UF Law Magazine -- Spring 2016

U N I V E R S I T Y O F F L O R I DA F R E D R I C G . L E V I N C O L L E G E O F L AW • S P R I N G 2 0 16

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT SEMESTER IN PRACTICE PREPARES STUDENTS FOR MAJOR LEGAL MARKETS NEW CONNECTIONS BETWEEN UF AND CHINA CESAR ALVAREZ’S BIG IDEA A VERY DEEP BENCH

Editor Associate Director of Communications Richard Goldstein Assistant Editor Assistant Director of Communications Matt Walker Senior Director of Communications Debra Amirin, APR Director of Outreach and Messaging Whitney Smith Senior Director of Development & Alumni Affairs Bill Turner Director of Development & Alumni Affairs Rick Miller Associate Director of Development & Alumni Affairs Matthew Hall Online Communications Manager JC Kirwan Contributing Writers Tim Groves (2L) Chantelle McHugh Contributing Photographers Julian Pinilla Maggie Powers (2L) Design JS Design Studio Correspondence / Address Changes flalaw@law.ufl.edu University of Florida Levin College of Law P. O. Box 117633 Gainesville, FL 32611-7633 For More Information UF LAW magazine is published by the University of Florida Levin College of Law, www.law.ufl.edu.

Cover: UF Law students work in Washington, D.C., during UF Law’s inaugural Semester in Practice Program.

24 Features 8

Global partnership

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Practice makes perfect

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From Cesar To CEO

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Judicial notice

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A very deep bench

An investment in UF Law’s relationship with China

Semester in Practice prepares students for major legal markets

ow Cesar Alvarez (JD 72) propelled GreenH berg Traurig into an international law firm

J ustice Clarence Thomas spends week teaching, mentoring UF Law community

UF Law produces hundreds of judges and clerks, and many return to its halls

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CONTENTS VOL. 52, ISSUE #2 SPRI NG 2016

4 DEAN’S MESSAGE 5 NEWS BRIEFS • • • • • •

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UF Law maintains top-tier ranking UF, University of Havana hold historic joint conference Nancy Dowd named Fulbright Distinguished Chair Faculty among most-cited legal scholars of all time Leonard H. Johnson (JD 80) joins UF board of trustees Fredric G. Levin (JD 61) and Martin Levin (JD 88) speak at UF Law commencement

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PARTNERS

• Support the Merit Scholars Initiative today

• Former Duke fundraiser Bill Turner leads development office

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CLASS NOTES • William Schifino Jr. (JD 85) to tackle legal representation, diversity as president of The Florida Bar • Robert Cuevas Jr. (JD 70), Miami-Dade county attorney, concludes 45 years of service • Mid-career law students build upon past law experiences

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FACULTY IN FOCUS • Research report • Faculty in the News

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UP AND COMING • Student, professor explain U.S. marriage equality to European audience

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WEB EXTRAS To view Web Extras, visit www.law.ufl.edu/uflaw • A short video of Clarence Thomas at UF Law • 2016 Commencement video • Alumni deaths reported since Oct. 15

FOLLOW UF Law today, links at www.law.ufl.edu:

FROM THE DEAN

UF Law continues to raise the bar I H AV E H A D T H E H O N O R A N D P L E AS U R E O F S E RV I N G as your

dean for nearly one year. During the past 10 months, I have been so impressed by the strength of our programs and the achievements of our students, faculty and alumni. In March, U.S News & World Report released the 2017 rankings of graduate programs, again ranking UF Law as the best law school in Florida and one of the top 50 law schools in the nation. While this was good news, I continue to believe UF Law has been significantly undervalued in these rankings, which are critical to recruiting the best law students and faculty to UF Law. I am thrilled to report that we have made substantial progress in our admissions efforts, receiving more than 2,600 applications for this cycle, the most since 2012. We are on track to admit about 35 percent of these applicants, and I predict that the class joining us in August will be one of the most highly credentialed and diverse classes in recent years.

I want to thank the many alumni who have mentored our prospective students, attended admissions events and supported our Merit Scholars Initiative.

In addition to bringing in a highly credentialed class this fall, we are committed to making UF Law the best possible place for our students, while also striving to raise our national and international profile. I am confident we can do so given our incredible student body, engaged faculty and committed alumni base.

Our students continue to win international, national and regional awards. Late this spring, 3L Dimitrios Peteves was named best oralist and 2L Ali Mirghahari was named “honorable mention” out of more than 1,200 international competitors in the Willem C. Vis Moot in Vienna. At the national level, 3Ls Rachel Harman and Jessica Kramer took first place in the John J. Gibbons National Criminal Procedure Moot Court Competition, where Kramer was also named the national “best oralist.” Our antitrust moot court team swept the Global Antitrust Institute Invitational Moot Court competition at the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, beating several top law schools. In the Southeast, our Black Law Students Association chapter captured the title of NBLSA’s Regional Chapter of the Year for the fourth consecutive year. At the university level, our students won several UF academic and service awards, and Kramer was inducted into the UF Hall of Fame.

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Our students have also written scholarship read by lawyers around the world. In January, Professor Danaya Wright and 3L Simone Chriss co-authored an article on same-sex marriage in the Italian law journal Genius. In April, Christopher Weeg, a 2015 UF Law alum who went on to earn a UF Law LL.M. in Taxation, won Bloomberg Law’s National Write-On Competition and was the first student published in the BNA Daily Tax Report.

We started several new and exciting student programs this year. We hosted our very first Alternative Spring Break program in Jacksonville and Immokalee, where our students provided pro bono and volunteer service to several organizations. In March, we taught our first Doing Business with Latin America spring break course in Miami, with the help of Greenberg Traurig; Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP; and Judge Paul Huck (JD 65).

Finally, we launched our pilot Semester in Practice program in Washington, D.C., and Miami, and we look forward to expanding the program to other legal markets next year.

Our faculty continue to publish scholarship that influences important legal debates, and this scholarship enriches students’ experiences in our classrooms every day.

In January, property law scholar Professor Michael Allan Wolf shared his classroom for a week with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Professor Lars Noah, who taught two sections of torts this year, was named among the top 250 legal scholars of all time by HeinOnline. In February, Professor Nancy Dowd was awarded a Fulbright Distinguished Chair, in recognition of her status as a leading family law professor and scholar. Late this spring, Professor Elizabeth Rowe, a prominent trade-secret scholar and intellectual property professor, was the first law school professor ever named to the UF Academy of Distinguished Teaching Scholars. Most recently, Professor Danny Sokol, an internationally recognized antitrust scholar, was named a UF Research Foundation Professor.

Our alumni network is one of UF Law’s greatest assets, and I appreciate the many ways you all support the law school.

I look forward to meeting more of you during campus and regional events later this year, many of which you can find listed on our website. I hope you enjoy reading several more updates throughout this issue of UF LAW.

Laura A. Rosenbury Dean and Levin, Mabie & Levin Professor of Law

UF L AW

UF LAW HAPPENINGS, EVENTS & ACHIEVEMENTS

At the University of Havana, UF Law and University of Havana faculty plan the historic conference between the two universities. (Photo

by Tim McLendon, JD 94)

News Briefs UF Law maintains top-tier ranking U F L AW M A I N TA I N E D I T S T O P - T I E R R A N K I N G in

U.S. News and World Report rankings released this spring.

UF Law was ranked 48th among the nation’s 205 accredited law schools.

“Rankings are important because they reflect our reputation on a national scale,” said UF Law Dean Laura A. Rosenbury, who has led an intensive review and revitalization of the law school’s academic and administrative programs since she became dean in July 2015. “UF Law has been significantly undervalued in these rankings, and we are working very hard to ensure future rankings accurately reflect the excellence of our faculty and educational programs.”

“As the best law school in the third most populous state, UF Law should enjoy a higher national profile,” said Rosenbury, who went on to note that UF Law would be ranked 37th in the nation if the rankings were based solely on faculty reputation.

“Reputational scores are one of the most important statistics in the U.S. News rankings,” said Rosenbury.

“Moving forward, I expect our overall ranking to be at least as high as our reputational scores.”

UF, University of Havana hold historic joint conference T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F F L O R I D A and the University of Havana held a historic two-day interdisciplinary conference May

9 and 10 in Havana for faculty, students, judges and lawyers.

“This event, and hopefully future opportunities, will situate UF at the forefront of re-establishing U.S. ties with Cuba, furthering the mission of UF to be nationally and internationally recognized for cutting-edge legal discourse,” said UF Law Dean Laura A. Rosenbury, Levin Mabie and Levin Professor of Law. The opportunity to hold a conference in Cuba arose when President Barack Obama re-established diplomatic and some economic relations between the two countries, breaking with more than 50 years of U.S. policy stretching deep into the Cold War. “This is part of our initiative to become one of the preeminent law schools in the United States for the study of Latin American legal systems and particularly the Cuban legal system

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UF LAW HAPPENINGS, EVENTS & ACHIEVEMENTS

because of our historical relationship with Cuba,” said Lyrissa Lidsky, UF Law Stephen C. O’Connell Professor, who organized the conference.

