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.

William Hamilton (JD 83) emphasized the importance of handling and sharing electronically stored information speaking April 8 at the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center. (Photo by Nicole Safker)

By Brandon Breslow
Student Writer

As William Hamilton (JD 83) addressed members of the North Central Florida Chapter of the Federal Bar Association (FBA), he held an ordinary laptop, standard in weight and design. But to Hamilton, it was the potential equivalent of 12,500 storage boxes of discovery documents, and it needed to be handled with care.

Hamilton, a partner of Tampa’s Quarles & Brady LLP, and Adam Losey (JD 09), an associate with Orlando’s Foley and Lardner LLP, explained the tactical advantages and obligations of using and managing digital information at the chapter’s conference. The pair presented “Federal Practice in the Electronic Age: Don’t Be A Dinosaur” on April 8 in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

“It is absolutely essential for litigators to know how to handle and share electronically stored information (ESI),” said Hamilton, who is also a UF Law adjunct professor teaching electronic discovery (e-discovery). “ESI is dramatically different from paper and litigators need new skills to get the best results for their clients while avoiding sanctions that are on the rise for mishandling ESI.”

The major difference for more experienced litigators is the volume of ESI in their cases. One printed gigabyte of ESI will fill 50 storage boxes and will cost $10,000 to review. Each important witness in an average case provides about five gigabytes of ESI that will need to be collected and reviewed. Assuming a case requires five to 10 of these witnesses, the costs of reviewing ESI can be overwhelming if it is treated the same way as paper documents. But Hamilton and Losey seek to handle ESI differently.

“The ESI advantage is that electronic files are searchable, while paper is not,” Hamilton said, “and it’s important that litigators, new and old, learn the tools to do it properly.”

If ESI is handled incorrectly, the case will slow down and costs will go up, said Losey, who became interested in e-discovery through the work of his father, Ralph Losey (JD 79).

Adam Losey was a student in Hamilton’s first e-discovery class at UF Law and has since become a recognized expert in the field. He now teaches e-discovery as an adjunct professor at Columbia University.

Losey emphasized the importance of ESI during the pre-trial discovery conference, also known as the 26(f) conference as it is governed by Rule 26 of Federal Civil Procedure.

“If you handle this conference wrong,” Losey said, “you do your client a great disservice.”

A common mistake during the 26(f) conference is miscommunication between the parties of the lawsuit in how to share, preserve and manage the ESI in the case.

“Frequently, the attorneys don’t have the language or understanding necessary to have a productive 26(f) conference,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton and Losey agree that these mistakes lead to increases in costs that would otherwise be unnecessary.

“Our end goal was to help litigators win, reduce costs and speed up litigation,” Hamilton said.

UF Law was one of the first law schools to offer a regular course in e-discovery, taught by Hamilton, so that students may study the emerging field within litigation. Ralph Losey offers an online e-discovery course for UF Law students in the summer.

“It was appropriate that we held this conference at UF Law because UF has been at the cutting edge of e-discovery for years,” Hamilton said.