panel, “Trade, Business, and Dispute Settlement,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Michael T. Olexa

Presented a paper titled, “Chemicals, Cosmetics, and Consumers,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Don Peters

Presented a paper titled, “It Takes Two to Tango, and to Mediate: Legal Cultural and other Factors influencing United States and Latin American Lawyers’ Reluctance to Mediate Commercial Disputes,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Leonard Riskin

Presented “Finding the Appropriate Problem Definition in Mediation” at the Annual Symposium on Dispute Resolution in the Courts in April.

Danny Sokol

Sokol was announced as the series co-editor of the new series “Global Competition Law and Economics,” to be published by Stanford University Press. He has also been appointed as one of the members of the editorial advisory board for the “Antitrust Chronicle,” a publication of Competition Policy International.

Jeff Wade

Commented on the panel, “Agro-Ranching and the Environment,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

At the mention of her clerkship, Johnston’s face immediately lights up to discuss the experience she calls “second only to teaching.”

“Clerking was invigorating, and uncovered my insatiable curiosity about a variety of legal topics,” Johnston says of her experience and added, “I developed a strong relationship with Judge Tallman and my co-clerks, and these relationships continue to this day.”

Johnston cites under-representation of Levin College of Law alumni in clerking positions as a primary reason for encouraging students to apply for judicial clerkships.

“The Levin College of Law is the best law school in Florida, and one of the best schools in the southeast, [so we] should be sending more students [into clerkships],” Johnston explained.

To this end, the dean appointed a Judicial Clerkship Committee, consisting of members of the administration and faculty. The committee has launched several initiatives aimed at increasing the number of students who apply for clerkships and promoting the candidacies of UF Law students.

One new resource available in the Center for Career Development for students wishing to apply for a judicial clerkship is a database of past and present clerks who are alumni, which gives students considering clerking the chance to benefit from the experience and advice of a past or present clerks and make better-informed decisions about applying.

Concerning the timeline for students who wish to serve in a judicial clerkship immediately following graduation from law school, Johnston advised that, ideally, first-year students would take steps with clerking in mind, such as getting to know professors, writing for a journal, and selecting classes that could be useful. Then, during the spring of a law student’s second year, he or she should contact faculty for letters of recommendation, choose a writing sample, and ensure that all documents to be included in the application packet are completely devoid of spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors.

Johnston stated that, as a clerk, she stopped considering a candidate if his or her resume contained any inconsistencies or errors in punctuation. She also advised that students requesting letters of recommendation from faculty members consider providing them with a one- or two-page statement of interest explaining why he or she wishes to clerk so that they have the information needed to write a more personal and compelling letter.

Johnston also stressed that law students who may not have an excellent academic record or journal experience may still be competitive candidates for judicial clerkships after a year or two of work experience. The Center for Career Development continues to work with graduates interested in clerkships and the CCD encourages graduates to contact them when they wish to begin their judicial clerkship search.

“Judicial clerkships offer a unique opportunity to assist in administering the law, engage in a close relationship with a judge, develop writing and litigation skills, and gain an impressive credential that can open professional doors. ,” said Johnston. “I encourage all students with a strong academic background to consider applying to clerk for a federal or state judge.”

UF Law Assistant Dean for Career Development Linda Calvert Hanson added that “a judicial externship provides an ideal way to gain an inside perspective.”

Students interested in judicial clerkships are encouraged to attend a roundtable discussion on Tuesday, April 6, at noon in the faculty dining room where the following federal judicial law clerks will discuss their experiences: Larry Dougherty (JD 09), U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeal; Michael Dupee (JD 92), U.S. Northern District of Florida; and U.S. Middle District of Florida law clerks Jason Marques (JD 07), Lundi McCarthy and staff attorney Janine Toner (JD 04).

• Spoke to the Orlando Chapter of The Federal Bar Association on Feb. 18. The topic was “Grand Jury Screening & Indictment Challenges.”