“Attorney: 94-year-old lost $55,000 from fake papers for Sam Snead’s Tavern” (Nov. 18, 2012, Naples Daily News)

Davis commented on a case of a shopping center in North Naples demanding more than $55,000 from a 94-year-old Pennsylvania resident because her signature appears on her deceased son’s lease agreement for his former business. She is stating the signature is forged and the witness signatures are not legible or notarized.

From the article:
“If it’s a forged signature, it’s not a valid note,” said Jeffrey Davis, who teaches contract law at the University of Florida’s Fredric G. Levin College of Law. “It comes down to a matter of proof. It’s a question of fact, whether it is her signature or not. They must prove it’s her signature.”

Martin J. McMahon, Jr.
Stephen C. O’Connell Professor of Law

McMahon presented Nov. 16 at the Tennessee Tax Conference in Nashville on “Recent Developments in Federal Income Taxation” jointly with Prof. Ira Shepard.

McMahon presented Nov. 9 at the 28th Annual Arizona Federal Tax Institute in Phoenix on “Recent Developments in Federal Income Taxation.”

Jon Mills
Dean emeritus

Mills was an invited panelist for New England Law Review’s Fall 2012 Symposium “Crisis in the Judiciary” held Nov. 15 in Boston for the panel “State Court Systems in Financial Crisis.” This panel discussed how justice has changed in judicial systems of vastly diminished resources. Other panelists included Hon. Robert J. Cordy, associate justice, Massachusetts Supreme Court; Stewart Aaron, partner, Porter & Arnold, LLP, and president, New York County Lawyers’ Association; Paul T. Dacier, executive vice president and general counsel, EMC Corporation; Professor David A. Hoffman, Harvard Law School; and Harry Spence, court administrator, Massachusetts Trial Courts. New England Law Professor Jordan Singer was the moderator.

“Employers hold the hammer when it comes to office politics” (October 31, 2012, Reuters)

This article points out that in most states employers can fire their employees based on a number of reasons, including disagreeing with their political views. This issue recently arose in Florida when Westgate Resorts owner David Siegel said employees would lose their jobs if Barack Obama is re-elected.

From the article:
In Florida, as in most states, private-sector employees can be fired for anything from their political beliefs to the kind of clothing they wear. Most private companies are protected by a statute called “employment at will,” said Joseph Little, professor of law emeritus at the University of Florida.

While the First Amendment protects a public-sector employee’s freedom of speech, private-sector workers are “at the whim of the employer,” insisted Little.

“The employer, in the absence of a contract of any kind, is able to say I want only republicans in my employment and if you’re not a republican you’re finished.”

Martin J. McMahon Jr.
Stephen C. O’Connell Professor of Law

McMahon presented Oct. 26 at the University of Montana School of Law 60th Annual Tax Institute in Missoula, Mont., on “When Subchapter S Meets Subchapter C” with Prof. Daniel Simmons.

McMahon presented Oct. 15 at the 46th Annual Southern Federal Tax Institute in Atlanta, Ga., on the “Recent Developments in Federal Income Taxation” with Prof. Ira Shepard.

Attila Andrade Jr.

Visiting ProfessorAndrade has conceived a new formula according to which moral damages and abstract pain can be calculated in law suit cases. His formula is explained in volume II of his book “Comments on Brazil’s New Civil Code” published by Companhia Editora Forense in 2003. His purpose is to avoid judge’s uncertainties and ambiguities in issuing money judgments for these kinds of law suits.

Bob Dekle

Legal Skills Professor“Robbery suspects face life” (Sept. 29, 2010, The News-Press)

Two men connected with the robbery of a McDonald’s restaurant in Fort Myers could face life in prison. The ordeal resulted in the death of one police dog and one robbery suspect. The charges will not be in connection with the dog’s death, however, because the dog’s shooter was already shot and killed by the police.

From the article:
“University of Florida law professor Bob Dekle said even though prosecutors haven’t charged Amaya and Fermin with Rosco’s death, it wasn’t a foreseeable crime and one that was furthered of the armed robbery.”

“‘It is an area of the law where reasonable people can disagree about what is foreseeable,’ Dekle said.”

Teresa Drake

Director, Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Clinic (IPVAC)
Drake lectured at the Advanced Institute for the Prosecution of Domestic Violence, sponsored and produced by the Office of Violence Against Women, Aequitas and The Battered Women’s Justice Project in August in Washington, D.C. Her topic was interviewing victims of domestic violence.

Drake spoke at The Battered Women’s Justice Project conference “Addressing the Impact of Domestic Violence on Children” in Providence, R.I., last month. Her topic was interviewing and preparing children to testify.

Joseph Jackson

Legal Skills ProfessorTV interview (Sept. 24, 2010, WCJB TV-20), link not available at this time

Jackson commented on the recent 3rd District Court of Appeal ruling, which overturned Florida’s ban on gay adoptions. Jackson was the primary author of an amicus brief submitted to the court regarding the case.

Martin J. McMahon Jr.

Stephen C. O’Connell Professor of LawMcMahon presented “Recent Developments in Federal Income Taxation” with University of Houston Law Center Professor Ira Shepard at the 45th annual Southern Federal Tax Institute last month in Atlanta.

McMahon presented “Litigating The Application Of Anti-Tax Avoidance Statutes: Learning From The Canada Experience” with the Honorable Patrick Boyle, Richard Sapinski, Nathalie Goyette, and Henry Schneiderman at the Court Procedure and Practice Committee Program, American Bar Association, Tax Section, Fall Meeting, in Toronto last month.

