GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida Levin College of Law welcomed Claire M. Germain on Monday as the new associate dean for legal information and Clarence J. TeSelle professor of law. Germain takes up her post at UF Law after leaving the Cornell University Law School as Edward Cornell law librarian and professor of law.

Germain holds law degrees from the University of Paris and Louisiana State University School of Law, and a master’s in law librarianship from the University of Denver.

Germain is an expert on all aspects of legal information, from digital libraries to rare books, and she writes and speaks frequently on these topics in the U.S., Europe, Canada, Brazil, China and South Korea. She teaches a course in French law and writes on comparative law, most recently on the French criminal jury. She has authored two books, including the award-winning “Germain’s Transnational Law Research,” and numerous articles.

She is actively advocating for the authentication of digital law, most recently at the Hague Conference on Private International Law in the Netherlands, and the introduction of a legal research test on the bar exam in the United States.

She has served as president of the American Association of Law Libraries, as chair of the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) Committee on Libraries and Technology, and as chair of the AALS Section on Law Libraries. She is currently secretary of the Law Libraries Section of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA).

She has served as a consultant to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Arusha, Tanzania, the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico Library, and the International Criminal Law Court in The Hague, Netherlands.

In 2007, Germain was honored with the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (Knight, Legion of Honor) medal, France’s highest honor, for her efforts in bridging the American and French legal cultures.

Germain replaces Emeritus Professor Kathleen Price, who retired in 2010 as associate dean for Library and Technology.

The University of Florida Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center is the largest law library in the Southeast. It has more than 600,000 volumes and is more than 100,000 square feet.

For additional information:

Rick Goldstein, UF Law Communications

352-273-0650 or goldstein@law.ufl.edu

The decision upheld the Florida Supreme Court ruling that the state can conduct beach-widening and reclaiming programs on eroded beaches – which could modify private property lines – without having to compensate private waterfront property owners. This could result in property owners losing private access to the beach and lower property values.

UF College of Law experts are available to discuss the case and the ramifications of the court’s decision.

Michael Allan Wolf – Wolf is the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, general editor of Powell on Property, a widely cited treatise on real property law, and author of several nationally recognized articles on regulatory takings law. His expertise includes property law, eminent domain and zoning. He can be reached at 352-273-0934 (office), 352-359-2497 (cell) or wolfm@law.ufl.edu. View his faculty page.

Danaya Wright – Wright is the Clarence TeSelle Professor of Law. Her expertise includes constitutional property law and property law. She is the author of several nationally recognized articles on regulatory takings law. She can be reached at 352-273-0946 or wrightdc@law.ufl.edu. View her faculty page.

The University of Florida has a broadcast studio equipped for live or live-to-tape interviews through our KU digital satellite uplink. For radio networks, we also have an ISDN live for clean audio interviews. To contact the UF College of Law Communications Office, call 352-273-0650 or e-mail mlwalker@law.ufl.edu.

The University of Florida has a broadcast studio equipped for live or live-to-tape interviews through our KU digital satellite uplink. For radio networks, we also have an ISDN live for clean audio interviews. To contact the UF College of Law Communication’s Office, call 352-273-0650 or e-mail semerson@law.ufl.edu.

Nov. 9, 2009 – Sullivan v. Florida (08-7621) and Graham v. Florida (08-7412)
The question: Whether the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishments prohibits the imprisonment of a juvenile for life without the possibility of parole as punishment for the juvenile’s commission of a non-homicide crime?