Conference topics included trade, foreign investment, family law, legal education and agricultural and environmental issues.

Nancy Dowd named Fulbright Scholar U F L AW PROFESSOR NANCY D O W D has

been awarded a Fulbright Distinguished Chair. Dowd, the David H. Levin Dowd Chair in Family Law, will serve as the Lund University Chair in Public International Law, honoring her scholarship and significant teaching and publication record. The Fulbright Commission annually awards approximately 40 distinguished chairs to American scholars in a range of disciplines.

She will focus predominantly on research as well as engage in teaching while associated with the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and Lund University, the largest higher education and research institution in the Nordic countries.

Dowd, who is the emeritus director of UF Law’s Center on Children and Families, will also focus on comparative perspectives and human rights strategies for children, including experience in the implementation of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. Her work is part of a book

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under contract with NYU Press examining the developmental arc for male black children and exposing systemic inequalities.

“I am honored to have this opportunity to continue to explore strategies to challenge inequalities,” Dowd said. “Our embrace of the importance of a developmental lens to construct meaningful equality is at the core of the analysis that leads to strategies to ensure equality for all children and youth.”

court opinions and has been cited by more than 800 academic articles and referenced in about 60 legal decisions.

Richmond’s work has been cited by more than 900 academic articles and cited in about 170 legal decisions.

“The inclusion of Noah, Blair and Richmond in this list is yet another example of the ways UF Law faculty impact national and international legal debates,” Dean Laura A. Rosenbury said.

Professors among most-cited legal scholars of all time

Leonard H. Johnson (JD 80) new member of the UF board of trustees

U F L AW PROFESSOR LARS NOAH,

Affiliate Professor Roger Blair and Adjunct Professor Noah Douglas Richmond have been recognized by the online database HeinOnline as three of the top 250 law authors of all time.

HeinOnline, the world’s largest and most highly recognized collection of legal journals, treatises, books, trial documents and legal decisions from more than 175 countries, calculated the list based on analysis of more than 100 million pages of documents in its law library.

Noah is an internationally influential scholar focusing on legal issues in science and technology. His articles have been cited in more than 1,400 academic articles and about 30 legal decisions.

Blair’s work focuses on clarifying the economic effects of statutes and

LEONARD H. J O H N S O N is

the newest Gator lawyer to join the UF board of trustees.

Johnson who was appointed by Johnson the Florida Board of Governors, is president-elect of the Gator Boosters board of directors.

As a member of Barnett, Bolt, Kirkwood, Long & Koche, P.A. in Tampa, Johnson focuses on real estate law, business law, banking law, construction law and land use and development law. He has represented banks and other businesses, as well as individual clients, with complex issues related to buying and selling real estate, financial transactions, construction disputes, and land use and development regulations.

He joins fellow UF Law alumni Rahul Patel (JD 97) and Robert B. Stern (JD 90) on the board.

UF L AW

NEWS BRIEFS

Class of 2016 W H E N F R E D R I C G . L E V I N ( J D 6 1 ) delivered the address at UF Law’s commencement on May 15 it was the first time the law school’s namesake had addressed the graduating class. A webcast of his speech is available to view on UF Law’s website at www. law.ufl.edu.

Levin, a shareholder in Pensacola’s Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Rafferty & Proctor, P.A., is an acclaimed personal injury trial lawyer and philanthropist who donated $10 million to UF Law in 1999, at the time the largest cash gift ever to the University of Florida. It was also the largest cash donation ever given to a public law school.

Levin has held the record for the largest jury award at various times during his 55 years as a practitioner. His most recent

Levin speaks at UF Law commencement honor was being named Trial Lawyer of the Year on April 21 by the National Trial Lawyers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to recognizing exceptional trial lawyers as crusaders for American justice.

In 1993, Levin drafted and was instrumental in passing the Florida Medicaid Third Party Recovery Act. That legislation opened the door to multi-billion dollar tobacco industry settlements nationwide in which states recovered the costs they incurred in treating the medical conditions of smokers.

Levin was diagnosed with lung cancer earlier this year. After treatment he was declared “cancer free,” Levin said during his Trial Lawyer of the Year acceptance speech. The award presentation can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ursvi5b5lXk.

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Global partnership An investment in UF Law’s relationship with China

BY CH A NTELLE Mc H UG H

Jane Sun with UF Law Dean Laura A. Rosenbury.

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UF L AW

A RECENT MAJOR G I F T will strengthen the global focus of UF Law by bringing top Chinese students to campus and placing UF Law students in Chinese companies. The $3 million gift from business executive Jane Sun to the UF Levin College of Law and the Warrington College of Business includes $1.8 million for the law school. The money will primarily be used to provide scholarships to students from China seeking to study at UF and to support UF student externships in China.

“The University of Florida can be a leader in helping students and businesses understand how to navigate the Chinese business community,” said Sun, a 1992 UF accounting graduate who is co-president and chief operating officer of CTrip.com, China’s leading travel services company. “Hopefully the relationship with UF will provide realworld experience to complement the firstclass education UF students are receiving in the classroom. The relationship between the U.S. and China has tremendous potential as long as communication continues. The University of Florida can play an important role in building this global partnership.”

UF President Kent Fuchs is promoting a greater role for the university on the world stage. He called Sun’s gift a major step in that direction.

“We strive to give our students both the educational foundation and the practical experience they need to succeed in a globalized economy,” Fuchs said. “Jane Sun’s generous gift will do a great deal to further those goals for UF law and business students pursuing work or careers in China, and they stand to benefit tremendously from those opportunities.”

UF Law Dean Laura A. Rosenbury, Levin, Mabie & Levin Professor of Law, emphasized the importance of the gift for UF Law. “This scholarship fund will enable us to build relationships with the very top law schools in China,” Rosenbury said. “We are thrilled at the prospect of having more students from China in our LL.M. and J.D. programs, and we are very excited that more of our existing J.D. students will be able to spend time in China exploring the intersection of law and business in a global context. This is a vital part of our strategy to raise UF’s international profile.”

UF Law Professors Wentong Zheng and D. Daniel Sokol already research Chinese law and regulatory and trade topics. Each also has relationships with faculty from Chinese law schools. Zheng, a China native, has written articles and done work with the

Business executive Jane Sun donated $3 million to UF Levin College of Law and the Warrington College of Business.

Her gift promotes ties between UF and China.

U.S. government on Chinese state capitalism.

Sokol has written articles on China’s antitrust law and trains Chinese judges.

“This gift allows us to be more ambitious in expanding our global footprint in research, teaching and policy initiatives,” Sokol said.

“It strengthens UF’s ability to compete with schools that have more established international programs, which greatly benefits our students.”

China has the second-largest economy behind the U.S, and its rapid growth makes it an ever-growing player in the global economy and the future practice of law. Sokol said U.S. businesses find themselves interacting with Chinese companies in matters involving competition (antitrust) law, intellectual

property, foreign contracts and intellectual arbitration and litigation.

This reality is motivating UF Law to strengthen its international programs, and Sun’s gift is making that possible. UF Law students will be immersed in Chinese companies, giving them practical experience in international markets. Meanwhile, more students will be recruited to UF Law from China.

“Expanding (these programs) will open our students’ eyes to an increasing global community and create a cultural understanding before they even leave law school, leading to richer experiences and higher cultural competency for our students when they begin to practice,” Sokol said.

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Sun with Nancy Baldwin (JD 93) and UF President Kent Fuchs. Sun calls Baldwin “mother” thanks to their close relationship formed when she came to UF Law during the 1990’s.

Experts say growing globalization law careers by offsetting overseas travel requires that even lawyers practicing expenses.

Bierley, a life member of exclusively in the United the UF Foundation who has States need to be familiar Sun’s gift practiced international law for 53 with the basics of foreign law. lays the years, praised the international “Lawyers in our increasingly globalized world groundwork for emphasis of UF President Fuchs need not only to know about understanding and Dean Rosenbury. He said Sun’s gift lays the groundwork the technical legal systems Chinese legal for understanding Chinese legal in other countries,” said Jack attitudes. attitudes.

Bierley (JD 63). “But even Professor Zheng pointed to more importantly, they need to know the mentality of the people that similar benefits of Sun’s gift.

“We want to prepare our students not just they are dealing with in another country or jurisdiction and how these people would to graduate, but to excel in their professions, interpret laws; the way they would observe so that they feel ready to enter the law field and take what they have learned to every them.”

