Blair’s paper, co-authored with Christine Durrance, “Restrains on Quality Competition,” was accepted for publication in the Journal of Competition Law and Economics.

Jonathan R. Cohen
Professor of Law

On April 5, Cohen spoke on two panels at the American Bar Association Section on Dispute Resolution’s Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Bob Dekle
Director, Criminal Prosecution Clinic; Assistant Director, Criminal Justice Center; Master Lecturer

“Linguist: Accused shooter didn’t really mean man ‘begged’ to be shot” (April 2, 2013, The Daytona Beach News-Journal)

In the case of Paul Miller shooting his neighbor about an argument revolving around barking dogs, a linguist stated that statements from Miller, who is from the mountains of Tennessee, could be misconstrued because of dialect and colloquialisms.

From the article:
University of Florida Law Professor George Dekle said some defense attorneys don’t go that route in part because the burden of proof at such a hearing is on the accused while at a trial the burden of proof is on the prosecution.

“Why assume a burden of proof and tip your hand on what your defense is going to be, give the prosecution an opportunity to prepare for it at trial?” Dekle said.

Larry A. DiMatteo
Huber Hurst Professor of Contract Law & Legal Studies; Warrington College of Business Administration; Affiliated Professor, Levin College of Law

On April 10, DiMatteo was among several announced winners of the 2013 SEC Faculty Achievement Awards. The award recognizes professors from the 14 SEC-member universities who have praiseworthy records in teaching and scholarship and who serve as role models.

Alyson Flournoy
Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and UFRF Professor and Alumni Research Scholar

Flournoy was selected by the Center for Law, Environment, Adaptation and Resources (CLEAR) at UNC-Chapel Hill as its highlighted “Scholar of the Week” for the week of Feb. 18.

William Hamilton
Adjunct Professor; Executive Director of ICAIR and the E-Discovery Project

Six Big E-Discovery Blunders (April 8, 2013, Law.com)

This article, written by Hamilton, discusses the recent e-discovery conference at UF Law, and the six biggest mistakes when using e-discovery and how to banish them for good.

From the article:

Our Florida conference also busted traditional conference boundaries. We had 82 in-person registrants, and 150 participants live online (that number, however, includes organizations that aired the program in conference rooms, so the “body count” for online attendees is actually higher). We streamed the entire conference live, and online attendees could ask questions of panelists via email. Most panels became engaged debates. The conference also was recorded, users who sign up for the recorded version can download all tools and resources. (Registration: www. law.ufl.edu/academics/ediscoveryconference. Fee: $99.)

Berta Esperanza Hernández-Truyol
Levin Mabie & Levin Professor of Law

Hernández-Truyol was appointed to the board of Southern Legal Counsel in Gainesville.

Robert H. Jerry II
Dean and Levin Mabie & Levin Professor of Law

 Dean Jerry’s essay, “Leadership and Followership” was part of the Leadership in Legal Education Symposium XII and was published in the Toledo Law Review. The cite is 44 Toledo L. Rev. 345 (2013). “Leadership and Followership,” (Toledo Law Review).

Lea Johnston
Associate Professor of Law and Assistant Director, Criminal Justice Center

Johnston presented her work-in-progress, “Resentencing Prisoners with Serious Mental Illnesses,” at the Finality in Sentencing Symposium at Wake Forest School of Law on April 5.

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

“Fiddler’s Creek suits become latest in libel, slander cases involving bloggers” (April 8, 2013, Naples Daily News)

Bloggers and Internet critics are increasingly becoming the target of slander and libel lawsuits after posting bad reviews or negative comments. An example of this is a 14-year resident of a Naples residential community.

From the article:
Consumers are increasingly turning to online reviews before purchasing products or services, prompting businesses to take negative reviews seriously, said Lyrissa Lidsky, a University of Florida Levin School of Law professor.

“Suing one’s critics, however, is a risky strategy,” said Lidsky, who specializes in defamation, First Amendment law and Internet speech. “It may be bringing more attention to the negative publicity and may even produce a backlash if it appears to be a frivolous lawsuit designed to intimidate one’s critics into silence.”

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

“Silicon Valley’s Mouthwatering Tax Break” (April 7, 2013, The Wall Street Journal)

Many Silicon Valley companies like Google and Facebook provide free lunches for their employees, which is causing some controversy among tax experts – some say these perks should be taxed.

From the article:
“I clearly think it ought to be taxable income,” said Martin J. McMahon, Jr., a tax-law professor at the University of Florida, who argues that in most cases the meals are really part of a compensation package.

“I buy my lunch with after-tax dollars,” said Mr. McMahon, the University of Florida professor. “And I have to pay taxes to support free meals for those Google employees.”

