Fredric G. Levin College of Law

September 3, 2007 | Vol. XI, Issue 3

UF Law Commemorates Constitution Day Sept. 17

On September 17, 1787, 39 delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution of the United States of America. This year marks the 220th anniversary of that event, and to commemorate Constitution Day on Monday, Sept. 17, University of Florida Law Professor Chris Slobogin will speak, from noon to 1 p.m., in the UF Reitz Union Auditorium on "The Constitution and Surveillance by the Government." Refreshments will follow in the adjacent West Gallery.
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Career Services: Keeping Up With CCS Programming and Resources

The Center for Career Services offers myriad tools and services to aid you in your job search. Becoming familiar with these resources and taking responsibility for the information that is frequently updated is up to you. On Thursday, Aug. 23, the Center for Career Services hosted its Fall Kickoff Program, where the entire staff was available to offer a summary of the services and resources open to you. Programs such as the Fall Kickoff Program are designed to help you and to disseminate important information to you in a convenient and timely manner. Because of the large number of students at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, it is simply not possible for us to go over the vast amount of information and resources with each individual student. Please keep up with our information in these four valuable mechanisms of communication—FlaLaw Online, the website, our programs, and our Hotlines—so you don’t miss out.
READ MORE>>www.law.ufl.edu/flalawonline

Additional Career Services Articles
• Remote Interviewing Opportunities: Judges and Law Firms
• Programming This Week
• Please Complete Summer Experience Survey
• Important Upcoming Deadlines
• OCI Update: Think Before You Act

Career Spotlight: Erika Zimmerman

Within two years of graduating UF Law, Erika M. Zimmerman (JD 05) can already boast about negotiating major environmental settlements while loving her job at the same time. Zimmerman, who is a trial attorney in the Environment and Natural Resources Division with the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., pursues her passion for the environment by enforcing laws in the Pacific Northwest and Midwest area of the U.S. She got her start learning about environmental law while at UF Law, where she was a co-chairwoman of the 10th Annual Public Interest Environmental Conference hosted by UF Law.
READ MORE>>www.law.ufl.edu/flalawonline

American Constitution Society Honors UF as Chapter of the Year

The University of Florida Levin College of Law chapter of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy recently was recognized by the national organization as Chapter of the Year at its annual conference in Washington, D.C. The chapter, founded at UF in 2003, also received the Network Building Award for Continuing Commitment to Diversity. "The quantity and quality of our programming, as well as our willingness to collaborate with other student groups, earned us recognition on the national level," said Chapter President Adrian Chandler (pictured).
READ MORE>>www.law.ufl.edu/flalawonline

New Faces Among Faculty and Staff at UF Law

There are a number of new faces among faculty and staff at the Levin College of Law this fall. Assistant Professor Shani King has come to UF Law from San Francisco, where he was a staff attorney with Legal Services for Children. Assistant Legal Skills Professor Leslie Knight (pictured left) has joined the faculty from UF's Office of the General Counsel, where she continues to be Of Counsel to the University.
READ MORE>>www.law.ufl.edu/flalawonline

UF Law Faculty in New Books and In the Media

Read what UF Levin College of Law faculty are writing about in books and other scholarly articles, and what one professor has to say about the effect Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' resignation will have on the selection of a new U.S. attorney in Florida.


• Faculty Scholarship & Activities
• Faculty In The News
• 2007 Faculty Report

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News Briefs

Environmental & Land Use Law Program Potluck Reception
There will be a potluck reception for all Environmental & Land Use Law students and faculty at the home of Professor Mary Jane Angelo at 6 p.m., Friday, Sept. 7. RSVP to Lena Hinson at hinson@law.ufl.edu. Please let Lena know if you need directions to Professor Angelo’s home.

Environmental Moot Court Tryouts: Application Deadline Sept. 7
Interested in environmental law? Want to hone your brief-writing and appellate advocacy skills? Second-year students have the opportunity to try out for a coach in training position on the Environmental Moot Court team that will represent the University of Florida at the National Environmental Moot Court Competition in February 2008 in White Plains, NY. The student coach travels to the 2008 competition to support the team and participate in the 2009 competition as a full team member. This year more than 70 teams participated in this national competition. The application process includes a written submission (resume and argument section of your brief from Appellate Advocacy) and an oral argument tryout. Written submissions are due Friday, Sept. 7, by 4 p.m., in Room 319 Holland Hall. Oral argument tryouts will be held Sept. 10-11. For complete details, email Lena Hinson at elulp@law.ufl.edu.

Spring Semester Externships Meeting Sept. 4
A meeting to explain the externship program for Spring 2008 semester will be held at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 4, in Room 285B Holland Hall. Externship application information, including descriptions of available externships, will be distributed at the meeting. All students interested in applying for an externship during the Spring 2008 semester must attend this meeting.

Check Financial Aid Bulletin Board for Scholarship Opportunities
For scholarship opportunities, remember to check the Financial Aid Bulletin Board located around the corner from the Student Affairs Office. An email is also sent when a new scholarship posting comes through. You will be able to download most of the applications from the website indicated for each scholarship. If the posting indicates that the application is available in the Student Affairs Office, it will be available in the rack located by the front doors of the office.

Electronic Databases More Than Lexis and Westlaw
You know about LexisNexis and Westlaw, but the Legal Information Center (LIC) and the UF Libraries subscribe to many more databases that you may find interesting or helpful, especially if you are gearing up to write a note or a seminar paper, or working as a research assistant for a professor, or working on a research edit for a journal or law review.