Bierley and wife Tifi have endowed a corner of the world,” Zheng said. “Knowledge scholarship similar to Sun’s. The Jack and Tifi about how law works in countries like China Bierley International Law Scholarship helps is crucial for legal counseling and advocacy UF Law students prepare for international in today’s globalized world.”

What goes around …

Connections with UF Law faculty blossom into gift With husband John Wu, Jane Sun has given a combined $3 million to UF Law and the UF Warrington College of Business Administration.

So why would a UF accounting graduate and international business executive give $1.8 million to UF Law? For Jane Sun, it was the close relationship she formed with mentor Nancy Baldwin (JD 93), Nancy’s husband, UF Law Professor Fletcher Baldwin, and UF Law Professor Joe Little that inspired her to give to the UF Levin College of Law. Today, Sun is co-president and chief operating officer of China’s leading travel services company, CTrip.com. But back in 1988, she was a college student assigned to translate for UF Law Professor Joe Little during his stint as a visiting professor at the University of Beijing.

After Little returned to the U.S., Sun came to Gainesville in 1989 at the age of 20 and was admitted to a UF Law summer program, Introduction to American Law, directed by Professor Fletcher Baldwin and Nancy Baldwin. The program was designed to help lawyers throughout the world understand U.S. law.

During two consecutive summers in

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the program, Sun lived in a dorm alongside other international law students studying in the Introduction to American Law program.

“Her summers in the dorm are where she started to develop a sense of international education,” said Nancy Baldwin.

“Her sense of the necessary action between countries and students came from that time and interaction with all of the international students.”

Sun, also known as Sun Jie and “Sunny,” continued her education at UF and lived with the Baldwins for part of that time. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1992.

Nancy Baldwin, whom Sun considers a mother figure, noted that Sun also worked in the UF Law library during college.

“I’m not surprised Sun Jie would give such a donation. She loved the law school,” Nancy Baldwin said.

“Honoring Professor Little and the Baldwins was the reason for the gift,” Sun said. “I hope that it will empower UF to recruit the best students in China, essentially creating a stronger presence for UF in the minds of students, universities

Sun as an undergraduate at UF in the 1990’s with UF Law Professor Fletcher Baldwin.

and business.”

UF Law’s portion of the gift creates The Baldwin, Little, Sun and Wu Sunshine Scholarship.

The scholarship opens the door for conversations between students from UF and China while creating opportunities for young entrepreneurs.

UF L AW

Practice makes perfect Semester in Practice prepares students for major legal markets

UF Law students worked and studied in Washington, D.C., where they completed their last semester of law school this past spring.

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BY TI M G R OVES ( 2 L )

t the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., Brenton Goodman (3L) spends four days a week observing trials and researching and writing about issues related to witness proffers, pre-trial motions and voir dire. Goodman works in the Narcotic and Dangerous Drugs Section of the Department of Justice, whose mission is to keep illegal guns and drugs out of the United States.

Thanks to the Semester in Practice program, Goodman does this as an intern while also enrolled full time at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

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LEFT: Vincent Pulignano (3L) stands in front of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., where he worked during his Semester in Practice. CENTER: Chelsea A. Mayberry (3L), who worked for the House Ways and Means Committee, and Paige White (3L), who worked for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, are on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court. RIGHT: The Washington, D.C., UF Law Alumni group developed a model for assisting the budding Semester in Practice program. They are with Dean Laura A. Rosenbury and former Interim Dean George Dawson. (Photos provided)

“During a normal week, I go into work four days a week,” Goodman said. “I probably arrive around 8:30, leave around 5:30 or 6:30 Monday through Thursday. Fridays I try and stay in and do my two classes and do the homework.”

This semester, six students are participating in the program in Washington, D.C., and three are in Miami. From a modest beginning, UF Law Dean Laura A. Rosenbury expects the Semester in Practice to grow into a rite of passage for many UF Law graduates.

“This program provides the ultimate form of experiential learning: a total immersion in legal practice for an entire semester,” Rosenbury said. “Our students will better understand the rigors of legal practice, and they will be better positioned to find full-time jobs after graduation in the legal markets of their choice. Students will be supported by our alumni network every step of the way.”

Third-year law students taking advantage of this program work full time while staying on track for graduation. Students may either work in a paid position or receive externship credit. They are simultaneously enrolled in a two-credit Bridge to Practice course, focusing on substantive law relevant to their placements, as well as practical knowledge that will help launch their careers.

UF Law Professor Alyson Flournoy led the design and implementation of the program, initially called the Semester Away

Program, during her tenure as associate dean for academic affairs.

“We structured it so students could have the benefits of the experience, either paid employment or experiential learning through an externship, complemented by a Bridge to Practice course that provided professionalism skills, networking opportu-

Flournoy said faculty developed the Semester in Practice in response to UF Law alumni interested in bringing students into their workplaces.

“Alumni had expressed frustration in not having the opportunity to hire UF Law students during the semester because most of our alumni are not in Gainesville or the surrounding area,” she said.

“When it came to full-time employment, they already had established a relationship and had a chance to evaluate the work of their law clerks from other schools. It was hard to then just hire, sight unseen, UF Law students.”

The Bridge to Practice course is currently taught by faculty members in each city. The course is tailored to the externship placements of the students, which are quite diverse.

Yet every placement presents the opportunity to analyze legal practice in general and to help students develop their paths.

“One of the students is externing in the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office, and one is in the Miami-Dade County Public Defender’s Office. They are very much focused on criminal law,” said UF Law Professor Thomas Ankersen (JD 86), who coordinates the course offered to students in Miami. “The other student is in a totally different area. He is in Miami Beach with a firm working in immigration and entertainment law.”

“I hope they take away a job,” Ankersen said. “We want to put them in the position to do just that.”

“Our students will better understand the rigors of legal practice, and they will be better positioned to find full-time jobs.”

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—DEAN LAURA A. ROSENBURY

nities and the opportunity to learn about the practice in that city,” Flournoy said.

For Paige White (3L), the Semester in Practice meant immersion in the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia.

There she combed through discovery on a murder case, directed investigative teams, helped prepare an expert witness in a child sex-abuse trial and learned how to handle herself in the jail’s interviewing rooms. By the end of the semester she would take a job on the criminal defense team for the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem.

She said the D.C. experience smoothed the way for her public defender’s job in Harlem.

“I’ve seen a lot working there. They knew I would be able to come into an environment as fast-paced as New York and be fine,” White said.

UF L AW

An Alumni Assist U F L A W A L U M N I are making the law school’s Semester in Practice program possible, and not just by providing jobs for students.

As guest lecturers in Washington, D.C., and Miami, alumni enhanced the program in both cities, according to UF Law faculty who taught the classes.

In Miami, Professor Tom Ankersen (JD 86) has enlisted the help of what he calls his alumni support team, featuring Senior United States District Judge Paul Huck (JD 65), OAS Mediation founder Oscar Sanchez (JD 82), Boies, Schiller & Flexner associate Pedro Allende (JD 07) and Akerman partner Whitney Untiedt (JD 05), to help with the program.

“They are becoming an organized alumni group,” Ankersen said. “I think this program is providing the basis for creating something similar to what we already have in D.C. Those four are the beginning of that and I can’t say enough about them.”

Untiedt has been an adjunct faculty member at UF since 2007 when she began coaching the trial team and was looking for a way to stay connected to the law school after moving to Miami last year. She was excited when Ankersen got in touch with her so she could help expand the Gator Law Nation in Miami.

“We have alumni in Miami, but because of the strong presence of the South Florida law schools in the Miami community, the Orange and Blue is a little bit muted,” Untiedt said.

“Along with the other alumni down in South Florida, I am very much looking forward to changing the visibility of the Gator Nation down in Miami.”

In Washington, D.C., alumni have long supported UF Law summer interns, serving as the model for UF Law alumni in other cities. Led by Martha Cochran (JD 73), Bruce Hoffman (JD 92), Jonathan Zielinski (JD 05) and Erin Hines (JD 07), the Washington, D.C., UF Law alumni group’s advisory board has been involved with integrating UF Law students into the legal life of the capital city for a couple of years.

The new Semester in Practice program complements that role.

Each week in the Bridge to Practice course, students learn a different aspect of practicing law in the capital, with the assistance of alumni who work there. For example, Hoffman, partner at Hunton & Williams, lectured in UF Law Professor John Stinneford’s class about the basics of being a D.C. lawyer.

“I was very interested in doing what I could to become involved with

the law school alumni and help out,” said Hoffman, who serves as chair of the Washington, D.C., alumni advisory board.

Hoffman’s sentiments are common among the Wa s h i n g t o n , D.C., alumni base.