• Nancy Dowd — Dowd is the David H. Levin Chair in Family Law and director of the Center on Children and Families. The center signed one of the amicus briefs for these cases. Dowd’s expertise includes constitutional law, family law and civil rights. She can be reached at 352-273-0930 or dowd@law.ufl.edu. View her faculty page at http://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/dowd/.
• Lauren Fasig, Ph.D. — Fasig is a developmental psychologist, a professor of law and the director of research for the Center on Children and Families. She coordinates the center’s multidisciplinary projects and works closely with other faculty to provide a behavioral science perspective when considering child and family legal issues. Her expertise includes children’s rights, and child and adolescent behavior and development, including cognitive and psychosocial development. She can be reached at 352-273-0770 or fasig@law.ufl.edu.
• John Stinneford — Stinneford is an assistant professor of law and a cited authority in an amicus brief for Graham v. Florida. He is a former federal prosecutor with expertise in criminal law and sentencing. His current scholarship focuses on the historical underpinnings of the Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause, as well as the Due Process Clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Stinneford’s research is an effort to determine whether a deeper understanding of the original meaning and context of these constitutional provisions might help to make the Supreme Court’s current jurisprudence concerning constitutional limitations on punishment clearer and more practically effective. He can be reached at 352-273-0959 or jstinneford@law.ufl.edu. View his faculty page at http://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/stinneford/.
• Michael Seigel — Seigel is the UF Foundation Research Professor of Law and a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida. Seigel’s expertise includes criminal investigations and criminal law. He can be reached at 352-273-0914 or seigel@law.ufl.edu. View his faculty page at http://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/seigel/.
• Shani King — King is an assistant professor of law and co-director for the Center on Children and Families. His expertise includes children’s rights and family law. King’s professional experience includes serving as an attorney for San Francisco-based Legal Services for Children Inc. He can be reached at 352-273-0951 or kings@law.ufl.edu. View his faculty page at http://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/king/.

Dec. 2, 2009: Stop the Renourishment v. Florida Department of Environmental Protection (08-1151)
The question: The Florida Supreme Court invoked “nonexistent rules of state substantive law” to reverse 100 years of uniform holdings that littoral rights are constitutionally protected. In doing so, did the Florida Court’s decision cause a ”judicial taking” proscribed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution?

Is the Florida Supreme Court’s approval of a legislative scheme that eliminates constitutional littoral rights and replaces them with statutory rights a violation of the due process clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution?

Is the Florida Supreme Court’s approval of a legislative scheme that allows an executive agency to unilaterally modify a private landowner’s property boundary without a judicial hearing or the payment of just compensation a violation of the due process clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution?

• Michael Allen Wolf — Wolf is the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, general editor of Powell on Property, a widely cited treatise on real property law, and author of several nationally recognized articles on regulatory takings law. His expertise includes property law, eminent domain and zoning. He can be reached at 352-273-0934 or wolfm@law.ufl.edu. View his faculty page at http://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/wolf/.
• Danaya Wright — Wright is the Clarence TeSelle Professor of Law. Her expertise includes constitutional property law and property law. She is the author of several nationally recognized articles on regulatory takings law. She can be reached at 352-273-0946 or wrightdc@law.ufl.edu. View her faculty page at http://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/wrightd/.
• Thomas Ruppert — Ruppert is an assistant in environmental law, Center for Governmental Responsibility. His expertise includes coastal and marine law and environmental law. Ruppert participated in a legal and environmental panel exploring Stop the Renourishment v. Florida DEP. He can be reached at 352-273-0835 or ruppert@law.ufl.edu. View his faculty page at http://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/ruppert/.
• Mark Fenster — Fenster is the associate dean for faculty development and a professor of law. His expertise includes property law and land use law. He is the author of several nationally recognized articles on regulatory takings. His professional experience includes Environmental and Land Use Law Fellow with a San Francisco-based law firm that specializes in government, land use, natural resource and environmental law. He can be reached at 352-273-0962 or fenster@law.ufl.edu. View his faculty page at http://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/fenster/.
• Alyson Flournoy — Flournoy is the director of the Environmental & Land Use Law Program, and a professor of law. Her expertise includes environmental law, wetlands and property law. She can be reached at 352-273-0945 or flournoy@law.ufl.edu. View her faculty page at http://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/flournoy/.
• Tom Ankerson — Ankersen is the director of the Law Conservation Clinic, Center for Governmental Responsibility. His expertise includes environmental and land use law, water law, and marine and coastal law. He can be reached at 352-273-0840 or ankersen@law.ufl.edu. Visit his faculty page at http://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/ankersen/.

