University of Arizona Professor Carol M. Rose addresses racially restrictive covenants at the sixth annual Wolf Family Lecture on March 13, 2013. (Photo by Haley Stracher)

By Francie Weinberg
Student writer

The sixth annual Wolf Family lecture drew a capacity crowd in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center courtroom at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. This year’s guest speaker, Professor Carol M. Rose, presented her lecture on “Property Law and the Rise, Life and Demise of Racially Restrictive Covenants.”

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. The lecture offered valuable insights for property law students, as well as those interested in constitutional law and those  involved with the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations.

“In the early 20^th century, African Americans started to move to cities,” Rose said at the March 13 lecture. “The hope was to escape the violence and oppression of the Southeast, so Caucasians began to take legal routes to get them out of their neighborhoods.”

She went on to explain that though race-restriction laws were Constitution-proof, they were not property-proof. It became harder and harder to sneak a Caucasians-only clause into property contracts.

“The pool of potential white buyers dried up,” Rose explained. “The only feasible buyers were minority members. This resulted in kind of an odd alliance between the white sellers and the black buyers: both of them wanted to get rid of restrictive covenants.”

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), co-authored with Yale Law Professor Richard Brooks, will be available in April.

The lecture was streamed via live webcast and can be viewed at http://mediasite.video.ufl.edu/Mediasite/Play/4775d77635a741deb45688dbd080d5fd1d.

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.

Walkin’ Lawton is an in-depth biography of the late Gov. Lawton Chiles (JD 55). Author John Dos Passos Coggin conducted more than 100 interviews with Chiles’s family, friends, and coworkers, and also utilized a wide variety of news sources, political papers, and even the governor’s own progress reports from his 1,000-mile walk. A full review of Walkin’ Lawton has been published by the Tampa Bay Times and is available online at http://www.tampabay.com/features/books/review-john-dos-passos-coggins-new-biography-focuses-on-walkin-lawton/1271175.

The Legal Information Center has two copies of the book, which may be requested through its online catalog.

Sixth annual Wolf Family Lecture March 13

The topic of the sixth annual Wolf Family Lecture on the American Law of Real Property on March 13 at 11 a.m. in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center is “Property Law and the Rise, Life, and Demise of Racially Restrictive Coveneants.” The lecture will feature Carol Rose, the Gordon Bradford Tweedy Professor Emeritus of Law and Organization and Professorial Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School.

The lecture is free and open to the law school community and general public.

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.

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.

UF Journal of Law and Public Policy hosts symposium on media law on March 14

Should false statements of fact be protected under the First Amendment? That was the question at issue in United States v. Alvarez, a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court case overturning the Stolen Valor Act, which attempted to criminalize individuals for lying about receiving a military medal.  More recently, however, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a new version of the Stolen Valor Act, creating penalties for individuals who lie about receiving military medals and who profit from the deception.

This is the topic of the 2013 Journal of Law and Public Policy’s Annual Symposium, which will be hosted March 14 in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center at the UF Levin College of Law. Panelists include UF Law Professor Lyrissa Lidsky, attorney Craig D. Feiser and Colonel Michael L. Smidt, staff judge advocate of U.S. Special Operations Command.

The event will begin with a reception at 11:30 a.m., a panel discussion at noon and a question-and-answer session. It will be open to students, professors and practitioners.

Come and hear what these experienced professionals have to say on this controversial issue. CLE credit will be offered. Click here for more information on the symposium or here for more information on JLPP.

Dean hosts Music Night March 17

Got a hidden musical talent? Show it off at the upcoming Music Night 2013 to be held Sunday, March 17, at 7 p.m. at the home of Dean Robert Jerry and his wife, Lisa. All students and faculty are invited – but the “ticket” to attend is that you must bring a dessert and agree to perform a musical piece (play an instrument or sing a song). A piano will be available. Each participant can bring one guest. Space is limited, so sign up is on a first-come, first-serve basis. To register, stop by the Dean’s Office and see Doris Perron.

CSRRR spring lecture, panel examines Trayvon Martin case on March 20

The Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations’ 10th annual Spring Lecture & Panel Discussions, “At Close Range: The Curious Case of Trayvon Martin,” will feature New York Times visual op-ed columnist Charles Blow. The event is March 20 in the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom, HOL 180.

Participants include UF faculty and graduate students from history, journalism, African-American studies, sociology, anthropology, law, education, political science, English, philosophy and health services research. Panelists will discuss a range of topics including racial bias and media perspectives and they will recommend policy changes.

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. Blow 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, Headline News’ The Joy Behar show, Fox News’ Fox and Friends, the BBC and Al Jazeera, as well as numerous radio programs.