“Google, Facebook Workers Could Owe Taxes On Their Free Lunches” (April 8, 2013, The Huffington Post)

This article also looks at the debate over whether free lunches for employees should be a taxable fringe benefit.

From the article:
According to Professor McMahon, companies like Facebook and Google report these meals as tax-free fringe benefits, when they should be considered taxable fringe benefits. The cost of these meals, McMahon explains, should be considered a part of the employee’s salary. “Let’s say that an employee gets $2,000 in free meals and makes $50,000 a year. The company should report to the IRS that it paid the employee $52,000 in compensation on which the employee would be taxed,” McMahon says.

As Professor McMahon explained to us: “A company cannot provide tax-free meals if workers commute from home and have the ability to bring their lunches with them.”

McMahon’s paper, co-authored by Ira Shepard and Daniel Simmons, “Recent Developments in Federal Income Taxation: The Year 2012,” was published in Florida Tax Review. The cite is 13 Florida Tax Review 503-721 (2013). “Recent Developments in Federal Income Taxation: The Year 2012,” (Florida Tax Review).

On March 22, McMahon participated in a panel discussion and presented a paper about “Aspirational Tax Reform” at the 2013 University of Virginia School of Law Tax Study Group Meeting.

Winston Nagan
Samuel T. Dell Research Scholar Professor of Law 

Nagan’s article, co-authored with Joshua Root, “The Emerging Restrictions on Sovereign Immunity: Peremptory Norms of International Law, the U.N. Charter, and the Application of Modern Communications Theory,” was published in the North Carolina Journal of International Law & Commercial Regulation. The cite is 38 N. C. J. of Int’l L. & Commercial Reg. 375 (2013). “The Emerging Restrictions on Sovereign Immunity: Peremptory Norms of International Law, the U.N. Charter, and the Application of Modern Communications Theory,” (North Carolina Journal of International Law & Commercial Regulation).

Nagan also recently published “Eruditio, Issue 2, Part 1,” which is the E-Journal of the World Academy of Art & Science for which Nagan serves as editor-in-chief.

Kenneth Nunn
Professor of Law; Associate Director, Center on Children and Families; Assistant Director, Criminal Justice Center 

“Body image forum promotes open discussion” (April 2, 2013, The Gainesville Sun)

Students gathered at the Institute of Black Culture Tuesday night to discuss body issues and race issues, and how those two often go hand-in-hand.

From the article:
Nunn, a UF law professor, said he spoke at the forum because students are his No. 1 priority.

“I want to make sure the next generation of scholars we need in this country and community are well-prepared,” he said in an interview.

Nunn spent a lot of his presentation discussing relationships and family structure.

“It’s really healthy for the African-American community both inside and outside of the community to encourage healthy relationships,” he said.

Meshon Rawls
Master Legal Skills Professor

Rawls played a leadership role in the Law and Justice Conference, held at UF Law on Feb. 27. About 85 high school students attended, and WCJB-20 covered the event.

Danny Sokol
Assistant Professor of Law

Sokol was named chairman of the Hispanic National Bar Association’s new Law Professor Committee.

“Law School Transparency to provide info about law schools” (Feb. 14, 2012, The Alligator)

Bishop spoke to the Alligator about when UF Law will submit information for Law School Transparency – a nonprofit organization that will provide detailed information about law school statistics.

From the article:
Pascale Bishop, assistant dean of the law school’s Center for Career Development, said UF will submit information about its 2011 graduates in late February or early March. The data for the class of 2010 was submitted in early January.

Bob Dekle
Legal Skills Professor

“No Trial in Sight in ’09 Murder Case; Progress Halted Because of Language Barrier” (Feb. 10, 2012, The Ledger)

A Guatemala native and illegal immigrant in Bartow was arrested in 2009 on murder charges, but the case hasn’t been able to move forward because the man speaks a mixture of a Mayan language and some Spanish. His limited understanding of Spanish has prevented him from communicating with his lawyers to understand how the Florida criminal justice system works.

From the article:
George “Bob” Dekle, a legal professor for the University of Florida, said Lemos’ situation calls attention to a fundamental right of all people in the criminal justice system.

“How can you put somebody through a process, and they don’t know what’s going on?” asked Dekle.

“It’s basic to any criminal justice system that the person who is being prosecuted have an understanding of what the charges are against him and what the process is whereby they’re going to be held accountable for it.”

“Inmate set to die for slaying of St. Pete woman” (Feb. 12, 2012, The Associated Press)

A Florida inmate was scheduled to be executed after spending over 30 years on death row. Dekle addressed some of the reasons why it is not uncommon for death row inmates in Florida to remain in prison for such long periods of time before execution.