Dec. 7, 2009: Florida v. Powell (08-1175)
The question: Whether the decision of the Florida Supreme Court holding that a suspect must be expressly advised of his right to counsel during custodial interrogation, conflicts with Miranda v. Arizona and decisions of federal and state appellate courts.

And, if so, does the failure to provide express advice of the right to the presence of counsel during questioning vitiate Miranda warnings which advice of both (a) the right to talk to a lawyer “before questioning, and (b) the “right to use” the right to consult a lawyer “at any time” during questioning?

• Jerold Israel — Israel is professor emeritus with vast expertise in criminal procedure. He is the co-author of Criminal Procedure Treatise, one of the most frequently cited criminal procedure treatises, and co-author of the most-adopted criminal procedure course book which is used in more than 100 law schools. He can be reached at israelj@umich.edu. View his faculty page at http://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/israel/.
• Lea Johnston — Johnston is an assistant professor of law with expertise in criminal law and criminal procedure. Her scholarship focuses on the right to counsel and self representation. Her professional experience includes working as litigation associate, and serving as director of the Maryland Public Interest Research Group. She can be reached at 352-273-0794 or johnstonL@law.ufl.edu. View her faculty page at http://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/johnston/.
• John Stinneford — Stinneford is an assistant professor of law and a former federal prosecutor with expertise in criminal law and criminal procedure, including search and seizure, interrogation and sentencing. He can be reached at 352-273-0959 or jstinneford@law.ufl.edu. View his faculty page at http://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/stinneford/.
• George “Bob” Dekle — Dekle is the director of the Criminal Law Clinic – Prosecution, and a retired assistant state attorney. His expertise includes criminal law, interrogation and police. Dekle can be reached at 352-273-0815 or dekle@law.ufl.edu. View his faculty page at http://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/dekle/.
• Kenneth Nunn — Nunn is a professor of law and associate director for the Center on Children and Families. His expertise includes civil rights, criminal law and procedure. His professional experience includes serving as public defender in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. He can be reached at 352-273-0660 or nunn@law.ufl.edu. View his faculty page at http://www.law.ufl.edu/faculty/nunn/.

Hamann, an assistant director and research associate at UF’s College of Law Center for Governmental Responsibility, conducts research and teaches classes on water, wetlands, wildlife, watersheds and coastal law and policy. He is also a member of the faculty advisory committee to UF’s Water Institute.

“I have worked all of my professional life for the protection and wise use of Florida’s water resources and can imagine no greater honor than for Governor Crist to appoint me to this position,” Hamann said. “The St. Johns River Water Management District is one of the nation’s leading water management institutions. I look forward to working with the board, staff and the public to address the great challenges of managing water in this basin.”

The nine-member SJRWMD Governing Board sets the policies for operation of the agency that includes Nassau, Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Flagler, Volusia, Seminole, Brevard counties and portions of Baker, Alachua, Marion, Putnam, Lake, Orange, Osceola and Indian River counties. Members, who meet monthly, are appointed by the governor to four-year terms and serve without compensation. Confirmation in the Florida Senate of gubernatorial appointments to the water management districts’ boards will take place during the next session in 2010.

In addition to his research and teaching duties Hamann’s qualifications include previous work with the SJRWMD as chairman of the Orange Creek Basin Advisory Council and as a member of the Ocklawaha Basin Board. He has been chairman of the Environmental and Land Use Law Section of The Florida Bar, president of Florida Defender of the Environment and a member of the Bluebelt Commission and the Land and Water Planning task Force. He currently serves as the president of Three Rivers FNPC, a public charity that supports protection of the Ichetucknee River, and as a member of the boards of the Florid Wildlife Federation, Florida Defenders of the Environment, the Everglades Law Center and Alachua Conservation Trust.

GAINESVILLE, Fla.—University of Florida Law Professor Berta E. Hernández-Truyol has been awarded the 16th annual Clyde Ferguson Award from the Minority Law Section of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). The honor, named for one of the first African-American tenured professors at Harvard Law School, is “granted to an outstanding law teacher who in the course of his or her career has achieved excellence in the areas of public service, teaching and scholarship,” according to the AALS.

