In This Issue
News Briefs
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Paul Pakidis (3L) and Georgia Buckhalter (3L) were inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame in a ceremony April 3. The Hall of Fame is the highest recognition given to student leaders at UF and is limited to 25 students per year.
Levins critique Trial Team members during closing argument master class
The UF Trial Team had the unique opportunity to have accomplished trial lawyers Martin (JD 88) and Fredric Levin (JD 61) coach a private trial preparation and closing argument education session.
On March 30, father and son shared their insight on how to craft a closing argument, the importance of professionalism and the ways that voir dire can impact an entire trial.
Their wisdom was also shared with the student body during a Closing Argument Master Class, where the winner of the Trial Team's inaugural Closing Argument Competition was presented.
READ MORE »
Professionalism Symposium speaker: Greatest problem is injustice, not incivility
As she watches families come together and fall apart, Mary Day Coker keeps a scripture tucked away on her bench where only she can see it.
Coker, a Florida 8th Judicial Circuit Court judge, tells a room of attorneys and future lawyers what helps keep her grounded behind the bench.
It's a scripture passage she never reads aloud. She reads it to herself, reminding her of what should be guiding her day after day as she makes decisions about so many families' fates.
"Act justly and love mercifully," the passage begins.
READ MORE »
2L accepts diversity scholarship from national firm
Contending with the intricacies and subtleties of the law can be challenging enough for even the most intrepid law student.
Raciel Perez (2L) stood before his peers and five accomplished attorneys from national firm Becker & Poliakoff to accept the respected firm's Diversity Scholarship – and with it, a summer position with the firm and a $5,000 stipend for his 3L year.
Such opportunities are becoming more coveted as the economy continues to force layoffs and hiring freezes, so the firm must have seen something in Perez that set him apart from the other applicants.
READ MORE »
Student receives UF Law pro bono student of the year award for exceptional service
Nathan Wadlinger (3L) received the pro bono student of the year award and the pro bono certificate of highest achievement during a ceremony celebrating pro bono and volunteer student work at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.
Wadlinger logged more than 500 hours of pro bono work during his three years at UF Law. His work included assisting in research and drafting memos about the recent healthcare reform act; advising six local groups on tax issues; and participating with Volunteer Income Tax Assistance.
Professor Steven J. Willis, who worked closely with Wadlinger in these projects, said, "I am confident that no other student at the law school has worked as many pro bono hours during his or her time in law school, and he is deserving of some exceptional service award."
Meanwhile, the combined total of pro bono and volunteer hours worked among 284 graduating students reached an all-time high of 13,610 hours. A total of 2,233 hours went to community service work, and 11,714 hours consisted of pro bono work.
"This year's graduating 3L students did an amazing job, " said Christie E. Kelley, assistant director for Career Development.
Alumna deploys UF Law skills to rise through ranks of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Almost 30 years ago at the University of Florida, one law student embarked on a career of conservation of land, the environment and, eventually, cooking grease.
In July, Phyllis Harris (JD 85) was promoted to senior vice president and chief compliance officer for the largest private employer in the world: retail giant Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Among her duties, Harris oversees a grease recycling program.
"Several years ago, Wal-Mart's sustainability initiative really led the way for many retailers as a self-sustaining business model," Harris explained.
Wal-Mart provides grease interceptor maintenance and oil and water separator maintenance for its facilities.
READ MORE »
UF Trial Team makes Sweet Sixteen
UF Trial Team members Georgia Buckhalter (3L), Marissa Faerber (3L), Andrea Nieto (3L) and Kimberly Stewart (3L), led by coaches Tom Farkash (JD 76) and Dan Hogan (JD 11), competed March 29 through April 1 in the Inaugural South Texas Mock Trial Competition. After four rounds of competition, the UF team broke out of the pool of 40 teams to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. In the Sweet Sixteen, Faerber and Nieto competed as the plaintiffs against a team from Northern Kentucky. The UF team narrowly fell in what one judge described as "a coin toss" decision. Congratulations to the team for their achievements.
From left: Nieto, Stewart, Buckhalter and Faerber.
Center for Governmental Responsibility Fellows make a difference with public service
The Center for Governmental Responsibility Public Interest Law Fellowship program is a cooperative effort between The Florida Bar Foundation and CGR that began in the mid-1980s and provides low-income and indigent citizens with valuable legal assistance. The fellowships are financed by the foundation from Interest on Trust Accounts (IOTA) and more than $700,000 has been provided to help pay for the practical legal education of selected third-year law students. These students, supervised by licensed attorneys, gain hands-on experience as advocates for the poor and serve nonprofit and government agencies such as Florida Institutional Legal Services, Southern Legal Counsel, Three Rivers Legal Services, the state's Guardian ad Litem program and the 8th Circuit Public Defender's Office. Included as part of the students' nine-month commitment are projects to promote to the law school and greater community awareness of poverty issues and public interest, and a required course in poverty law. Read each Florida Bar Foundation Public Interest Law Fellows' article to learn more about their experience:
Faculty scholarship & activities
Professors Dekle, Jacobs, Lidsky, Mashburn, Nunn and Seigel were quoted in the media; Professor Sokol and Teresa Drake made presentations; and Dean Germain was invited to participate in a conference in Brussels.Faculty scholarship & activities »
News Briefs
Presentation "Google Books: Why Ursula Le Guin and Other Authors are Concerned" today at 6 p.m.
Jennifer Wondracek, Head of Research & Faculty Services at the Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center, will discuss a recent controversy caused by Google with its wholesale digitization of books for its Google Books project. It amassed a great deal of anger and criticism from authors who felt their copyright interests are being violated and who have struck back with a major lawsuit. The discussion today at 6 p.m. in the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom, HOL 180, will look at both sides of the issue and the progress of the court case.