32nd Annual Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law

The Florida Law Review welcomes Professor Randy Barnett as the 32nd Annual Dunwody Distinguished Lecturer in Law. Barnett, the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at the Georgetown University Law Center, will discuss the recent United States Supreme Court decision upholding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at 10 a.m. on Friday, March 22, in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Barnett has written and commented extensively on the Affordable Care Act and represented the National Federal of Independent Businesses as its case against the ACA was presented before the Supreme Court last spring. Barnett will discuss the general implications of the court’s landmark decision, as well as fundamental misunderstandings he perceives among the legal academic community regarding the decision’s import. Barnett’s lecture, “Who Won the Obamacare Case (and Why Did So Many Law Professors Miss the Boat)?” precedes an article of the same name to be published in an upcoming edition of the Florida Law Review.

For additional information, contact the Florida Law Review at www.FloridaLawReview.com or 352-273-0670.

Electronic Discovery for the Small and Medium Case April 4-5

The University of Florida Levin College of Law and Electronic Discovery Reference Model are pleased to announce the first-of-its-kind conference devoted to “Electronic Discovery for the Small and Medium Case.” The conference will be held April 4 and 5, 2013, at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and will be broadcast live. Students may view the webcasts free of charge.

The conference will focus on solutions to the difficulties, issues, and decisions that attorneys face in competently and cost-effectively handling e-discovery in small and medium cases. The conference will feature demonstrations of a new generation of right-sized e-discovery software and tools for each phase of the e-discovery process in small and medium sized cases and include starter e-discovery toolkits for each in-person attendee.

The toolkits will contain trial licenses for e-discovery software used to preserve and collect electronically stored information (ESI) from desktops to the web; convert collected ESI to usable forms; perform rapid, powerful searches; and facilitate production of relevant, responsive ESI. Representatives from AccessData, Catalyst, Digital WarRoom, iConect, kCura, LexisNexis Litigation Solutions, Nuix, Pinpoint Labs, X1 Discovery and others will be on hand to demonstrate the ease and accessibility of their products – helping attendees test-drive their toolkits.

Online attendees will receive a limited version of the e-discovery toolkit; for the full toolkit you must attend in person.

Whether you attend in person or watch the live stream, don’t miss this chance to learn how to translate e-discovery challenges into a winning strategies.

For more information:

• Conference Website
• About ICAIR & the E-Discovery Project
• Conference Agenda

The Diversity and Community Relations Committee and OUTLaw (UF Law’s gay-straight alliance) are pleased to announce that Lauren Hannahs, director of LGBT Affairs at UF, will present the Gator Allies program at UF Law on Wednesday at noon in HOL 345. All are welcome.

Gator Allies is an educational opportunity offered by LGBT Affairs that focuses on relevant issues that affect the LGBTQ community, while offering the opportunity to engage with the question: what does it mean to be an ally to the LGBTQ community?

The Gator Allies program is designed to provide participants with:

• Increased awareness and understanding of current LGBTQ issues, and LGBT history
• Further understanding of heteronormativity and homophobia and how it affects everyone (not just LGBTQ people)
• Further understanding of what it means to be an ally to the LGBTQ community
• Skills and resources in being an ally across multiple contexts and communities

LIC Notes: vLex: A World of Information – with Translations

vLex is a database that provides access to current legal materials for 129 countries. While the exact materials available on vLex vary by country, they often include case law, legislation, regulations, gazettes, constitutions, legal books, journals and news coverage. Materials provided are generally in the official language of the country. vLex is able to automatically generate unofficial translations into 12 language options, including English.

The UF Legal Information Center provides access to vLex to UF faculty, staff, students, and UF Libraries visitors. The vLex link is located on our webpage under Foreign & Comparative Law Research: http://www.law.ufl.edu/library/library-information/find-a-database

If you are a UF faculty or staff member or a student and would like to access this database from home, you will need to follow our remote access procedures first.

Sixth annual Wolf Family Lecture March 13

The topic of the sixth annual Wolf Family Lecture on the American Law of Real Property on March 13 at 11 a.m. in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center is “Property Law and the Rise, Life, and Demise of Racially Restrictive Coveneants.” The lecture will feature Carol Rose, the Gordon Bradford Tweedy Professor Emeritus of Law and Organization and Professorial Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School.

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.

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.

