Law students, from left, Wesley Maul (2L), Whitney Smith (2L), and Craig Thompson (3L), hold the top three spots on the Florida Blue Key staff. (Photo by Nicole Safker)

As the University of Florida’s Homecoming events came to a close, Craig Thompson (3L), Whitney Smith (2L), and Wesley Maul (2L) looked back at the hard work and long hours each of them put in to make sure Florida Blue Key’s (FBK) biggest projects went on without a hitch.

Maul handled the budgets and the purchase orders, Smith rallied the organization’s 130 members and Thompson was the leader of leaders and tasked with making the tough decisions.

The three top officers of FBK, in its 88th year, continue a strong UF Law tradition of service and excellence. As law students, Thompson, president, Smith, vice president of membership, and Maul, treasurer, know the importance of responsibility, time management and practicality in achieving their goals.

“It makes for a stronger executive board when it includes law students because we can understand the big picture from what we were taught during our first year of law school,” Maul said.

FBK is responsible for organizing such University of Florida traditions as Gator Growl, the Homecoming Pageant, the Homecoming Parade, and the Florida Blue Key Speech and Debate Tournament, as well as year-round alumni events. Members are tapped for initiation based on their leadership roles in other student organizations and their dedication to UF.

“We work with a lot of great people that may get overwhelmed with the details,” Thompson said, “so we teach them to take a step back and look at the big picture.”

Thompson holds a position once held by Stephen N. Zack (JD 71), immediate past-president of the American Bar Association, and former UF presidents Marshall M. Criser (JD 51) and Stephen C. O’Connell (LLB 40). More than 85 percent of FBK’s presidents were students at UF Law during or after their election.

“An FBK event like Gator Growl comes with a lot of issues over contracts and liabilities,” Thompson said, “and being able to recognize and analyze those issues before they arise has proven very valuable.”

Thompson is in his eighth year at UF, where he has earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. As an undergraduate, he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, president of the Interfraternity Council, a Reitz Scholar, and a member of the UF Hall of Fame. He was tapped for membership in FBK during his third year at UF and is currently in his second term as the organization’s president.

Thompson enjoys the alumni events that FBK holds in Florida and the traditions of the organization. As the 45th member of his family to attend UF, he is able to trade stories with alumni about the university’s history.

“A lot of what I heard about the university growing up is being shaped by what I hear from alumni that I’ll meet on the road,” he said.

Thompson previously interned with the UF Office of the Vice President and General Counsel and will begin working at the Miami office of law firm Berger Singerman after graduating in 2012. He hopes to remain dedicated to UF after he graduates.

“The reason you have so many buildings on campus named after FBK alumni is because they loved this university and continued to give back after they graduate,” Thompson said.

Smith attended her first Gator Growl when she was 8 years old. Her father was an FBK member when he attended UF and has remained active in the organization as an alumni.

When she transferred to UF from Wake Forest University in the third year of her undergraduate courses, she wrote a 112-page coffee table book on the history of FBK.

“It’s hard not to love the university because one of the major tenants for membership is service to the university,” Smith said. “I think the selfless membership comes early and continues the rest of our lives.”

As vice president of membership, Smith manages initiation banquets and the admittance of new members. She also assists Thompson in his responsibilities as president.

“I want to be a person that others look at and say ‘she did everything in her power to do good for the university,’” Smith said, “and that’s what FBK is supposed to do.”

Maul was tapped for FBK membership during his junior year as an undergraduate. He previously held leadership positions in his fraternity, Alpha Tau Omega, the Interfraternity Council and ACCENT Speakers Bureau.

As treasurer, Maul is required to evaluate budgets, file corporate paperwork and handle tax issues. He finds one of the biggest benefits to his position is the relationships he’s developed with his fellow FBK officers and members and FBK alumni.

“As much as it may be a second job,” he said, “it’s a lot of fun. It’s a lighter atmosphere where you get to be with your friends.”

Thompson, Smith and Maul agree that the level of understanding they have for each other’s responsibilities in and out of the classroom helped them become a stronger executive board.

“I think our main goal is to leave things better off than when we took office,” Maul said, “and for the past years we have been doing that.”

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.