Georgetown Law Professor Randy Barnett discusses the Affordable Care Act at the 32nd annual Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law on March 22. (Photo by Haley Stracher)

By Matt Walker

Although the Supreme Court did not reach the overall decision on the Affordable Care Act that he would have liked, Georgetown Law Professor Randy Barnett said victory was achieved “by the constitutional theories we prevented from being adopted by the Supreme Court.”

Barnett, who represented the National Federation of Independent Business in its case against the Affordable Care Act spoke on “Who Won the Obamacare Case (and Why Did So Many Law Professors Miss the Boat)?” at the 32nd annual Dunwody Lecture in Law on March 22.

The Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at Georgetown University Law Center said he became involved in the case because of two issues.

“One was saving the country from Obamacare, which I think is disastrous public policy, and we’re all going to have to find out how disastrous it is shortly,” Barnett said. “And the second thing was saving the Constitution for the country.”

He said that although they lost in the first point, he was relieved that they won the second point – five of the justices affirmed his views of the Commerce, and Necessary and Proper clauses.

The clauses, which give Congress the power to regulate commerce and “to make all laws which shall be necessary” to carry out its powers, were upheld when the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate was struck down by the court, according to Barnett.

He said rather than a mandate requiring individuals to purchase health insurance, individuals will have the option to purchase insurance or pay a tax penalty. Analysts say that people who decline to purchase health insurance will see no difference whether it is called a “mandate” or a “tax.”

Barnett said the ruling makes bad law in two ways, but made constitutional law better in more important ways.

“First (Chief Justice John Roberts) claimed the power to rewrite a law by giving it a saving construction to uphold it even though that construction is not the most natural reading of the statute,” he said. Additionally, “the chief justice allowed that Congress may impose an unprecedented tax on inactivity.”

Barnett said as a result of the ruling, “Congress has the unprecedented and potentially dangerous power to tax inactivity without apportioning the incidence of such tax equally among the states.”

Despite those losses, Barnett emphasized several points on which he said his side was victorious: Denying the government the power to force citizens into economic activity, preventing the Supreme Court from adopting a stance that would give Congress more power to regulate the national economy, and upholding that conditions on federal spending are unconstitutional.

“While our failure to prevent the egregious Affordable Care Act from taking effect remains a bitter disappointment and one I have not gotten over yet, this should not be allowed to detract from all we have accomplished,” Barnett said. “Only time will tell who really won the Obamacare case, but for now the constitutional scheme of limited and enumerated powers lives to fight another day.”

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 and Atwood Dunwody. 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 is available at www.floridalawreview.com.

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.

While the idea sounds absurd today, up until the 1940s it was not uncommon for property deeds to include clauses that restricted the sale of property to whites only. In 1948, the Supreme Court ruled against these racially restrictive covenants and the practice was outlawed in 1968 by the Fair Housing Act.

Yale and Arizona law professor Carol M. Rose will discuss, “Property Law and the Rise, Life, and Demise of Racially Restrictive Covenants,” at the sixth annual Wolf Family Lecture on the American Law of Real Property at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. The lecture will be March 13, at 11 a.m. in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center courtroom, and will also be available as a live webcast. The event is free and open to the public.

The Wolf Family Lecture will offer valuable insights for property law students, as well as those interested in constitutional law and students involved with the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations.

Rose is the Gordon Bradford Tweedy Professor Emeritus of Law, and Organization and Professorial Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School, and the Lohse Chair in Water and Natural Resources at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. Her book, Saving the Neighborhood: Racially Restrictive Covenants, Law, and Social Norms (Harvard University Press), which she co-authored with Yale Law Professor Richard Brooks, will be available March 11.

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. Wolf is the general editor of a 17-volume treatise, Powell on Real Property. The treatise is the most referenced real property treatise in the country and is cited regularly by the courts, including several citations in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Wolf family’s strong ties to the University of Florida date back to the 1930s, when Wolf’s father, Leonard Wolf, was a UF undergraduate. Since that time, two more generations of his descendants have made their way to Gainesville to study and work.

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.

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, 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.

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.

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.

Vanderbilt’s Professor Brian T. Fitzpatrick and UF Law Visiting Professor Darren Hutchinson discuss the past, present and future of affirmative action at UF Law on Feb. 20. The discussion was hosted by the Federalist Society and the Black Law Students Association. (Photo by Haley Stracher)

By Matt Walker
Senior writer

During an event co-sponsored by the UF Black Law Students Association and the UF Federalist Society last Wednesday, it quickly became evident that there are many considerations to be made in the debate over the merits and effectiveness of affirmative action in the university admissions process.