Hernández-Truyol, who was honored along with University of California, Berkeley Law Professor Angela Harris, received the award at the AALS annual meeting in New York Jan. 2-6, 2008. The honor recognizes Hernández-Truyol for her dedication to scholarship, teaching and public service. She is the second UF law professor to win the award in recent years, joining Kenneth Nunn, who was honored in 2001. The award, named in honor of Professor C. Clyde Ferguson, Jr., is granted to an outstanding law teacher who in the course of his or her career has achieved excellence in the areas of public service, teaching and scholarship. The award is particularly aimed at law teachers who have provided support, encouragement and mentoring to colleagues, students and aspiring legal educators.

“Professor Hernández-Truyol is a prolific scholar and a very fine teacher,” said UF Law Dean Robert Jerry. “Her writings have caused people to think deeply and sometimes differently about issues of justice and equality. We are very proud to have her on our faculty.”

An expert in international law and human rights, Hernández-Truyol joined the UF Law faculty and was appointed a Levin, Mabie & Levin Professor of Law in 2000. She previously was a professor at St. John’s University School of Law, where she also directed the International Women’s Human Rights Project of the Center for Law and Public Policy. During the late 1990s, Hernández-Truyol was an honorary senior fellow in the Institute for Legal Studies at the University of Wisconsin Law School and a visiting professor at Georgetown University Law Center. She also has been on law school faculties of the University of New Mexico and DePaul University. While in private practice, she was an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School.

Hernández-Truyol is one of the founders of the Latino Critical (LatCrit) Theory movement and is widely published. She is the editor of Moral Imperialism: A Critical Anthology (NYU Press 2002), and her articles have been published in numerous law reviews and journals. She is co-author of a forthcoming book (with Stephen J. Powell, director of the International Trade Law Program at UF’s Center for Governmental Responsibility) on trade and human rights, which will be published later this year by NYU Press. Hernández-Truyol was co-chair of the 2000-2001 law school Faculty Appointments Committee, helping the college pursue its diversity goals through hiring and retention. She also is active in the Association of American Law Schools (where she chaired the minority section), American Bar Association and American Society of International Law. She received her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, her law degree (cum laude) from Albany Law School of Union University and her master’s in law from New York University.

An authority on both criminal law and juvenile delinquency, Allen helped write the Model Penal Code of the American Law Institute and was theprincipal architect of the Illinois Criminal Code of 1961, which among other things decriminalized sexual acts between consenting adults of the same sex.

As a scholar, Allen focused on the punishment of offenders and the workings of agencies such as police, prosecutors and penal institutions, examining these in the light of constitutional law and fundamental legal principles of fairness, an approach that established a new agenda for legal research. He also upheld legal education as a humanistic discipline, showing how, in Justice Oliver Wendall Holmes’ words, the law was “a path to the world.”

According to fellow University of Florida law professor and close friend, Jerold H. Israel, “Frank was undoubtedly one of the foremost scholars of his generation, but he was much more–a wonderful colleague and a wise and generous mentor to many, including myself. His move to Florida was a major event in the development of our faculty, and attracted national attention. Perhaps the most prominent features of Frank’s writings, teaching and his everyday conversations were the thoughtful character of his analysis and his articulateness.”

Allen began teaching at the University of Florida in 1986 as the newly appointed Huber C. Hurst Eminent Scholar after retiring from University of Michigan as Edson R. Sunderland Professor Emeritus. Allen remained an emeritus professor even after he ceased teaching in 1994.

“My father enjoyed his time at Florida, first of all, because it gave him an opportunity to continue doing what he loved most–teaching law and showing students how the law can be a satisfying, lifelong intellectual pursuit. He also took great pleasure in interacting with the faculty, particularly young scholars whom he was able to counsel and assist in the early stages of their careers,” said his son, Neil Allen.