HeinOnline has every law review and journal produced by a law school, from the first issue (LexisNexis and Westlaw do not go back that far.). BNA has over 100 separate publications on a wide array of legal topics (Antitrust, Corporate, Employment, Environmental, Ethics, Family, Health Care, Tax, and more). Making of Modern Law has U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs from 1832-1978 -- scanned images of the original documents.

These are only a few examples. Visit the LIC’s website at http://www.law.ufl.edu/lic/ and click the link for “Select online legal resources” for a more complete list. Talk to a Reference Librarian if you have questions (273-0723).

Legal Information Center Closed Saturday, Sept. 8

The Legal Information Center (LIC) will be closed Saturday, Sept. 8, and all Saturdays on which the University of Florida hosts a home football game (Sept. 15 and 29; and Nov. 3, 17, and 24). If you are looking for study space on those dates, most other campus libraries will be open. Bear in mind that you will not be able to park on campus, and will have to navigate large crowds.

Library West, which is UF's main library, has a beautiful new facility, with large study areas on the first through third floors, and the entire sixth floor is restricted to graduate students only. Visit their Circulation Desk (at the top of the escalators) to get your UF ID card activated for card-swipe access to the sixth floor. Library West also has study rooms similar to those at the LIC.

For more information about Library West and other campus libraries, including their hours and their policies, visit the UF Libraries website at http://www.uflib.ufl.edu. If you have any questions, contact a law librarian at the LIC at 273-0723.

Fall 2007 Class Gift Campaign Committee Members Needed
The UF Levin College of Law would not be what it is today without support from alumni all over the state and country. Now it is your chance to make a difference and leave a legacy for future generations of students.

Five committee members are needed for the Fall 2007 Class Gift campaign. Members help the class raise money for the class gift campaign, have the opportunity to network with alumni and are invited to join the Law Alumni Council (the law school’s volunteer board) upon graduation. If you have any questions about the committee or responsibilities, call Victoria Rudd in the Office of Development & Alumni Affairs at 273-0640 or email ruddv@law.ufl.edu, or email Neil Patel at com99@ufl.edu.

Attention Aspiring Lawyers and Nature Lovers
The Florida Law Review is pleased to announce that Molly McUsic will visit the Levin College of Law to give a lecture entitled “Cows, Trees, or Condos: Why Neither Markets Nor Regulation Can Protect Enough Land” at 1 p.m., Friday Sept. 7, in the Bailey Courtroom. McUsic is a noted jurist and law professor who is currently the executive director of the Wyss Foundation, a national organization that develops and promotes strategies for land conservation.

Call for Student Recruitment Team Applications
The Office of Admissions is seeking students, regardless of year, to help bring the nation’s top undergraduates to the Levin College of Law. Members of the team conduct campus tours, discuss their law school experiences with prospective law students and travel to cities around the state and nationwide for recruitment efforts, participate in panel discussions, and/or speak to UF organizations regarding admissions.

As a member of the Student Recruitment Team, students will be trained to answer inquiries from prospective law students. Two hours per week is the minimum time commitment for the program. If you are interested in becoming part of the team, contact Noemar Castro at castro@law.ufl.edu for an application form. The application deadline is Friday, Aug. 31, and applicants must be ready to attend a training session on Thursday, Sept. 6.

Loans Available for Bar Exam Expenses
Are you making plans to take the bar and wondering where you will come up with the financing necessary for these out of pocket expenses? There are private loan companies who will make Bar Exam loans to students who are in their final year of law school. These loans can be used for a student's living expenses while studying for the Bar, Bar prep classes and other Bar related expenses. You may borrow from as little as $500 to as much as $15,000. For more information regarding these private loans you should contact the lenders directly at:

• Access Group, 800 282-1550, www.Accessgroup.org
• Key Education Resources, 800 539-5363, www.Key.com/law

Moot Court Announces Intramural Tryout Competition
The University of Florida’s Justice Campbell Thornal Moot Court Team announces its Intramural Tryout Competition. One of the foremost national moot court teams, the team competes each year at over a dozen tournaments throughout the country.

New members are selected each fall from all third semester students who try out for the team. To be eligible, students must have completed appellate advocacy and be in good academic standing. The tryout process consists of writing a brief and performing two oral arguments; briefs are due Wednesday, Sept. 19, and oral arguments commence Wednesday, Sept. 26. The four best competitors in the intramural tryout will argue in front of a panel of prestigious judges at the Final Four Competition to be held Friday, Oct. 12. All law students in their second year and joint degree-seeking students with four remaining semesters (including this current semester) are invited to try out. Please note: The Justice Campbell Thormal Moot Court will hold only one intramural tryout competition for the 2007-2008 academic school year. Please join "Moot Court Tryout - Fall 2007" on TWEN for more information. If you have any questions, please contact Intramural Chair Elizabeth Faist at efaist@ufl.edu.

Trial Team Intramural Informational Meeting Tuesday
The next UF Trial Team Tryout Informational Meeting will be held Tuesday, Sept. 4, 6:30-7:30 p.m., in Room 382 Holland Hall. Interested students should attend the meeting if they did not attend the informational meeting on Aug. 27. Members of the team will be in attendance to explain the tryout process, and to answer any questions you may have. Tryout packets with the competition problem, rules and dates will be made available upon sign-up. All law students who are in their second year and/or have at least two remaining semesters following the semester in which they participate in the intramural competition are eligible to participate. If you cannot make it to one of the meetings, Trial Team members will be tabling in the courtyard through Wednesday, Sept. 5. If you have any questions, please contact Intramural Chair Karen Derby at ksderby@ufl.edu.

Reserve Your Table Now for the Student Organization Fair
The Levin College of Law's annual Student Organization Fair will be held Wednesday, Sept. 19, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., in the law school's Schott Courtyard. Reserve your table today at the Student Affairs reception desk.

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