“Fisher v. University of Texas: The Past, Present, and Future of Affirmative Action in Higher Education,” featured Brian T. Fitzpatrick of Vanderbilt Law School and Darren Hutchinson, of American University and current visiting professor at UF Law discussing the pros and cons of affirmative action. UF Law Professor John Stinneford moderated the panel.

Currently before the Supreme Court, the case of Fisher v. University of Texas deals with a white plaintiff who was denied admission to the University of Texas based on a number of considerations, including race. The court will be determining if the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment allows for the consideration of race in the University of Texas’ decision. Less than 10 years ago, the court ruled that race could be a consideration in Grutter v. Bollinger.

The discussion began by looking back at the history of affirmative action and how it may or may not have benefitted those who have been impacted by it.

“To the extent affirmative action has helped to open doors to colleges and universities, given what we know about education and how it transforms income over time, transforms self, transforms employability over time, it definitely has been something that’s been beneficial,” Hutchinson said.

Fitzpatrick was less sure of the positive effects of affirmative action, saying the jury is still out.

“There have now been some very rigorous, very professional, empirical studies on the consequences of affirmative action in education that cast great doubt on whether racial preferences actually benefit the very people they are intended to benefit,” he said.

Fitzpatrick said the studies suggest there would be more African-America lawyers today if affirmative action did not exist, because the practice winds up allowing some students into programs above their credentials, which results in higher dropout rates and lower bar passage rates.

The panelists also discussed their thoughts on how the Supreme Court will rule on Fisher case.

Fitzpatrick said he thinks the court will strike down the University of Texas affirmative action program for pragmatic reasons, saying the university has not proven that it needs that level of diversity to accomplish particular educational benefits.

Hutchinson said he thinks the question might come down to looking at what the state of Texas needs to do to deliver quality education to all of its students. He said although he hates predicting the outcomes of cases, he doesn’t “think they’ll say affirmative action is unconstitutional.”

The speakers touched on other issues related to affirmative action as well, including the question of where Asians fit in with affirmative action, and how Texas is now a state where the majority of the population are racial minorities.

Fitzpatrick joined Vanderbilt’s law faculty in 2007 as an associate professor after serving as the John M. Olin Fellow at New York University School of Law. He received the Hall-Hartman Outstanding Professor Award which recognizes excellence in classroom teaching for his Civil Procedure course for the 2008-09 academic year.

Hutchinson has written extensively on issues related to Constitutional Law, Critical Race Theory, Law and Sexuality, and social identity theory. His numerous publications have appeared in many journals including: the Cornell Law Review, the UCLA Law Review, the Michigan Journal of Race and Law, the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, and the Journal of Law and Inequality among others. Hutchinson also authors Dissenting Justice, which is a blog related to law and politics.

More than a year after the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, many legal, social and cultural questions raised by the case are still being discussed across the country. The Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations will analyze a number of these questions during the 10^th annual CSRRR Spring Lecture, which will bring together experts from nine different departments at UF along with keynote speaker, New York Times op-ed columnist Charles Blow.

“At Close Range: The Curious Case of Trayvon Martin,” is March 20 at the University of Florida Levin College of Law in the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom, HOL 180. The panel presentations will be from 9 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. and Blow’s keynote lecture will be from noon – 1:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public and law school parking restrictions will be lifted in the green lots.

The panels will look at a wide variety of issues raised by the case, from a multitude of academic perspectives.  Some of the featured panels include “Jim Crow Riding High: The 21^st Century Assault on African-American Voting Rights in Florida,” “Half-Baked: Weed, Race and the Demonization of Trayvon Martin,” and “Racial Profiling, Security and Human Rights.”

“The Trayvon Martin case is a social touchstone precisely because it serves up topics we’re uncomfortable talking about in public, including race, crime, policing, interracial crime, use of deadly force, black crime victims, Southern race relations, media representations of race, and gun control,” said Katheryn Russell-Brown, director of the CSRRR and Chesterfield Smith Professor of Law. “The case offers an important opportunity for us to learn about, discuss and debate these myriad and overlapping issues. Our spring lecture event will contribute to the national discussion of the case and emphasize policy recommendations.”