“In a lot of ways, that D.C. Hoffman alumni group is responsible for the critical components of what is now the Bridge to Practice class,” Stinneford said. “We are kind of standing on the shoulders of giants as it were.”

The D.C. alumni launched a lecture series two summers ago for UF students working in Washington, D.C. That program was renewed last year, and will continue this summer.

The Bridge to Practice course was designed with that summer lecture series in mind.

“For the component of the course that involved alumni, we looked at what they had done in the past and it looked like a really good selection of topics,” Stinneford said. “When we met them, we talked to the alumni board, and they reached out to find people who were willing to share their expertise.”

The support of the D.C. alumni group has been felt from the professors

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The Miami UF Law alumni group with students taking part in the Miami Semester in Practice.

to the students to everyone in between as the program has gone from creation to implementation. Stinneford described the group as “unbelievably strong,” while participating student Brenton Goodman (3L) said that the effort put forth by the D.C. alumni was “phenomenal.”

“I think you can talk to any of the alums who have been involved with it,” said Cochran, a former D.C alumni group chair and retired partner with Arnold & Porter. “The law school sent us off on our paths and did it very well. Mentoring and teaching current UF Law students is just part of what we ought to be doing as alums.”

Hoffman hopes to impart to students the seemingly endless array of opportunities available to them coming out of UF. He noted that a degree

“There is just a tremendous range of things you can do that I just had no concept of,” he said. “I think having the opportunity to come to a place like Washington, D.C., and spend a semester or the summer and have some exposure to all of these much more diverse career opportunities is a really valuable thing.”

Untiedt believes students have also gained a valuable entrée into Miami.

“We are people who can help make introductions.

We are people who can help them with those social aspects of a legal career that are so important,” Untiedt said.

“I think it can really be a great kickstarter to your career, as well as a way to enter a friendly network of people in the place you know you are going to be practicing.”

“Mentoring and teaching current UF Law students is just part of what we ought to be doing as alums.”

—MARTHA COCHRAN (JD 73)

from UF Law opens the door to judicial clerkships, a federal or state agency, Capitol Hill, think-tanks and public policy institutes, all of which were unknown to him when he began his legal education.

The Gator Nation T H E A LU M N I I N D.C . A R E S O H E L P F U L A N D CO M M I T T E D to helping our students succeed. Whether in terms of mentorship or assisting with a job search, I have found the Gator Nation to be there every step of the way. Because of UF Law Environmental Program’s connections, I was able to meet Mark Brown (JD 93), a DOJ attorney and UF alum who is very committed to our students. It’s those kinds of connections that will enable me to find a position in D.C. or in Florida after I graduate in May. —KEVIN BAKER (3L), from the UF Law Admissions blog. Baker spent the spring semester in Washington, D.C., at the Environment & Natural Resources Division in the U.S. Department of Justice. For more from the blog go to www.law.ufl.edu/admissions/admissions-blog.

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FROM CESAR TO

CEO How Cesar Alvarez (JD 72) propelled Greenberg Traurig into an international law firm B Y M AT T WA L K E R

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Alvarez’s father, who attended law school with Fidel Castro, had no illusions about what was in store for Cuba.

The Alvarez brothers at their grandparents’ tobacco farm near Pinar del Rio, Cuba, with father Licinio Alvarez. From left are Arturo, Carlos and Cesar.

Thirteen-year-old Cesar Alvarez (JD 72) played atop the ferry with his younger brothers as it departed from Havana Harbor toward Key West. In his young mind it was just another day — he and his family were heading off for a summer vacation in the United States.

Alvarez saw his parents looking over the picturesque sea port, tears running down their faces. “I said to myself, ‘This is going to be a very, very tough vacation for us if my parents are fighting already.’”

Alvarez’s parents were not fighting.

They were looking at their homeland for what they understood would be the last time.

“June 28, 1960 — not that I remember,” Alvarez said, wryly, of the day his family left Cuba forever.

Alvarez’s father Licinio Alvarez, who attended law school with Fidel Castro at the University of Havana, had no illusions about what was in store for Cuba in the coming years. *** In 1997, 50-year-old Cesar Alvarez had earned a business degree, MBA and law degree — all from the University of Florida. He led a highly successful career in business law and was taking the reins

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as CEO of Greenberg Traurig, a Miamibased law firm of about 325 lawyers in eight different offices.

With his keen business sense, his father’s foresight and having identified a gap in legal services in the increasingly globalized world, Alvarez decided to take a risk. He said the world was consolidating, as was the legal business in the United States.

“When a business is consolidating around you, you have two ways of going at it,” Alvarez said. “One is that you do nothing … and somebody comes and acquires you. The other way is you create a growth strategy and you have people consolidate with you as you grow.”

Alvarez chose the latter and the plan paid off. Over the course of 13 years, Alvarez led Greenberg Traurig from 325 Miami-based attorneys to 1,850 attorneys in 36 locations in the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America.

He said in order to reach such heights, the firm had to come up with a strategy that addressed two questions: What would be their value added for clients, and why would lawyers want to be involved in their new platform?

Considering Greenberg Traurig’s lack of status at the time and relative isolation from the rest of the country, Alvarez said even once those questions were answered, a logical person would just stop right there. “However, as I like to say, we were too dumb to listen to the consultants who told us this was impossible.”

Alvarez said that up until that point in time, when a business needed highlevel legal representation, it would go to New York or Washington, D.C., to secure a firm that could meet its needs. But the lawyers at those firms weren’t necessarily certified to practice law in the state the business was based, so it would hire a local firm to help them with issues in that particular state.

“But as the world got more global, that was an incredibly inefficient and expensive way to handle a piece of business when you can go to Denver, for example, and find a really good lawyer there,” Alvarez said.

“So our value proposition to our clients was very simple,” Alvarez said.

“We can get you just as qualified a lawyer as you’re going to get in New York, but you’re going to get it in Denver and you’re going to pay Denver rates.”

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The system worked despite being told they would fail at each step, Alvarez said — first when they expanded into Fort Lauderdale, then Palm Beach, then Tallahassee and eventually into New York, Washington, Chicago and beyond.

UF Law Professor D. Daniel Sokol, a prolific legal scholar and expert on international and complex business issues, said Alvarez is a legal industry visionary.

“I think he’s actually one of the success stories, that if someone were to look at the history of law firms, he’d be a legal innovator. He took a Miami-based firm and he realized that there was a gap nationally for mid-market Fortune 1,000 companies to have high-quality legal service … and Greenberg expanded incredibly rapidly across the U.S.” *** Alvarez’s success goes back to his early days in the United States.

Most of the families who fled Cuba in the early ’60s settled in Little Havana, where they would find their Cuban friends, family and culture and hope to soon return to Cuba.

Alvarez’s father knew there was no going back, so he moved the family to North Miami where Alvarez attended high school as one of three minority students: two Cubans and one African-American.

“He forced us to assimilate into the American culture and to speak English almost immediately,” Alvarez said. “And a couple of months after I was here, I had to speak English because I couldn’t speak Spanish to anybody other than my brothers.”

Alvarez’s early command of the English language would be an advantage for him when it came time to head north to the University of Florida as an undergraduate,

“That has been my biggest asset, that I have those two degrees and I was able to combine the legal knowledge with the business knowledge so I can talk to clients in business with great ease, because I can talk their language,” he said. “They’re not interested in learning the legal side to talk to you.”

But when speaking with Alvarez’s colleagues, one gets the sense that Alvarez can speak to everyone with great ease.

Yosbel Ibarra is a 1994 UF graduate and co-chair of Greenberg Traurig’s Latin American and Iberian Practice. He is also co-hiring shareholder and regularly visits UF Law on recruiting missions.

“The first thing is that no one calls him Mr. Alvarez, everyone calls him Cesar,” Ibarra said. “He is the most approachable person you could think of. When we get together in the dining room that we have … anyone can go in and sit with Cesar, and actually most of the time you’ll see him sitting not among lawyers, but he’s sitting with the staff.” *** These days, Alvarez is Greenberg Traurig’s senior chairman, having stepped down as CEO in 2010. As Alvarez discusses those years when he led the firm through rapid expansion with such expertise and ease, it’s easy to forget what a feat it truly was.

“I think he’s one of the success stories, that if someone were to look at the history of law firms, he’d be a legal innovator.”

—UF LAW PROFESSOR D. DANIEL SOKOL

and he said it served him particularly well in business and law.

He said the ability to speak English was essential, and to be able to speak well was absolutely critical in those areas, where other fields like engineering and sciences were more heavily populated by Cubans, “because math and science and chemistry, they were the same in Cuba as they were here.”

Alvarez’s other secret weapon was the pursuit of his first passion, business.