Dean hosts Music Night March 17

Got a hidden musical talent? Show it off at the upcoming Music Night 2013 to be held Sunday, March 17, at 7 p.m. at the home of Dean Bob Jerry and his wife, Lisa. All students and faculty are invited – but the “ticket” to attend is that you must bring a dessert and agree to perform a musical piece (play an instrument or sing a song). A piano will be available. Each participant can bring one guest. Space is limited, so sign up is on a first-come, first-serve basis. To register, stop by the Dean’s Office and see Doris Perron.

CSRRR spring lecture, panel examines Trayvon Martin case on March 20

The Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations’ 10th annual Spring Lecture & Panel Discussions, “At Close Range: The Curious Case of Trayvon Martin,” will feature New York Times visual op-ed columnist Charles Blow. The event is March 20 in the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom, HOL 180.

Participants include UF faculty and graduate students from history, journalism, African-American studies, sociology, anthropology, law, education, political science, English, philosophy and health services research. Panelists will discuss a range of topics including racial bias and media perspectives and they will recommend policy changes.

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. Blow 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, Headline News’ The Joy Behar show, Fox News’ Fox and Friends, the BBC and Al Jazeera, as well as numerous radio programs.

32nd Annual Dunwody Distinguished Lecture in Law

The Florida Law Review welcomes Professor Randy Barnett as the 32nd Annual Dunwody Distinguished Lecturer in Law. Barnett, the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at the Georgetown University Law Center, will discuss the recent United States Supreme Court decision upholding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at 10 a.m. on Friday, March 22, in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center. The event is free and open to the public.

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. Barnett will discuss the general implications of the court’s landmark decision, as well as fundamental misunderstandings he perceives among the legal academic community regarding the decision’s import. Barnett’s lecture, “Who Won the Obamacare Case (and Why Did So Many Law Professors Miss the Boat)?” precedes an article of the same name to be published in an upcoming edition of the Florida Law Review.

For additional information, contact the Florida Law Review at www.FloridaLawReview.com or 352-273-0670.

Electronic Discovery for the Small and Medium Case April 4-5

The University of Florida Levin College of Law and Electronic Discovery Reference Model are pleased to announce the first-of-its-kind conference devoted to “Electronic Discovery for the Small and Medium Case.” The conference will be held April 4 and 5, 2013, at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and also will be broadcast live. Students may view the webcasts free of charge.

The conference will focus on solutions to the difficulties, issues, and decisions that attorneys face in competently and cost-effectively handling e-discovery in small and medium cases. The conference will feature demonstrations of a new generation of right-sized e-discovery software and tools for each phase of the e-discovery process in small and medium sized cases and include starter e-discovery toolkits for each in-person attendee.

For more information:

• Conference Website
• About ICAIR & the E-Discovery Project
• Conference Agenda

Vicki L. Been, Boxer Family Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, addresses UF Law as the Wolf Family Lecture speaker Feb. 28. (Photo by Nicole Safker)

Since New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office in 2002, the city has engaged in the rezoning of about 11,000 lots within its limits, which equals about one-quarter of its total land area. Even for one of the world’s largest cities, this is an unusually high level of rezoning, according to Vicki L. Been, Boxer Family Professor of Law at New York University School of Law.

As the guest lecturer for the fifth annual Wolf Family Lecture on American Law of Real Property, Been — who is also the director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at NYU Law — examined this peculiar situation with her presentation, “Who Controls Land Use Regulation: The Urban Growth Machine versus Homevoters,” Feb. 28 at UF Law.

Been conducted an empirical study that attempted to gain insight into the reasons for such a high rate of rezoning in the past decade in New York City.

“There’s a wide variety of views about what motivates the people who make land use decisions,” Been said at the lecture. “These are members of the planning commission, or the members of the city council that has to vote on planning commission proposals, the mayor, or administrative agencies like the zoning board of appeals.”

These ideas about decision makers’ motivation are usually categorized into several land use theories, Been said. In her study, she chose to focus on two of the most developed and potentially revealing theories: the Urban Growth Machine theory, which is “a sort of unmitigated attempt to grow the city or grow the community,” and the Homevoters theory, which is about “the control that the homeowners have over the land use decisions.”

Been looked at a selection of 100 lots that were rezoned between 2003 and 2009 and compared a number of factors, including whether the lots were “downzoned” (more restrictive), “upzoned” (less restrictive) or “non-FAR zoning” (no major changes in floor-area ratio). The non-FAR zoned areas often required any new construction to be consistent in looks with existing structures.

The study revealed that there was about a 2 percent increase in the housing capacity in New York City, which could accommodate approximately 230,000 people in the next decade, but it is projected that the city will need to be able to accommodate about 1 million people during that time.