From the article:
University of Florida law professor George R. “Bob” Dekle, a former prosecutor who sent notorious serial killer Ted Bundy to death row, said Florida governors have rarely been forthcoming about the reasons they select one inmate over all the others for execution.

Dekle said appellate lawyers do their best to make sure it’s not an easy choice for the governor. They file whatever they can for as long as they can to keep their cases alive in the courts. New issues based on recent court rulings and changes in the law provide new fodder for appeals all the time, he said.

“It’s guerilla warfare,” Dekle said. “As long as you can put it off, as long as you can delay, as long as you can keep the thing going in any way, shape or form possible, that’s how much time you’ve got.”

Meshon Rawls
Legal Skills Professor

“The law is a friend, not a foe, youth told at UF conference” (Feb. 11, 2012, The Gainesville Sun)

Rawls, who is also the Josiah T. Walls Bar Association president, commented on the inaugural Law and Justice Youth Conference held at UF Law. The Walls Bar Association co-sponsored the event with the UF Law chapter of the ABA Young Lawyer Division.

From the article:
UF law professor and Walls Bar Association President Meshon Rawls said Saturday’s event was a condensed version of the Street Law program, a series of classes held in neighborhoods throughout Gainesville to introduce youngsters to the legal system.

Rawls said the one-day conference also enabled more kids to participate along with more attorneys and law students, who may not be able to attend Street Law classes when they are held after school.

“We turned a six-week program of one day a week into a one-day conference,” Rawls said. “We hope to make this an annual conference.”

Jennifer Zedalis
Legal Skills Professor

“1 administrator soon will oversee 2 hospitals for mentally ill” (Feb. 14, 2012, The Gainesville Sun)

The administrator of the Northeast Florida State Hospital in Macclenny will be the head of the Macclenny facility as well as the North Florida Evaluation and Treatment Center in Gainesville when Bill Baxter retires from the Gainesville location. The Gainesville facility serves “people who are incompetent to proceed to trial or who have been judged to be not guilty by reason of insanity.” There have been concerns raised about the effectiveness of one administrator running both facilities. Zedalis commented on the issue.

From the article:
But Jennifer Zedalis, a University of Florida law professor, said that the facility she regularly tours with her students is operating on a shoestring as it is.

“A forensic facility is charged with the awesome responsibility of handling individuals who have been found incompetent to stand trial,” she said, explaining that the state is legally obligated to restrict an individual as little as possible.

“There’s not much controversy associated with the North Florida Treatment Facility because of its dedicated staff,” she said. “I’m not sure we should be lumping these two facilities together under one umbrella.”

In teams of two, the eight students enrolled in the Gator TeamChild Juvenile Law Clinic and the four advance students are assigned cases ranging from juvenile delinquency to family dependency.

“There’s a whole gamut of things that we’re asked to do in our representation of children,” said the clinic’s director, Legal Skills Professor Meshon Rawls.

Many of the clinic’s clients are referred from professionals in the delinquency and dependency systems when the client has special needs that span beyond what the courts alone can provide, such as mental health, social and educational needs, Rawls said.

As certified legal interns, these 12 students have the authority to fully represent their clients in all cases under Rawls’ supervision.

“I came into law school never wanting to do litigation,” said Caitlin Mitchell (3L). “Through this clinic, I had the opportunity to be before the court without assistance, and it helped me discover what I want to do.”

Students in the clinic, which opened in 1998, are assigned about four cases and are required to attend hearings and depositions, meet with clients in detention centers and file motions.

“We know where to stand, we know how to deal with a judge and we know how to write and file motions,” Mitchell said.

Rawls teaches them how to implement what they learned in their substantive courses leading up to their enrollment in the clinic.

“I want students to learn to practice law on purpose,” Rawls said. “If they are having issues in their cases, I will sit down with them and help them realize what they are doing to miss the mark.”

In many situations, cases will carry on through multiple semesters. Students currently assigned to cases keep detailed logs so that the transition to a new team of students does not interfere with the progress of these cases. After the completion of their first semester in the juvenile law clinic, some students may elect to enroll in the advance clinic to act as mentors to the new students and continue their work.

“A lot of our responsibilities include helping the newer students prepare for court and editing their documents and motions,” said Mitchell, a second-semester advance student.

As part of a nationwide network of TeamChild clinics, the clinic has the goal of advocating holistically for youth, which is what distinguishes it from the other clinics offered through the UF Law clinical program.

“We are aligned with the theory behind the unified family court because we are one entity representing a child so that the best decisions can be made in any and all of the child’s cases,” Rawls said. “Our motto is one child, one advocate, one voice.”