Allen wrote numerous articles and reviews and delivered guest lectures at many law schools. Allen’s books include The Borderland of Criminal Justice, The Crimes of Politics (originally delivered as the Holmes Lectures at Harvard), Law, Intellect and Education, The Decline of the Rehabilitative Ideal (Storrs Lectures, Yale), and Habits of Legality (Cooley Lectures, Michigan).

The son of a Methodist minister, Allen was born in Kansas City, Kan., in 1919. After high school in Aurora, Ill., he was educated at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, and Northwestern University law school. Upon graduation from law school in 1946, Allen served as clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred Vinson. After leaving the court, he became a member of the law faculties of Northwestern (1948-1953), Harvard (1953-1956), the University of Chicago (1956-1962 and 1963-1966) and the University of Michigan (1962-3 and 1966-1986), serving as dean of the Michigan law school from 1966-1971. He was elected President of the Association of American Law Schools in 1976.

Allen was a visiting professor at Northwestern, Boston College and the University of Chicago, a scholar in residence at the Rockefeller Foundation in Bellagio, Italy, twice was in residence at the Salzburg Seminar of American Studies, and was a visiting expert at UNAFEI, a United Nations agency concerned with the problems of criminal corrections, located in Japan.

Allen was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1971 and 1973. He received honorary degrees from Cornell College, the University of Victoria (British Columbia) and the University of Chicago, and received the Fellows Research Award of the American Bar Foundation. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1975.

Allen served in the United States Army Air Corps as a weatherman in WWII. He married June Walsh in 1947. She survives him, as do his brother William, sister Olive Thompson, son Neil, daughter-in law Roberta Allen, and grandchildren Jessica and Mark.

A service to celebrate his life will be held Friday, April 20 at noon in the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom the University of Florida Levin College of Law. A reception with June Allen and other members of the Allen family will follow.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Michael Gordon, an internationally known expert on corporate law, NAFTA, and international trade law, has been named the John H. and Mary Lou Dasburg Professor at the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law.

Gordon is the first person to hold the new endowed professorship, which was created earlier this year through a $1.5 million donation from UF law alumni John and Mary Lou Dasburg. Announced in April, the Dasburg’s gift is the largest sum ever given to the law school for a professorship.

“The Dasburgs established the professorship to strengthen the law school’s already firm foundation in corporate law,” said Dean Robert Jerry. “With his extensive background and record of scholarship in the law of international transactions, Michael Gordon is the perfect choice to be the first person to hold this position.”

A law professor at UF since 1968, Gordon is widely recognized as a leading scholar on corporate law, international transactions, and the North American Free Trade Agreement. He has served on four NAFTA dispute resolution panels, been a lecturer for the Council on Foreign Relations in the U.S. and for the U.S. State Department in more than two dozen countries, and written numerous books and articles on international business transactions.

Gordon said the new professorship will help fund the international travel that is a necessary part of his work. It will also enable the law school, at some time in the future, to search for a faculty member who might replace Gordon – someone with similar expertise in corporate and international law – when he retires.

“The value of a professorship of this sort far exceeds the cost to set it up,” said Gordon. “The Dasburgs have created a faculty position that will be here a hundred years from now, contributing to the intellectual life of the law school. Over the past 15 years, we’ve seen a number of these professorships established, and I think it’s a sign that this law school is moving in the right direction.”

The Dasburgs said they are glad to see Gordon appointed to the professorship.

“My wife and I both studied under Professor Gordon during our time in law school, and we found it to be a very rewarding experience,” said John Dasburg, CEO and co-owner of A-STAR Air Cargo, Inc. in Miami and vice chair of the Florida Board of Governors. “Michael Gordon is one of the law school’s great assets.”

In addition to his duties at A-STAR, Dasburg serves as vice chair of the Florida Board of Governors and is a former member of UF’s Board of Trustees and the UF Foundation Board. He is the former president of Northwest Airlines and former president, chairman and CEO of Burger King Corp.

Gordon said it is particularly gratifying to see his former students investing in the future of the law school.