ALL IN THE FAMILY C E SA R A LVA R EZ I S N ’ T T H E O N LY A LVA R EZ B R OT H E R TO M A K E H I S M A R K in the legal field.

His brothers, Arturo and Carlos Alvarez, have also made an impression on the Gator Nation and the world of law.

Arturo Alvarez (JD 72) graduated from UF with his BA in political science in 1970 and graduated from UF Law the same year as his brother Cesar. Arturo worked as an assistant state attorney for Miami-Dade County and as an assistant city attorney for Miami before moving into private practice specializing in criminal defense and complex civil litigation. He is currently of counsel with De La Pena Group. Arturo was also appointed by the Florida Supreme Court as a member of the Article V Task Force in 1994 and has been appointed to the nominating commissions of the 11th

The Alvarez brothers are awarded the Gran Caimán of the Year for 2015 from the UF Association of Hispanic Alumni. From left are Cesar, Carlos and Arturo Alvarez.

Judicial Circuit, the 3rd District Court of Appeal and the Florida Supreme Court.

He is a founding member of the Cuban American Bar Association and is an adjunct professor at UF Law. Carlos Alvarez is considered one of the greatest Florida Gator football players of all time, having been an All-Southeastern Conference and Consensus All-American wide receiver for the team.

He earned his B.A. in political science from UF in 1972. He attended law school

at Duke before returning to Florida to practice law. Carlos has served as the chairman of the Florida Elections Commission and as a member of the 2nd Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission. He was awarded the José Martí Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Cuban community from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. He currently heads a private mediation firm in Tallahassee and is an adjunct professor at UF Law.

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Alvarez was not only meeting with lawyers from other firms, he was also traveling to the firm’s new offices and visiting cities where the firm was considering opening potential new offices. In some years the company grew by 20 percent, meaning that they added at least 200 more lawyers to a firm of 1,000 — recruiting one, two and three at a time since Greenberg Traurig did not pursue mergers.

On top of that, Alvarez had to make sure current employees were coming to work, promoting the company’s vision and getting paid. He also noted that if a 1,000-lawyer company is operating at 99 percent efficiency, that means 10 lawyers have some kind of issue that must be addressed. Along the way, Alvarez was adding staff, business executives and other necessary infrastructure for a growing company.

“It took a toll. I did that for almost 15 years, so I can tell you that it’s pushing forward 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, and there were no days off for this,” Alvarez said. But he said the only real regret he has about the time is perhaps not spending as much time with his family as he should have.

“That’s something that I’m trying to make sure that I take care of now,” he said.

but he was called away to address a client matter in Tokyo.

Ibarra, who had already created the syllabus, said the change in plans worked out well because it allowed the students to hear from a host of international practitioners who are currently working at the firm as part of Greenberg’s foreign law-clerk program.

“We thought it was really important to have an understanding of the region because if you go into a country for a transaction and you don’t understand the particularities of that country, you could get yourself in a lot of trouble, apart from the legal issues involved,” Ibarra said.

Sokol said the course gave students a valuable insight into what dayto-day practice looks like and how to strategically counsel clients.

“This course represents just the first of several short courses we hope to offer to our students in Gainesville and beyond,” said UF Law Dean Laura A. Rosenbury. “The course exposed

our students to sophisticated practitioners, emphasized the increasingly global nature of legal practice and provided an opportunity for our students to see how corporate law doctrine plays out on the ground.”

The other full day of the course was hosted by Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, where former ABA President and UF Law alumnus Stephen N. Zack (JD 71) is administrative partner. Zack led the course, focusing half of the day on issues dealing with Cuba. The group also spent a half-day at transportation and logistics company Ryder System, Inc., which is headquartered in Miami.

Sokol said the students examined a case study from the Harvard Business School that analyzed the dynamics of business issues in Latin America while exploring risk profiles in various Latin American countries.

Doing Business with Latin America will be offered again for the spring 2017 semester.

—Matt Walker

LEARNING FROM THE EXPERTS D U R I N G S P R I N G B R E A K , a group of UF Law students went to Miami for the short course, Doing Business with Latin America. The one-credit, two-andhalf-day course was taught by UF Law Professors Lyrissa Lidsky and D. Daniel Sokol and featured a robust mix of U.S. and international practitioners as guest speakers.

The course explored a number of transactional issues, regulatory issues, and inbound and outbound investment issues that arise when doing business with Latin American countries.

Sokol said the course accomplished three goals for UF Law — it integrated legal reasoning and thinking to a practical setting for students, it allowed for outreach to the legal community in Miami and it expanded the school’s business law offerings.

“Our students were essentially getting something equivalent to high-quality CLE-type education,” Sokol said.

The first day of the course was hosted by Greenberg Traurig and facilitated

by Greenberg’s co-chair of the firm’s Latin American and Iberian Practice, Yosbel Ibarra, who holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Florida and a J.D. from New York University School of Law. Ibarra was initially slated to be the main Greenberg Traurig representative to teach the course that day,

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Judicial notice Justice Clarence Thomas spends week teaching, mentoring UF Law community B Y C H A N T E L L E M c H U G H | P H OTO S B Y J U L I A N P I N I L L A

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and third-year students who literally won a lottery for a seat in the class.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ Typically, Thomas remained in the opinions during his undergraduate years, classroom at least 45 minutes after the while he studied American History with scheduled end of class, sharing ideas with an emphasis on slavery, the Civil War and the full class and then chatting more inforthe Civil Rights Movement. Little did he mally with several students before he left imagine that one day he would have the op- for his next commitment. portunity to spend hours in class with the Thomas also made surprise visits to justice himself to explore his opinions and UF Law’s three first-year property sections, to share ideas with him and a few dozen taught by Professors Alyson Flournoy, other classmates on the crucial role legal Christine Klein and Danaya Wright. advocates and judges play in American “Almost immediately, Justice Thomas society. immersed himself in the flow of the class, “I’m not looking for a right answer,” challenging the students with hypothetiThomas told a cals designed to group of 40 UF explore the limits “The course was a Law students. “I’m of the governlooking for your ment’s power to success well beyond answer. I want to take property our already high know what you while paying just think.” expectations, primarily compensation,” Thomas packed said Wright. “He because Justice Thomas is relaxed yet deplenty into his stay in Gainesville from was eager to challenge manding in the Jan. 26–29. He coclassroom, and and to be challenged.” taught four days of the students did Property Rights and not want him to —UF LAW PROFESSOR MICHAEL ALLAN WOLF the U.S. Constituleave even when tion with Professor class was running Michael Allan Wolf, who invited Thomas an hour late.” to campus. Thomas also rotated into firstThomas encouraged students to deyear property classes to exchange ideas with termine what they hope to create for their students. He shared lunches and dinners communities and to carefully consider how with current and prospective UF Law stu- cases affect people’s lives. He stressed that dents, University of Florida President Kent the beauty of law school is in creating an Fuchs and several alumni. environment in which students can think “UF Law is honored that Justice Thom- through cases without an agenda and work as returned to our campus to co-teach a through competing considerations. course on property “I like being around bright young kids rights with Professor who are trying to figure things out honMichael Allan Wolf,” estly,” Thomas said. “I often walk away with Dean Laura A. Rosen- something powerful and with questions I bury said. “Justice can’t answer.”

Thomas was a truly “Because his two previous visits to delightful guest. He campus focused on public events, this even participated in time Justice Thomas wanted to take time an impromptu selfie for meaningful, in-depth, intellectual exWolf video with UF Presi- changes with students and faculty,” Wolf dent Kent Fuchs that said. “He wanted a more hands-on and perwas viewed by thousands of Twitter users sonal interaction. The course was a success around the world.” well beyond our already high expectations, The video is available on UF Law’s Twit- primarily because Justice Thomas was eager ter account or via http://bit.ly/1W4ycrw. to challenge and to be challenged.”

In the constitutional law class, Thomas Ben Silva said the justice focused studetailed cases concerning retroactive laws, dents’ critical attention on the Supreme due process, equal protection, eminent do- Court’s reasoning, while giving them inmain and regulatory takings with second- sight on judicial decision-making.

B E N S I LVA , A T H I R D - Y E A R L AW S T U D E N T , B E G A N R E A D I N G U.S.

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“Justice Thomas challenged us to always question why the Supreme Court’s precedents came out the way they did.”

—BEN SILVA (3L)

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Justice Thomas stressed that as advocates and leaders, students are obligated to sharpen what they know and think more deeply. Schools like UF Law are a great place to do so, he said.

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Prospective students have brunch with Justice Thomas at UF Law.

Senior U.S. District Court Judge Paul Huck (JD 65) shares stories with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas after Thomas had lunch with faculty and alumni.

Dean Rosenbury was honored by the ences and inspire us to really think through “Justice Thomas challenged us to alissues as people who may have the ability to ways question why the Supreme Court’s compliment.