The overall results of Been’s study did not reveal a clear-cut conclusion about which theory may be driving the rezoning decisions in New York City. Results show some support for the Urbam Growth Machine theory, while other results lean more toward the Homevoters theory than was anticipated for a city of New York’s size.

Been said the results reveal the difficulties in articulating how theories involving land use politics will play out in practice and caution against any kind of broad presumptions about motivations behind land use decisions.

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. Professor 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 Professor 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; and Joseph William Singer, Bussey Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.

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 will present the Wolf Family Lecture Tuesday at 11 a.m.

The fifth annual Wolf Family Lecture on the American Law of Real Property will explore pertinent issues facing land use regulation tomorrow.

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 will present, “Who Controls Land Use Regulation: The Urban Growth Machine versus Homevoters,” Tuesday at 11 a.m. in Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

“Professor Been is a leading land use scholar whom we’re fortunate to have as our Wolf Family Lecture speaker,” said Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Alyson Flournoy. “Her topic is one that has particular resonance here in Florida where the debate over growth management and citizen participation in the process has been so prominent.”

Been’s Furman Center recently received the MacArthur Foundation Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. The prestigious award recognizes the Furman Center as being one of the leading institutions addressing land use and housing issues in progressive and creative ways. Been specializes in land use regulation, property, and state and local governments.

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. Professor 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 United States Supreme Court.

The Wolf family’s strong ties to the University of Florida date back to the 1930s, when Professor 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; and Joseph William Singer, Bussey Professor of Law at the Harvard Law School.

The Wolf Family Lecture is free and open to the public.

Harvard Law Professor Joseph Singer delivered the fourth annual Wolf Family Lecture to students, faculty and guests Tuesday at UF Law. (Photo by Vincent Massaro)

By Alyssa Cameron
Law Student Writer

Harvard Law Professor Joseph Singer, a nationally recognized expert in property law, discussed what William the Conqueror, the subprime crisis and the Tea Party have in common before a packed audience Tuesday in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center.

The fourth annual Wolf Family Lecture titled, “Property Law as the Infrastructure of Democracy,” explored how American property law has served as the foundation for democracy in the United States.

Singer pointed out one bright side of the subprime crisis: that it would never again be difficult to explain to students why you cannot package certain kinds of property rights. He also finds it odd that the subprime crisis spurred the Tea Party, which believes that having a large government is negative, because the government should have provided more oversight of the financial industry.

Singer discussed the contradiction between traditional principles of contract law and property law. “You can’t have absolute freedom of contract and full ownership rights,” he said.

The question we should ask ourselves, he said, is “what are the minimum standards for market and property relationships in a free and democratic society that treats each person with equal concern and respect?”

The Wolf Family Lecture in the American Law of Real Property was endowed by a gift from UF Law Professor Michael Allan Wolf and his wife, Betty. The Wolf family organized the lecture series for several reasons, Wolf said, one of which was to bring outstanding property law experts to UF to expose them to the “excellent student body and our outstanding set of colleagues.”

Singer’s lecture will be published in Powell on Real Property, the most referenced real property treatise in the country. Wolf is the general editor of the 17-volume treatise and was “so happy Joe joined us and convinced us that the restraints of law can set you free.”

Fennell will be on the University of Florida Levin College of Law campus to deliver the Wolf Family Lecture in the American Law of Real Property. The free lecture, titled “Possession Puzzles,” will be held in the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom (room 180). The law school community is encouraged to attend.

Fennell said a primary rationale for property rights is the capacity to deliver the benefits of secure possession, but making property entitlements easier to break apart and alienate can also increase the risk of dispossession.

“Cutting back on the choices afforded to homeowners is an alternative that comes with a high price tag – diminished access to real property,” Fennell said. “During my lecture, I hope to provide insight on how relevant tradeoffs might be approached, and how property bundles might be structured in residential contexts to advance stable possession without sacrificing access.”

Fennell received her JD magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 1990. She came to the University of Chicago Law School as a Bigelow Fellow and Lecturer in Law in 1999, after practicing at Pettit & Martin, the State and Local Legal Center, Washington, D.C., and the Virginia School Boards Association. In 2001, she became an associate professor at the University of Texas School of Law and in 2004, an associate professor at the University of Illinois College of Law. She was promoted to professor at Illinois in 2006 and returned to the University of Chicago Law School faculty as a professor in 2007. Fennell is the author of The Unbounded Home: Property Values Beyond Property Lines (Yale University Press).

“In the past decade, Professor Fennell’s creative mind has produced some of the most provocative real property scholarship,” Wolf said. “We are very excited that she is joining the list of distinguished experts who have visited UF College of Law under the auspices of the Wolf Family Lecture.”

