UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA LEVIN COLLEGE OF LAW
October 26, 2009 | Vol. XIII, Issue 9
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Faculty scholarship and activities

Dowd Nancy Dowd
Professor of Law
  • Nancy Dowd will be the editor of a new series of scholarly monographs to be published by NYU Press entitled Families, Law, and Society.
Little Joseph Little
Professor Emeritus
  • Oct. 15, 2009, ABC News.com
    Little provided his perspective on the case regarding compensation of a woman who was brutally attacked by a 200-pound chimp. The legal strategy may have some merit, said Joseph Little, a professor emeritus at the University of Florida Levin School of Law and a specialist in workers' compensation issues. He said the argument might prevail if lawyers can prove that there was a regular employment relationship between Nash and Travis' owner Sandra Herold, and taking care of the chimp was part of those duties."Although the facts here are unusual as is often true in extreme cases, I don't think the claim itself is so unusual. If you substitute the chimp for a dangerous machine, it doesn't seem so unlikely," said Little.
  • Oct. 18, 2009, Ocala Star Banner
    Little weighed in on a controversial Marion County School Board member and the tactics of her boyfriend who sits on the Marion County Zoning Board. Joe Little, an emeritus law professor at the University of Florida, said he believes Finn's actions were problematic but not illegal. "That kind of ugly bullying behavior in itself may not be illegal, but it may be considered immoral," Little said. "I would hope most people would not approve of a public official throwing their weight around like that."
  • Oct. 19, 2009, Florida Today
    Little told Florida Today reporter that if the citizens of Melbourne are unhappy with their city representatives, they can make a change during elections. If they are unhappy with the action of their public official, they would take care of it at the ballot box," said Joseph Little, a professor emeritus at University of Florida Levin College of Law.
McMahon Martin J. McMahon
Stephen C. O’Connell Professor of Law
  • Oct. 16, 2009
    McMahon spoke at the 57th Annual University of Montana School of Law Tax Institute in Missoula, Montana. His topic, presented jointly with Professor Daniel L. Simmons, University Of California at Davis School of Law, was “A Field Guide to Cancellation of Debt Income.” The paper McMahon and Simmons presented will be published in volume 63 of The Tax Lawyer (Spring 2010).
  • Oct. 19, 2009
    McMahon spoke at the 44th Annual Southern Federal Tax Institute, in Atlanta, Georgia. His topic, presented jointly with Professor Ira Shepard, University of Houston Law Center, was “Recent Developments in Federal Income Taxation.”
Rowe Elizabeth Rowe
Associate Professor
  • Rowe has published a chapter titled, "Dangers from the Inside: Employees as Threats to Trade Secrets," which appears in the recently-published book Harboring Data: Information Security, Law, and the Corporation (A. Matwyshn ed., Stanford University Press, 2009).
Seigel Michael Seigel
Professor of Law
  • Oct. 16, 2009, Ocala Star Banner
    Seigel provided his legal insight into the reduction of monthly restitution payments and the extension of time to pay back embezzled funds.
    "It's just a way to make the system whole," said Michael Seigel, a law professor at the University of Florida. "You're not supposed to be able to buy your way out of prison by promising to pay back victims."
  • Oct. 22, 2009, Sarasota Herald Tribune,
    Seigel provided his first hand experience regarding working with civilian panels. When I asked a University of Florida law professor about the pitfalls of civilian panels reviewing police practices, he didn't have to review research data to answer my questions. Michael Seigel was on such a panel himself recently, one created to review the campus police department's Taser policies. This was after the famous "Don't Tase me, bro" incident in which an outspoken UF student was forcefully removed from a campus auditorium during a speech by U.S. Sen. John Kerry. In the beginning, Seigel said, most panel members -- a mix of faculty and students -- were so highly critical of Tasers that he wondered if they'd reject almost all use of Tasers on campus. But Seigel, a former federal prosecutor, said things went suprisingly well. It took time, but the panel hammered out a rational Taser policy that police were happy with, though it did spell out restrictions for when police deal with nonviolent resistance. But I think Seigel provided the best answer: Making sure the panel's policy suggestions make sense depends on cops doing a good job explaining their work and their policies. If they can't do that, it won't be because civilians are too stupid to understand.
Sokol Danny Sokol
Assistant Professor
  • Sokol presented a paper titled, "Vertical restraints around the world: A comparative perspective" at a conference last week at University College London concerning EC Competition Law.