“We are thrilled that Justice Thomas influence so much in the future.” precedents came out the way they did This event marks the ninth visit by a — to start with the core constitutional recognizes the quality of our students,” principle that the court is considering, said Rosenbury. “Justice Thomas is U.S. Supreme Court justice or former jusand then think about the history and one of the many judges, scholars, and tice since 2006. Before Thomas even left context of each decision,” said Silva. “He leaders who frequent our campus, sunny Florida for his return trip to Washwas impressed by our class’s eagerness to strengthening our national and interna- ington, D.C., he and Wolf were discussing the possibility of a follow-up course at UF dive into thorny issues, to bounce ideas tional profile.”

Law. off each other and Law’s relationship willingness to con“He was eager to not only talk about the withUFjudges also extends cede that there are no law, but to share his experiences and beyond the Supreme Court. easy answers. He said state and federal that is exactly how inspire us to really think through issues Numerous judges visit campus each the justices deliberate as people who may have the ability to semester to speak with and in their conferences.” mentor students.

Thomas spoke influence so much in the future.”

Thomas stressed that about inspiring the —NICOLE CUCCARO (2L) as advocates and leaders, next generation of students are obligated to great advocates, both sharpen what they know academically and in For 2L Nicole Cuccaro, it was a visit she and think more deeply. Schools like UF developing strong character. He noted that Law are a great place to do so, he said. he often chooses students from leading won’t forget.

“The beauty in being educated is realiz“I grew up reading his opinions, so it’s state law schools when selecting his clerks.

“I like state school kids. The only dif- amazing that he was here and we could have ing how much more you need to know and ference between my clerks who went to a candid discussion about those decisions,” fully understand,” Thomas said. “The people state schools versus Ivy League schools said Cuccaro, who spoke with Thomas at a who seem content are the people who know is debt — they’re brilliant but they have dinner for leaders of diverse student groups. the least. Am I going to know enough to help less debt. There is a ton of talent here,” “I’m thrilled that he was eager to not only the people who need help? That’s the way talk about the law, but to share his experi- you have to look at law school.”

Thomas said.

SUPREME COURT JUSTICES AT UF LAW OVER THE PAST DECADE 2006 - Justice Sandra Day O’Connor 2007 - Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg 2008 - Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

2008 - Justice John Paul Stevens 2010 - Justice Clarence Thomas 2011 - Justice Sandra Day O’Connor

2012 - Justice Clarence Thomas 2013 - Justice John Paul Stevens 2016 - Justice Clarence Thomas

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A very deep bench UF Law produces hundreds of judges and clerks, and many return to its halls

BY C H A N TE L L E M c H U G H

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T H E I N T E R I O R L I N I N G of the robe of Senior U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges (JD 58) is decorated with Gator icons – a daily reminder of his three UF degrees.

Nominated by President Richard Nixon in 1971, Judge Hodges assumed the bench in the Middle District of Florida before the age of 40. More than 40 years later, Judge Hodges now sits in Ocala on senior status.

Hodges is among a large and impressive group of UF Law graduates serving as state and federal judges.

In fact, the Federal Judicial Center ranks UF Law eighth in the nation for the number of degrees granted to

sitting federal judges as of 2014, and nearly 800 alumni have served as judges at all levels, according to a search of graduate records and publicly available records.

Among these alumni are some of Florida’s most notable leaders, including Jorge Labarga (JD 79), the current chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court. Labarga was named a distinguished alumnus of the University of Florida and last year spoke during UF Law’s commencement ceremonies.

“This is an impressive tribute to the quality of UF Law graduates, since only the best are chosen for judgeships,” says Professor Jon Mills (JD 71), UF Law’s

The all-Gator appellate panel that sat for the 11th Circuit Court in 2014 illustrates the strength of UF Law graduates in the federal judiciary. From left are U.S. District Court Judge William Terrell Hodges (JD 58), U.S. 11th Circuit Court Judge Peter T. Fay (JD 56) and U.S. District Court Judge Paul C. Huck (JD 65). All are now on senior status.

dean emeritus and director of the law school’s Center for Governmental Responsibility. As a member of the Florida Federal Judicial Nominating Commission, Mills makes recommendations for judicial appointments to U.S. Senators Ben Nelson and Marco Rubio of Florida. Nelson and Rubio in turn recommend federal judicial nominations to President Barack Obama and the Senate.

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Among the hundreds who apply to be nominated to each federal judgeship in Florida, only one makes the cut after a competitive month-long evaluation and interview process, Mills said.

“When we’re looking at applicants, we evaluate their entire career, including cases, their personal background, opinions from judges they have argued in front of and opponents they have argued against,” Mills said. “These say a lot about their character. But being a UF grad is always a good indicator of a sound legal education.”

Producing so many judges sets Mills UF Law apart from other law schools.

But the enthusiasm of judges from UF Law is even more impressive.

“They are so eager to pour knowledge into our students and actively involve themselves with what is happening on campus,” Mills said. “They come back as mentors and teachers, and that is an immeasurable resource that improves the quality of the education the students receive.”

In February, UF Law hosted federal judges and law clerks for an event with

Scholarship honors judge, alumna

Conway (JD 75)

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the North Central Florida Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Philip Lammens (JD 02), who in April was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida along with Patricia Barksdale (JD 96) for the Middle District, spoke at UF Law as part of a three-judge panel.

“In the bubble of law school, what you do really affects only yourself – they’re your grades and your opportunities,” Lammens told nearly 200 students. “But as an advocate, a judge or a lawyer, your actions and decisions affect real people.

You are no longer dealing with hypothetical situations. So how you study matters and what you do here matters.”

U.S. 9th Circuit Judge Richard Clifton echoed Lammens. “Law is a service field and that starts with what you put in now to develop your legal reasoning abilities.”

Michael Dupee (JD 92) and Erin Sales, law clerks who joined Lammens and Clifton on the panel, discussed the responsibilities students will have as advocates and how to best prepare themselves to represent their clients. Each shared anecdotes from past cases and day-to-day topics that arise in their offices and in the courtroom.

The panel, among many networking and enrichment events hosted by the law

U. S . D I ST R I C T J U D G E A N N E C .

CO N WAY ’ S ( J D 7 5 ) name will adorn a new

scholarship at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. “As former clerks, we felt a scholarship in the judge’s honor best embodied her generous personality and her love and dedication for public service and mentoring of recent law students and young lawyers,” said Jon M. Philipson (JD 11), a former law clerk for Conway who is spearheading the scholarship drive.

The Chief Judge Anne C. Conway Scholarship encapsulates Conway’s dedication to the legal community and intellectual contribution to the law. After serving on the bench in the Middle District of Florida since 1991, including serving as chief judge since 2008, Conway took senior status in 2015. She was appointed to a seven-year term beginning in May to the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in Washington, D.C.

Lammens (JD 02)

school, illustrates the connection between the judiciary and UF Law. The careers of some students and recent graduates are launched by judicial clerkships, and others return to take up the judge’s gavel midcareer. Further, current judges – alumni and non-alumni alike – help UF Law students understand their legal education in the context of the justice system.

Through the Peter T. Fay Jurist-inResidence program, judges come to UF Law to provide insights to students and faculty on a broad range of issues relating to judicial process, substantive law, trial and appellate advocacy and day-to-day practice. Clifton held that post in the spring 2016 semester.

The naming of the scholarship in her honor was presented to Conway by her former law clerks as her senior gift. Through May 1, $41,175 had been raised, with donations and pledges from 46 donors. The goal is to raise over $100,000, enough for one or more student scholarships every year.

Philipson clerked for Conway from 2011-2013 after interning with her during his time at UF Law. Since then he has worked on various projects with her, including co-authoring an article. To develop the scholarship, Philipson worked with Conway’s former law clerks; Jon Mills (JD 72), dean emeritus and director of UF Law’s Center for Governmental Responsibility; former Florida Bar President Gwynne Young (JD 74); and former Florida Bar President Mayanne Downs (JD 87).

To contribute to the Chief Judge Anne C. Conway Scholarship, contact Matthew Hall with Alumni Affairs at 352-273-0890 or visit: http:// bit.ly/1S837DP.