The lecture series was endowed by a gift from UF Law Professor Michael Allan Wolf and his wife, Betty. Wolf, the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, is the general editor of a 17-volume treatise, Powell on Real Property, the most referenced real property treatise in the country, which is regularly cited by the courts, including several citations in the U.S. Supreme Court. Last year, Wolf condensed the 60 year-old treatise into Powell on Real Property: Michael Allan Wolf Desk Edition (LexisNexis 2009) and recently co-authored Land Use Planning and the Environment: A Casebook (Eli Press).

“It is a great honor to join the list of accomplished speakers who have given the Wolf Family Lecture in the American Law of Real Property,” Fennell said. “I am excited to have the chance to exchange ideas with members of the university’s College of Law community on a property topic of such immediate relevance and enduring resonance.”

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, and Gregory S. Alexander, A. Robert Noll Professor of Law at Cornell Law School.

“U.S. courts are looking at the social responsibility of landowners to provide access for the health and sociability of the public,” Alexander said. “The state of New Jersey is taking the lead on this issue provoking new thoughts on private property and owners’ rights.”

Alexander explained that historically courts have ruled in favor of private landowners when challenged with land rights and access issues. But in 2005, the New Jersey Supreme Court narrowed the scope on private land ownership and broadened its view on social obligation.

“In its decision on Raleigh Avenue Beach Association v. Atlantis Beach Club, the court ruled that private, non-profit entities did not have unlimited rights to restrict public access,” Alexander said.

This ruling, based in part on an earlier NJ Supreme Court decision in Matthews v. Bay Head Improvement Association (1984), takes into account the availability and need of public access.

“The landmark ruling in 2005 by the New Jersey Supreme Court could set precedence for other states,” Alexander concluded.

The Wolf Family Lecture in the American Law of Real Property series was endowed by a gift from UF Law Professor Michael Allan Wolf and his wife, Betty. Wolf, the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, is the general editor of a 17-volume treatise, Powell on Real Property, the most referenced real- property treatise in the country, which is cited regularly by the courts, including several citations in the United States Supreme Court. The treatise is a legal source that lawyers, law professors and judges have relied upon for more than 50 years.

With so many new laws and regulations regarding shoreline land use, exclusion rights have become muddy. On March 17 at 2 p.m. a nationally known expert in property law will discuss this issue during the University of Florida Levin College of Law Second Annual Wolf Family Lecture in the American Law of Real Property.

Land-use, environmental and real property attorneys and zoning officials dealing with waterways, shoreline property owners and those interested in property law are invited to hear Gregory S. Alexander, a professor of law at Cornell University Law School, speak on “Ownership and Its Obligations: Public Access to Beaches and Other Encroachments on the Right to Exclude.” The event, being held at Holland Hall 180, is free and open to the public.

“I am humbled to be invited to deliver the Wolf Family Lecture, endowed and named by the family of one of this country’s most distinguished legal scholars of property law,” Alexander said. “I hope that my remarks concerning recent developments affecting the land owner’s right to exclude will befit the occasion and be of interest to the University of Florida College of Law community.”

The lecture series was endowed by a gift from UF Law Professor Michael Allan Wolf and his wife, Betty. Wolf, the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, is the general editor of a 17-volume treatise, Powell on Real Property, the most referenced real- property treatise in the country, which is cited regularly by the courts, including several citations in the United States Supreme Court. The treatise is a legal source that lawyers, law professors and judges have relied upon for more than 50 years.

“My wife and I are very excited about the selection of Professor Alexander as the speaker for the Wolf Family Lecture,” said Wolf. “He has chosen a timely topic of interest to continue the lecture series.”

Alexander is the A. Robert Noll Professor of Law at Cornell Law School where he has been a member of the faculty since 1985. Following his graduation from Northwestern University School of Law, he clerked for the Hon. George Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. After he completed further study as a Bigelow Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School, Alexander became a professor at the University of Georgia School of Law. Alexander is also a prolific and recognized writer. His most recent book is titled The Global Debate Over Constitutional Property: Lessons for American Takings Jurisprudence.

Danaya Wright, the UF Clarence J. TeSelle Professor of Law and a former student of Alexander, said lecture participants will gain valuable insights into property ownership and its obligations.

“For anyone concerned with public access to beaches and other natural resources, this lecture should prove very educational,” Wright said.

“Though I often encourage students to resist encroachments on public rights, I prefer they not get arrested,” Wright added with a smile. “Professor Alexander’s approach, if followed by more people, should make resistance less necessary and natural resources more accessible. You can’t beat that!”