The departments of political science; health services; philosophy; sociology, criminology and law; journalism and communications; history; English; anthropology, and African-American studies will all be represented. The academic papers, which comprise the basis for the panel discussions, will be compiled for the first installment in a new series in collaboration with UF Law’s Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center. The panel agendas and abstracts for the papers can be seen in the Collections of the UF Law Scholarship Repository at, http://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/csrrr_events/10thspringlecture/panels/. For more information regarding the spring lecture, please visit the CSRRR homepage, http://www.law.ufl.edu/academics/centers/csrrr.

The University of Florida Levin College of Law’s CSRRR is committed to fostering communities of dialogue on race. The center creates and supports programs designed to enhance race-related curriculum development for faculty, staff and students in collegiate and professional schools. Of the five U.S. law schools with race centers, the CSRRR is uniquely focused on curriculum development.

About Charles Blow

After graduating cum laude from Grambling State University, keynote speaker 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. The Louisiana native 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, Fox News’ Fox and Friends, the BBC and Al Jazeera, as well as numerous radio programs.

When the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973, it proved to be a great step forward in showing the United States’ and Congress’ commitment to preserving our nation’s natural heritage and protecting native plants and animals from becoming extinct.

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the ESA, the 19th annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference at the University of Florida Levin College of Law will focus on the evolution of endangered species protection over the past four decades. “The Endangered Species Act at 40: Polishing the Crown Jewel,” will be held Feb. 21-23 at UF Law.

“I’m very excited about this year’s conference,” said UF Law Professor and Director of the Environmental and Land Use Law Program Mary Jane Angelo. “We are bringing in experts from around the U.S. to discuss the act’s many successes, such as the recovery of our national symbol, the bald eagle, as well as significant challenges we face in the future such as addressing impacts from habitat loss and climate change.”

Keynote speakers for this year’s conference include Carl Safina, founding president of the Blue Ocean Institute and award winning author of Song for the Blue Ocean and Eye of the Albatross, and Zygmunt Plater and Patrick Parenteau, attorneys in the landmark decision of Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill et al. – temporarily halting the completion of the Tellico Dam on the Little Tennessee River in order to protect the snail darter, an endangered species of fish.

The conference will also include multiple panel discussions, a workshop sponsored by The Florida Bar, and training opportunities for both attorneys and those outside the legal field.

UF Law student and PIEC co-chair Chelsea Sims said the PIEC is one of the largest student-run conferences in the nation.

“It’s a great opportunity for UF students to engage with cutting edge issues surrounding endangered species such as the Florida panther, corals, sea turtles, manatees and more,” Sims said.

To view the agenda and register for the conference, visit http://www.law.ufl.edu/academics/concentration/elul/public-interest-environmental-conference. UF Law students and faculty attend free-of-charge. Select “student” when registering.

“Any student that is interested in learning about the status of endangered species, the role of climate change, or the interface of science and policy regulating endangered species will enjoy this free event at the law school campus,” said Rachael Bruce, UF Law student and PIEC co-chair. “Please come out and join us.”

DeeDee Scheller (2L), left, Ryan Gilbert (3L) and Jessica Clements (2L) will represent the petitioner for the Florida Moot Court Team in the Raymer F. Maguire, Jr. Moot Court Competition, sponsored by Holland & Knight LLP. (Photo by Elise Giordano)

By Matt Walker
Senior writer

The current members of the Florida Supreme Court will once again visit the University of Florida Levin College of Law to hear oral arguments in the 29th annual Raymer F. Maguire Jr. Appellate Advocacy Competition this Thursday at 10 a.m. in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center courtroom. The event is free and open to the public.

The competition will feature two teams of skilled advocates from the Florida Moot Court Team, who will later compete in the American Bar Association competition. Jessica Clements (2L), Ryan Gilbert (3L), and DeeDee Scheller (2L) will represent the petitioner. Ian Dankelman (2L), Danielle Grundt (3L), and Brandon White (3L) will represent the respondent.

“The Maguire event is an annual exhibition of our team’s oral advocacy skills and what better panel to act as judges, than the Florida Supreme Court,” said Moot Court President Dylan Shea (3L). “Any time the student body has the opportunity to interact with such esteemed members of the judiciary it is both an honor and a tremendous opportunity, and this year is no exception.”