UF Law graduates employed by Judge Anne C. Conway (JD 75) since she took office in 1991 include: Grant Schnell (JD 13), Jon Philipson (JD 11), Tea Sisic (JD 10), Anne McAdams (JD 10), Kate Dozard (JD 06), Steve Branyon (JD 84) and Christine Bilodeau (JD 79)

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“There is no question that going to law In January, Supreme Court Justice holds so much prestige in my field is Clarence Thomas visited UF Law for a helping me interpret laws or judging my school here had a tremendous impact on week to co-teach Property Rights and the oral advocacy skills it’s going to make all my future,” Mickle told a group of UF Law U.S. Constitution with Professor Michael the difference in the level of my skillset students as part of a Black Law Students Allan Wolf, challenging students with hy- when I’m advocating and using what I’ve Association event. “It put me in touch with future leaders in our community and potheticals designed to encourage them to learned after graduation.” with people who make and think through the issues, rather will make major decisions on than giving the expected answer. how things are done in our During his stay he also dropped society. It taught me that bein on first-year property classes ing average will not carry you and had lunches and dinners to the finish line. Something with students and faculty. inside of you has to push to It was the ninth such visit work harder and be greater.” to UF Law by current and reThe power of UF Law tired Supreme Court justices —U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE STEPHAN P. MICKLE (JD 70) alumni in the judiciary exsince 2006, including Justices tends beyond Florida.

John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day Howard Brill (JD 70), for example, One of the law school’s most esteemed O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Chief Justice John Roberts, who judged alumni, U.S. District Court Judge Stephan P. the 2008 Justice Campbell Thornal Moot Mickle (JD 70), who like Hodges is also on Court Final Four Competition. Chief senior status, attested to the power of a UF Justice Earl Warren visited the law school Law education during a visit in the spring.

Mickle was the first African-American in 1969 to deliver the keynote address at the dedication ceremony of the Spessard to earn an undergraduate degree from UF (1965), to establish a law practice in L. Holland Law Center.

“The fact that as a first-year stu- Gainesville (1972), to become a county dent I can walk into my property class judge in Alachua County (1979), to and have a Supreme Court justice teach become a state circuit judge in the 8th Jume and challenge my interpretation of dicial Circuit (1984), to become a federal cases really adds immeasurable value judge in the Northern District of Florida to my degree,” said Brooklyn Rapchik- (1998) and to receive a UF distinguished Mickle (JD 70) Gaughen (1L). “When someone who alumnus award (1999).

“There is no question that going to law school here had a tremendous impact on my future.”

Connecting with clerkships

CLERKING IS A UNIQUE E X P E R I E N C E for lawyers and law

students. They apply what they learn in the classroom and gain new perspectives on legal issues. UF Law initiated the Judicial Clerkship Mentor program to connect students with recent graduates who have clerked for federal judges.

The program creates a pipeline in which alums guide students through the clerkship application process and provide insight on how to become more competitive applicants.

The UF Law Center for Career Development coordinates the program while collecting information on judges who are seeking clerks, connecting those judges with students through an online system or with faculty who can then recommend qualified students to judges. The Judicial Clerkship Committee, chaired by UF Law Professor Mark Fenster, works alongside these initiatives to promote post-graduate clerkships and help students apply for these opportunities.

Jerry Edwards (2L) has a line on a graduate clerkship a year and a half before graduating because judges approached Fenster and UF Law Professor Lea Johnston looking for a highly accomplished student with strong research, writing and analytic capabilities. Johnston was able to testify to the strength of Edwards’ abilities.

“The dean and faculty recognize the importance of judicial clerkships. We give students the opportunities they

need in order to secure them, whether through research assistantships, independent studies or extracurricular activities that demonstrate their ability to write and reason,” Johnston said.

UF Law’s strong Fenster relationship with the judiciary is a powerful resource as students build relationships, gain mentors and learn from those who are prominent in the fields they will soon enter.

“We help develop Johnston the reservoir of skills and resources necessary to make students into effective advocates upon graduation,” Johnston said.

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A panel of federal judges and clerks speak with UF Law students about the aspects of clerking.

From left are 9th U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Clifton, U.S. Magistrate Judge Gary Jones, U.S. Magistrate Judge Philip Lammens (JD 02) and law clerk Michael Dupee (JD 92).

Labarga X2 Florida chief justice to serve second term

Labarga (JD 79)

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F LO R I DA S U P R E M E CO U RT C H I E F J UST I C E J O R G E L A B A R G A (JD 79) has been

elected by the other members of the court to serve a second consecutive two-year term as chief. His new term begins July 1, and it will mark the first time since the Civil War that a chief justice has served consecutive terms.

“It is a privilege to serve the people of Florida,” Labarga said in a Florida Supreme Court news release. “My second term will continue the work started during the first – especially the efforts of the Access to Civil Justice Commission and implementation of both our new long-range plan and the first comprehensive

statewide communications plan developed for the state courts system.”

Labarga, the first Florida chief justice of Cuban descent, regularly returns to his alma mater where he judges moot court competitions, speaks to student groups and attends events such as the 40th anniversary of the Cuban-American Lawyers Program.

In 2014, Labarga became the 56th chief justice since Florida was granted statehood in 1845.

Before joining the Supreme Court in 2009, Labarga served as a trial judge in Palm Beach County. He presided over civil, criminal and family court cases.

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is chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court says you’ve written a thorough Leah Ward Sears of the Georgia Supreme Court. At the end of this year he will re- document, you know you’re learning the Court, the nation’s first female AfricanAmerican chief justice. turn to the University of Arkansas, where right things,” Butler said.

During the summer after her first Many students have found that, like he has taught since 1975. year, Manos clerked with U.S. UF Law alumna JaDawnya C. Federal Judge Paul Huck (JD Butler (JD 04) knew she wanted 65), who sponsors annual to practice law in Georgia after events at the federal courthouse graduation, but becoming a judge in Miami for UF Law students was not on her radar until she was to meet the legal elite of South encouraged years later by mentors.

Florida.

Today, she is a judge of the Atlanta “It was great because on top Municipal Court and credits some of learning a lot from him, he of her success to UF Law Professors is an alumnus who cares a lot Katheryn Russell-Brown and the —ATLANTA MUNICIPAL COURT JUDGE JaDAWNYA C. BUTLER (JD 04) about the judiciary and the law late Walter Weyrauch, as well as her school,” Manos said. “Last year experience as a clerk.

Butler says clerking affirmed her abili- Butler, clerking for a judge gave them alone he put on two networking events ties and helped to solidify the skills she hands-on opportunities to hone their for UF Law and had prominent attorneys writing and research skills, while giving from Florida come and meet students.” would use in the legal field.

Samanta Franchim (2L) had a similar “When a judge on the state Supreme them a glimpse behind the curtain of the experience clerking for U.S. District Judge judicial process.

“When you’re clerking with a judge Carlos Mendoza in Orlando.

“My first day on the job I got to help you’re researching issues, writing memos and briefs and sitting in on case hearings out with a trial and work on orders and and trials,” said Bianca Manos (2L). “It’s a memos,” Franchim said. Her work with different kind of preparedness because you Judge Mendoza helped her land an internsee what kind of arguments work and what ship the following summer with the Baker don’t. You get to see how the decisions are Hostetler firm, where she hopes to work made and that’s invaluable whether you after graduation.

“They really valued the work I did with want to be a judge one day or not.”

During her time at UF Law, Butler Judge Mendoza and the experience I got clerked for Judge Herbert Phipps on the as a clerk,” Franchim said. “I think that Butler (JD 04) Georgia Court of Appeals and for Justice contributed to my offer.”

“When a judge on the state Supreme Court says you’ve written a thorough document, you know you’re learning the right things.”

According to the Federal Judicial Center and other sources, UF Law alumni reach far and wide into the state and federal judiciary. Here are a few highlights: STAT E S U P R E M E CO U RTS

• Chief Justice Howard Brill (JD 70), Arkansas Supreme Court since 2015.

• Chief Justice Jorge Labarga (JD 79), Florida Supreme Court since 2009 and chief justice since 2014.

• In all, 15 alumni have served on the Florida Supreme Court.

PAST A N D P R E S E N T U. S .

C I R C U I T CO U RT J U D G E S

• Judge Rosemary Barkett (JD 70), 11th Circuit Court of Appeals from 1994 until her retirement in 2013. She is now an arbitrator on the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal.

• Judge Peter Fay (JD 56), 11th Circuit Court

of Appeals and 5th Circuit Court of Appeals since 1976, senior status since 1994.

• Judge Susan H. Black (JD 67), 11th Circuit Court of Appeals since 1992, senior status since 2011.

• Judge S. Jay Plager (JD 58), Federal Circuit Court of Appeals since 1989, senior status since 2000.

• Judge John M. Bryan Simpson (JD 26), 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and 5th Circuit Court of Appeals from 1966, senior status 1975 until his death in 1987.

Judicial material At least 796 UF Law alumni have held local, state and federal judgeships

FEDERAL JUDGES

• 58 alumni have served on the federal bench including as U.S. Courts of Appeals, district, magistrate, bankruptcy and federal circuit judges.

• UF is eighth among law schools for the number of degrees granted to sitting federal judges as of 2014.