Labarga to give keynote address, Mills to receive Distinguished Alumnus award at commencement
Justice Jorge Labarga (JD 79), who serves on the Florida Supreme Court, will be the keynote speaker during the Spring 2012 Commencement Ceremony May 11 at 2 p.m. in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Professor and Dean Emeritus Jon Mills will receive a UF Distinguished Alumnus Award and Professor George Dawson will give the Faculty Exhortation. The traditional reception will follow commencement and will be held at the college.
2L wins presidency of the Florida College Democrats
University of Florida Levin College of Law student Tim Mason (2L) was elected March 8 as president of the Florida College Democrats. The election was held during the College Democrats' annual convention held in Tallahassee, where 22 chapters voted for their new officials for the next school year.
Mason has been a member of the College Democrats for four years. Currently, he participates in a constitutional committee for the UF College Democrats and serves as a UF Supreme Court Justice. Before attending UF Law, Mason graduated from the University of Central Florida with a bachelor's degree in political science.
3L wins 2012 Florida Law Student Essay Contest
A UF Law student took home the first-place prize last month for her writings on digital discovery. Margaret Rowell Good (3L) won the 2012 Florida Law Student Essay Contest, which is sponsored by Florida Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company and the Young Lawyers Division of The Florida Bar. For her first-place finish with her essay, "Loyalty to the Process: Advocacy and Ethics in the Age of E-Discovery," Good will receive, among other benefits, $500 and recognition by the insurance compnay and YLD in June at the Florida Bar's annual convention in Orlando. Good serves the Florida Bar YLD as one of six representatives from UF Law, and she was previously an editor of the Florida Law Review. Good's essay will be published in the Florida Bar Journal's June issue. Upon graduation, Good plans to join the firm Matthews Eastmoore in Sarasota.
3L publishes two law review articles, awaits book publishing
Caroline Joan (Kay) S. Picart (3L) has published two law review articles in April 2012: "A Tango between Copyright and Critical Race Theory: Whiteness as Status Property in Balanchine's Ballets, Fuller's Serpentine Dance and Graham's Modern Dances," (Yeshiva University) 18 Cardozo Journal of Law & Gender 101 (forthcoming, April 2012). Also, "Colloquium Proceedings: Critical Pedagogy, Race/Gender & Intellectual Property 48" California Western Law Review 101 (forthcoming, April 2012).
Picart co-edited and co-authored the book Speaking of Monsters: A Teratological Anthology (Palgrave Macmillan), forthcoming in July 2012, and ten encyclopedia entries for Graphic Horror: Movie Monster Memories Ed. John Edgar Browning (Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.), forthcoming in June 2012.
Honor Code Committee announces new executive board
The University of Florida Levin College of Law Honor Code Committee is proud to announce its newly elected executive board for the 2012-2013 school year:
Chairman of the Honor Committee: David Emas;
Vice Chairman of the Honor Committee: Anthony Jones;
Director of Communication: Zach Foster;
and Secretary: Brett Owens.
Pictured from left, Owens, Emas, Jones and Foster.
Library extends hours for final exam study period
Hours at the Legal Information Center will be extended from April 13 to May 4 as follows:
April 13 – April 19: 7:30 a.m. - 2 a.m.;
April 20 - April 29: 7:30 a.m. - 4 a.m.;
April 30 - May 3: 7:30 a.m. - 2 a.m.; and
May 4: 7:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
CGR's 13th Annual Conference on Legal & Policy Issues in the Americas to be held May 21-22
The 13th Annual Conference on Legal & Policy Issues in the Americas, sponsored by the Center for Governmental Responsibility, will be held May 21-22 at the University of Buenos Aires Law School in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The conference will address issues of: Judicial Reform in Argentina; Current Directions and Solutions in Mediation; Teaching Comparative Law; Democracy and Privacy; A U.S.-Argentina Income Tax Treaty: Prospects and Considerations; Mercosur: Institutional Quality and Productive Integration; Economic and Political Rumblings in the Southern Cone: China, Doha, CELAC, MERCOSUR Expansion; Human Rights in Argentina; and Environment and Agriculture. A detailed agenda and registration information are available at: www.law.ufl.edu/cgr/conference. The registration deadline is May 4. The conference has been approved for 18.50 CLER Credits from The Florida Bar.
Jobs & Opportunities
Legal Writing department seeks legal writing and appellate advocacy teaching assistants
The Legal Writing department is accepting applications for teaching assistants for the 2012-2013 term. Applications are available at the Legal Research and Writing office – 213 MLAC.
Contribute to 2012 Class Gift, become member of Young Alumni Society
Contribute to the 2012 Class Gift today and become a member of the Young Alumni Society.
Membership benefits include: Exclusive networking events and mentorship opportunities with Law Alumni Council and College of Law Board of Trustees members; invitation to all regional Florida Law events in your area; recognition in UF LAW magazine; and preferred eligibility for Law Alumni Council Membership.
To join, make a pledge today.
Suggested annual dues are $100 a year for five years. All pledges/gifts for the Young Alumni Society will be directed to the College of Law Annual Fund (unrestricted). Your gift will count toward the Class of 2012's class gift campaign. Contact Grace Northern for questions at 352-273-0644 or northern@law.ufl.edu.
Jobs & Opportunities
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Legal Writing department seeks legal writing and appellate advocacy teaching assistants
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Contribute to 2012 Class Gift, become member of Young Alumni Society
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For more upcoming events, visit the events Web page. |
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LIC Hours
| Sun.: 10 a.m.-11:30 p.m. Mon.: 7:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m. Tues.: 7:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m. Wed.: 7:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m. Thurs.: 7:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m. Fri.: 7:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Sat.: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. |
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Extended hours for final exam study period; see brief below
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