“You teach because you like people, and it’s wonderful to see your former students developing into true leaders,” Gordon said. “The Dasburgs are a prime example of that.”

The Dasburgs’ gift will count in UF’s Faculty Initiative, a university-wide effort to raise $150 million to enhance classroom instruction and enable faculty members to conduct world-class research.

“By providing our scholars with the resources they need to do their research under the best possible conditions, we make UF even more attractive to prospective new faculty members,” Dean Jerry said. “We are very grateful to the Dasburgs for their support.”

That is one of the charges made in a new book, “Taming the Sharks: Towards a Cure for the High Cost Credit Market,” written by University of Florida Levin College of Law Assistant Professor Christopher Peterson and released nationally this week by University of Akron Press.

Peterson, who prior to joining the UF law faculty in 2003 was consumer attorney and lead lobbyist on predatory lending reform for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, contends “the contemporary American market for credit shows troubling signs of distress relative to the explosive growth of the high-cost consumer debt industry.”

“Fringe lenders are using dramatic changes in computer technology to penetrate into a market of struggling middle and working class families,” Peterson says. “We must find ways to use these same technologies to level the playing field for consumers.”

Peterson argues that “personal finance patterns of millions of Americans” are being transformed by payday loan outlet chains, automobile title loan companies, rent-to-own furnishing stores, pawnshops and some home mortgage lenders.

He notes the essential difference between mainstream creditors and “alternative finance lenders” is relatively expensive prices, increasingly referred to in federal and state laws as “high cost” loans – a concept that includes both interest and non-interest charges such as fees for origination, brokerage, processing and application; refinancing charges; penalties for late and early payments, and
“dozens of other creditor inventions which tend to obscure the true cost of a loan.”

“Taking advantage of established psychological tendencies of consumers, these lenders encourage individuals to borrow more than they want and at higher prices,” Peterson said. “High cost lenders target those consumers seeking an easy solution to tough financial problems, and then seal them into loans that cannot be paid off without great difficulty. High cost lenders also know that high cost loans can be habit forming.”

Hard hit by Peterson’s examples in the book are payday lenders, which the author notes can be charging an annual percentage rate for a transaction of more than 400 percent. Peterson claims that a 456 percent APR loan is not unusual, but that because the federal government does not collect data on payday lender interest rates, there are no firm nationwide statistics revealing payday loan prices.

Among regional evidence cited by Peterson:

• Indiana Department of Financial Institutions’ survey found the average Indiana payday loan interest rate was 498.75 percent, with one company offering a $100 loan at a $20 charge per day — or an annual percentage rate of 7,300 percent.
• North Carolina consumers purchase more than 60 percent of their payday loans at annual interest rates between 406 and 805 percent.
• Payday lenders in Salt Lake City charge an average rate of 528.49 percent.
• According to a survey by a consumer advocate coalition of lenders in 19 states and the District of Columbia, average payday loan interest rate is 474 percent.

“Fortunately there is a growing national debate over how to temper the harmful social consequences of fringe creditors,” Peterson said, “and a growing realization that the primary reason for the 1968 federal Truth in Lending Act – price disclosure – is being thwarted by reliance on information communication technologies invented no later than the mid-1950s. Policy makers have not transplanted into consumer credit law important regulatory techniques and technologies which subsequently have been developed, not the least of which is the ultimate contemporary communication device: the Internet.”

Peterson also points out that “harmful consequences of high cost indebtedness spill over onto people and institutions other than the borrower, who now may not be able to pay rent, utility bills, buy groceries, pay for day care, and in some cases seeking government relief due to insolvency. In effect, we all subsidize high cost lenders by absorbing the high cost loan consequences.”

Contact Information:
Assistant Professor Christopher Peterson (352.392.9351 / eMail: petersonC@law.ufl.edu)

Peterson earned his B.S. in political science, B.A. in honors philosophy – both cum laude – and his J.D. at the University of Utah. He is Phi Beta Kappa, and member of the Order of the Coif legal honor society. His UF law school courses include consumer law, secured transactions and creditor/debtor relations.