Ian Dankelman (2L), left, Danielle Grundt (3L) and Brandon White (3L) will represent the respondent in the upcoming moot court competition. (Photo by Elise Giordano)

The competitors will present legal arguments based on questions about a police detective’s qualified immunity from a civil liability arising out of the arrest of an innocent man for a sex offense. The competitors will argue this case in the regional round Feb. 14 in Las Vegas. If they win the regional round they will advance to the national round.

At the Maguire competition, the Florida Supreme Court will remember the life of former Justice Ben Overton who passed away in Gainesville on Dec. 29. Overton was a double gator and served UF Law as an adjunct professor until his passing. For more on Overton, visit http://www.law.ufl.edu/history/ben-overton-in-memoriam.

“This year’s competition is partly clouded by the sadness of Justice Overton’s recent passing,” Shea said, “however, we plan to use the opportunity to honor his memory and acknowledge his achievements. He is an example of how members of the Florida Supreme Court have consistently shown a commitment to foster the learning experiences of law students who will shortly enter the legal profession.”

One of the foremost national moot court teams, the Florida Moot Court Team competes each year at over a dozen tournaments throughout the country. The team has been a fixture at UF Law since 1909 when the college was founded, but was organized into its current form in 1961.

At that time, the Maguire Appellate Advocacy Competition was sponsored by the Orlando law firm of Maguire, Voorhis & Wells, P.A. The competition is named after Raymer F. Maguire Jr., son of the founder of Maguire, Voorhis & Wells, P.A., managing partner of the firm, and UF Law alumnus. In the summer of 1998, Maguire, Voorhis & Wells, P.A. merged with the law firm of Holland & Knight LLP, who also became a proud sponsor of the competition.

Tickets are still available to see five Florida governors who will convene Friday in Gainesville to discuss critical issues impacting the future of the Sunshine State for the Florida Law Review’s second installment of the Allen L. Poucher Legal Education Series. The event, entitled “Florida’s Future: A Conversation with Florida Governors,” will be held at 10 a.m. at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Doors will open at 9:15 a.m., and the event is free and open to the public. Tickets are required and available for students from the UF Law Office of Student Affairs, Doris Perron for faculty and staff, and the CPA box office.

Gov. Reubin Askew, Gov. Charlie Crist, Gov. Bob Graham, Gov. Buddy MacKay and Gov. Bob Martinez are confirmed to participate on the panel. Former Florida Law Review editor-in-chief and University of Florida Law alum Ben Diamond (JD 03) will serve as moderator.

No backpacks or large bags will be permitted at the event. For more details and to submit a question to the panel of governors, visit the Florida Law Review’s website, or contact the office at 352-273-0670. The parking garage next to the Phillips Center is available to attendees for event parking. Additionally, parking restrictions at the Park & Ride Lot #2 (behind the Hilton) and at the Bledsoe Drive lot (adjacent to the University Village field) will be lifted for the event.

The Allen L. Poucher Legal Education Series was established by Betty K. Poucher in honor of her late husband, Allen L. Poucher Sr. A humanitarian who lived a life dedicated to service, Allen Poucher graduated from UF Law in 1942 and practiced law for more than 60 years. The Poucher Legal Education Series seeks to provide a venue for prominent legal, political and business leaders to discuss important issues facing our nation and world today.

Fall 2010 New and Visiting Faculty and Staff

Tom C.W. Lin
Tom Lin has joined the faculty as an assistant professor of law. His current scholarship and teaching interests are in the areas of business law, securities regulation and behavioral law and economics. He was previously an instructor of law at Brooklyn Law School in New York. Prior to entering academia, Professor Lin practiced law at the New York State Attorney General’s Office, Davis Polk & Wardwell and Dewey Ballantine. He is a graduate of New York University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he served as an advanced legal writing instructor and senior editor of the Journal of Constitutional Law and the Journal of Law and Social Change.