McMahon also presented “How Canada’s Experience with the General Anti-Abuse Rule Might Inform US How to Live with the Codified Economic Substance Doctrine” with the Honorable Donald Bowman, former Chief Judge of the Tax Court of Canada at the Joint Meeting of Partnerships & LLCs and Real Estate Committees, American Bar Association, Tax Section, Fall Meeting in Toronto last month.

Diane Mazur

Professor
“Gay activists look to the courts to end ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’” (Sept. 22, 2010, The Washington Post)

While the debate over the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy continued to unfold in Federal courts, Mazur discussed arguments in favor of repealing the law.

From the article:
“Gay rights groups said the government has no obligation to appeal. Diane H. Mazur, legal co-director of the Palm Center, a think tank at the University of California at Santa Barbara that is devoted to repealing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ cited a 2003 Supreme Court decision that struck down a Texas sodomy law because it restricted a person’s right to sexual privacy.”

“‘Judge Phillips recognized that “don’t ask, don’t tell” can no longer be justified under current constitutional doctrine, and President Obama is not required to argue otherwise,’ Mazur said. ‘He need not defend laws that are based on old, discredited constitutional assumptions.’”

“Witt decision offers preview of post-’don’t’ ask, don’t tell’ world” (Sept. 27, 2010, San Diego Gay and Lesbian News)

Mazur commented on the recent U.S. District Court ruling in Washington in favor of Air Force Major Margaret Witt regarding the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

From the article:
“Diane Mazur, Palm Center legal co-director and University of Florida law professor, also responded to Judge Leighton’s written opinion in Witt.”

“‘Witt and Log Cabin were the first challenges requiring the government to produce evidence that “don’t ask, don’t tell” improved military readiness, and in both cases the government was unable to do so,’ Mazur said. ‘The government pointed to an earlier case upholding the policy, Cook v. Gates, but there the court barred the plaintiffs from introducing evidence that “don’t ask, don’t tell” harms the military and excused the government from producing any evidence at all. Once the policy is put to a test of fact, it fails.’”

Kenneth Nunn

Professor“Panel hears from the wrongly convicted” (Oct. 1, 2010, The Florida Bar News)”

As a member of the new Innocence Commission in Florida – which examines the causes behind wrongful convictions to avoid future wrongful convictions – Nunn weighed in on a debate over the wording of the commission’s mission statement. The phrase in question was: “exoneration cases in Florida based on DNA testing.” The sentence was eventually removed altogether.

From the article:
“University of Florida College of Law Professor Kenneth Nunn added: ‘We are not saying these are individuals who are angels of the Lord, shall we say. But we are saying they are entitled to rely on the presumption of innocence that all American citizens are entitled to,’ because they have not been proven guilty. Exoneration, Nunn said, ‘is the correct legal term for the status of affairs we are talking about.’”

“Professor Nunn offered a friendly amendment to replace ‘exoneration’ with ‘cases in Florida where convictions have been reversed based on DNA testing.’”

Elizabeth Rowe

Associate ProfessorRowe’s article “Contributory Negligence, Technology, and Trade Secrets,” originally published in the George Mason Law Review in 2009, has been republished in the Defense Law Journal.

“UF takes on high schools to protect logo” (Sept. 21, 2010, The Gainesville Sun)

In an effort to protect its logo and identity, the University of Florida and the licensing company that represents the school is cracking down on several schools around the country who are using similar logos as the Gators.

From the article:
“Under trademark law, universities essentially have a legal obligation to police the use of their marks, said Elizabeth Rowe, associate professor of law and director of the program in intellectual property law at UF. Failing to do so could mean giving up the right to stop unauthorized uses, she said.”

“The issue is becoming more significant as college football becomes increasingly lucrative, she said. But she said the issue is somewhat different when dealing with high schools that might send students to the universities.”

“‘With sports you have the argument, “We’re using the mark to support you,”‘ she said.”

Michael Seigel

ProfessorUpon invitation by Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Patrick Leahy, Seigel testified as an expert witness last week in Washington, D.C. regarding honest services mail and wire fraud in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Skilling v. United States.

Seigel presented a lecture titled, “Ethical Lessons Learned from the Duke Lacrosse (Non)Rape Case,” to the faculty of the Saint Louis University School of Law on Sept. 16.

Michael Allan Wolf

Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law“Florida voters enter battle on growth” (Sept. 27, 2010, The New York Times)

Wolf commented on the debate in Florida surrounding Amendment 4 on the November ballot, which would allow citizens to vote on state-mandated plans regarding land development and growth in counties and municipalities.

From the article:
“‘Most planning advocates would love to have the structure we have in Florida, but most Floridians know that the structure doesn’t work,’ said Michael Allan Wolf, a University of Florida law professor. ‘Amendment 4 suggests that, on the ground, this system is really broken.’”

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.

• “Despite threats, search goes on” (Jan. 24, Bradenton Herald)
  Baldwin explained that legislation regarding online threats is long overdue. Fletcher Baldwin, a law professor at the University of Florida who specializes in cyber crime, said a law specifically dealing with online threats is long overdue. “We turned the corner long ago. You have to have different focus when dealing with online threats. Invasion of privacy is not the issue here. You put yourself out in the public arena and you threaten people’s lives. That’s not right,” he said.