Rachel Rebouché
Rachel Rebouché has joined the UF Law faculty as an assistant professor teaching family law and comparative family law. For the 2010-11 academic year, she will be an affiliated faculty member with the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. Prior to joining UF, she was the associate director of adolescent health programs at the National Partnership for Women & Families and an adjunct professor at American University Washington College of Law. Rebouché received her J.D. from Harvard Law School, LL. M. in international law from Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland and B.A. in politics and sociology from Trinity University. Following graduation from law school, she clerked for Justice Kate O’Regan on the Constitutional Court of South Africa and completed a fellowship at the National Women’s Law Center. Before law school, she was a researcher for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and a research associate at the Human Rights Centre of Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Paul Gugliuzza
Paul has joined the faculty as a visiting legal skills professor, teaching appellate advocacy and legal research and writing. Gugliuzza completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Oklahoma, and graduated summa cum laude from Tulane University School of Law, where he served as managing editor of the Tulane Law Review. After law school, he clerked for the Honorable Ronald M. Gould on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Gugliuzza joins the faculty directly from the Washington, D.C. office of Jones Day, where he was a member of the firm’s Issues and Appeals practice group.

Mark Snider
Mark D. Snider has joined the faculty as the interim visiting assistant professor in tax. Snider received his J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Illinois in 1986 and obtained his LL.M. degree from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2009. He was a partner at two leading Chicago based law firms, where he practiced for more than 12 years working on complex business and financing transactions. He also worked for several years as the general counsel of a national service company, headquartered in Florida and with business locations throughout the United States, and as a partner in a law firm based in South Florida. He is admitted to practice in both Illinois and Florida.

Debra Hyatt
Debra Hyatt has joined the staff as the new registrar. She joins UF Law from Florida Atlantic University where she worked in student affairs for more than five years. A native of Tampa, Hyatt has a bachelor’s degree from UF and a master’s degree from Nova Southeastern University. She is excited about her return to Gainesville and her alma mater after living in South Florida for eight years. “Gainesville has always been like a second home to me, so it’s a thrill to be able to come back and work at the law school,” she said.

Shira Megerman
Shira Megerman joins the staff as the newest student services librarian. She comes to Gainesville from Kansas City, Mo. Megerman is available for research assistance and all student-related matters. Her office is located at HOL 175B and can be contacted at megermans@law.ufl.edu.

Grace Northern
Grace Northern joins the staff as the associate director of Development and Alumni Affairs. Northern comes to Gainesville from Washington, D.C., where she worked at the White House as Assistant to the Director of Presidential Personnel. In this capacity, Northern worked with senior members of the White House staff to identify and fill presidential appointments across the administration. Prior to her time at the White House, Northern worked on the Presidential Transition Team. As one of the first employees of the Obama for America campaign, she worked in a variety of capacities in six states during the primary and through the general election, including Florida. Before entering politics, Northern worked in the Washington, D.C. office of the Glover Park Group, a large public affairs firm. A native of Louisville, Ky., Grace received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Xavier University in Cincinnati.

Whitney Smith
Whitney Smith joins the staff as the new communications coordinator and editor of FlaLaw Online and UF Law eNews. Smith previously worked at The Gainesville Sun. She has experience in graphic and page design, online content management, editing and news and feature writing. Smith has worked on various publications before, during and after her years as a journalism student at UF and is thrilled to learn about the internal relations of the Levin College of Law and its students, faculty and staff. Feel free to contact her at smithw@law.ufl.edu or 273-0652. Smith replaces Katie Blasewitz, now working in Washington, D.C., as the electronic marketing and communications specialist at The Optical Society.

Matt Walker
Matt Walker has joined the staff as the new media relations manager in the Office of Communications at the law school. Walker brings years of journalism experience to the position, and has worked as a writer, reporter, columnist and magazine editor in Florida, Georgia and California. He will be responsible for running a vigorous reactive and proactive media relations program, including planning and implementing publicity programs, writing and disseminating press releases, and writing for UF LAW magazine and other publications. He can be reached at mlwalker@law.ufl.edu or 273-0653. Walker replaces Scott Emerson, who left the law school for a full-time position with the USDA.

Jennifer Wondracek
Jennifer Wondracek has joined the Legal Information Center as the new instructional services reference librarian. She will be working with faculty on distance learning course creation and other instructional issues. Wondracek also will be teaching legal research, both online and in the classroom, and joining the reference staff to help meet the needs of the LIC patrons. Wondracek came from Elon University School of Law in Greensboro, N.C., where she held the position of reference and government documents librarian. She obtained her MLIS from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s online program in 2006 and has been a law librarian ever since. Prior to becoming a librarian, Wondracek obtained her law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law and practiced law in North Carolina. Wondracek recently co-authored an Issue Brief on the new exemptions for the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s restriction on circumventing technological access controls for the American Association of Law Libraries. She plans to continue her research on copyright law and the interaction of technology and the law.