Barkett (JD 70)

S P R I N G 2 0 1 6 29

DEVELOPM ENT & ALUM N I AFFAI RS

Partners

Support the Merit Scholars Initiative today T O R A I S E the national and international profile of UF Law, Dean Laura A. Rosenbury has made recruiting a highly credentialed and diverse class one of her top priorities.

The new Merit Scholars Initiative provides financial assistance to highly qualified applicants, bolstering UF Law’s ability to compete for students and raise the credentials of the incoming class.

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“Top students receive scholarship offers from multiple law schools, and we want to ensure that these applicants choose UF Law,” said Dean Rosenbury.

“Thanks to this initiative, we are on track to exceed our target goals for the Class of 2019.”

To support the Merit Scholars Initiative, visit https://www.uff.ufl.edu/appeals/ lawstudent or call the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs at 352-273-0643.

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PARTNERS

Turning the Tide Former Duke fundraiser Bill Turner leads development office

BY TI M G R OVES ( 2 L ) B I L L T U R N E R I S A M A N W I T H M A N Y interests and goals. He’s a former collegiate women’s golf coach, a semi-professional musician and actor and an avid runner. He also knows how to raise money for law schools, having done so at the University of Illinois College of Law and Duke University’s School of Law. Now he wants to help elevate the Levin College of Law as Senior Director of Development and Alumni Affairs.

“For fundraising to be successful, it’s important to emphasize what makes UF Law distinct while also utilizing best practices from aspirational institutions,” Turner said. “It was clear in the interview process that the search committee was interested in how my experiences at Illinois and Duke might transfer here.”

That wealth of knowledge was a big reason for UF Law’s recruitment of Turner. Turner started work in February, replacing Lauren Wilcox, who left UF Law in October 2014.

“Bill’s experiences at both public and private law schools made him an obvious choice to lead our development team,” said Dean Laura A. Rosenbury. “I am confident that he will usher in a new level of alumni engagement at UF Law.” Turner’s first priority is to help Rosenbury attract significant levels of support for UF Law’s Merit Scholarship Initiative.

“The main reason I accepted the job was because of Dean Rosenbury’s detailed strategy to increase the profile of UF Law and the important role of fundraising as part of the plan. As our alumni learn more about the dean’s strategy and begin to see the results, I’m optimistic they will want to lend their support in many ways.”

Turner is also passionate about increasing the percentage of alumni who contribute to UF Law. “I did a double take when I saw that the percentage of giving among our alumni was only 8 percent,” Turner said. “The alumni I’ve met so far seem to have a high level of Gator pride and are enthusiastic about the future of the law school. I hope more alumni will donate at whichever level they are comfortable. Many hands make light work.”

Of course, it also helps that UF Law currently has a rather appealing pitch to alumni. It’s a bid to build better-credentialed classes, impressive faculty, and a greater national and international profile: in other words, a more powerful law school.

“Many law schools are having similar conversations about ramping up alumni support because there is a perpetual arms race to recruit the best faculty and students,” Turner said. “To use a running analogy, the time for warming up is over. We are in the race now and need to be among the leaders.”

Turner has high expectations for the future of the law school and lofty goals for alumni contributions.

“I haven’t met anyone yet who is interested in UF Law staying right where we are,” Turner said. “But taking large steps forward requires sig-

Bill Turner is UF Law’s new Senior Director of Development and Alumni Affairs.

nificant resources so I have to be unapologetic about asking our alums to generously support UF Law and the faculty and students we are so privileged to serve.”

UF Law Professor Dennis Calfee, a longtime tax professor who served on the search committee that selected Turner, noted Turner’s broad fundraising background.

“Bill is a man of all seasons,” Calfee said. “He has fundraising experience at all levels, whether it be annual giving, mid-level or other contributions.”

Turner emphasizes that his job and his hopes for alumni engagement go far beyond asking for money, including student recruitment efforts, career development opportunities and more. As UF Law’s alumni engagement plan grows, Turner envisions more opportunities for alumni to connect among themselves.

“I expect a significant increase in regional alumni gatherings, not only in Florida but around the country. Slowly but surely, I’d also like to incorporate reunion opportunities on campus for classes and affinity groups. The plan will take time, but it will be worth it in the long run.”

While Illinois and Duke may score higher in national rankings, Turner sees advantages for UF Law that neither of these schools can boast.

“As the dean has mentioned often, we are the top-rated law school in the third largest state,” he said. “If UF Law was a stock, I’d say it’s been undervalued. Now is a great time to buy and co-invest in our future.”

S P R I N G 2 0 1 6 31

UF LAW ALUMNI LAURELS

CLASS NOTES S E N D YO U R C L AS S N OT E S to classnotes@law.ufl.edu or to: UF LAW magazine, Levin College of Law, University of Florida, P.O. Box 117633, Gainesville, FL 32611. Please limit submissions to 75 words or fewer by focusing on new endeavors and recognition.

1962 J. Charles “Charlie” Gray (LLB 58), shareholder and founding director in GrayRobinson’s Orlando office, was awarded the University of Central Florida’s Champions Award at the school’s Black Gold Gala Event. The Champions Award is given to an individual or corporation who has consistently advocated the cause of UCF and/or the UCF Alumni Association. It has only been given three times in UCF’s history.

1963 Bruce Rogow, founding professor of Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad College of Law, has been selected for inclusion in the 2016 edition of Best Lawyers in America for his work in appellate law, bet-the-company litigation, commercial litigation, white collar criminal defense, first amendment law and municipal litigation. This marks Rogow’s 29th year included on the list.

1966 Charles Baumberger, co-founding partner of Rossman, Baumberger, Reboso & Spier, P.A., has become national president of the American Board of Trial Advocates. ABOTA is dedicated to the preservation of the right of trial by jury, civility, professional education, providing civic education for our nation’s schools and to saving the civil justice system for future generations. Baumberger was elected to national leadership after his service to ABOTA, most recently as national first vice president and president-elect.

Stephen Rossman, co-founding partner of Rossman, Baumberger, Reboso & Spier, P.A., has received the Fran Peacock Coker FLABOTA Community Service Award from the American Board of Trial Advocates

Gray 62

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Rossman 66

Markus 73

and the Justice Joseph Story Award from the Dade County Bar Association. Both awards celebrate a lifetime of career excellence and advocacy on behalf of the powerless.

1968 Justus W. Reid, senior partner of Reid Burman Lebedeker, has been selected for inclusion in the 2016 edition of Best Lawyers in America for his work in personal injury litigation. Reid has been listed in Best Lawyers for more than 25 years and was also listed as one of the “Top Lawyers in 2016” in the South Florida Legal Guide.

Raleigh “Lee” W. Greene III, of Greene & Greene, Attorneys at Law, has been selected for inclusion in the 2016 edition of Best Lawyers in America in the fields of family law and family law mediation. Greene has also been named one of the “Florida Legal Elite” by Florida Trend for 2015 and is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

1974 John D. Dumbaugh, partner with Syprett Meshad in Sarasota, has become re-certified by The Florida Bar in the field of real estate law. His certification will continue through 2020.

1975

1970 Mercer K. Clarke, president and a founding principal of Clarke Silverglate, P.A, has been named “Lawyer of the Year” in the 2016 edition of Best Lawyers for his work in personal injury litigation. Clarke was also recognized in the product liability, construction and commercial litigation categories.

Joseph C. Mellichamp III was named Able Trust’s “Volunteer of the Year” for his work coordinating funding and logistics support for the Tallahassee Rotary’s Youth Leadership Forum over the last seven years. The forum is a leadership-training event for high school students with disabilities, aimed to empower young adults. Mellichamp has served in a leadership role with his Rotary, both volunteering for YLF duties and recruiting new volunteers, since 2008.

1973 Andrew J. Markus, shareholder in Carlton Fields’ Miami office, has been appointed chair of the Beacon Council’s International Committee for the 2015-2016 fiscal year. The Beacon

Greene 73

Council is Miami Dade County’s official economic development partnership and its committees include industry leaders and academic and community partners who examine issues and opportunities within an industry that enable or inhibit job growth.

Dumbaugh 74

Barry A. Abbott has been elected as a shareholder in Lane Powell. Abbot has extensive experience in corporate law and financial services and has represented numerous international and domestic institutions.

Larry D. Barnett, professor emeritus at the Widener University Delaware Law School, has authored a book titled Explaining Law: Macrosociological Theory and Empirical Evidence. The book was published by Brill in August 2015.

Christopher White, shareholder in GrayRobinson’s Jacksonville office, has been named to the Florida Coastal School of Law’s board of visitors. The board assists in policy and administrative issues with the school.

1976 Tyrie W. Boyer, circuit judge of the 4th Judicial Circuit of Florida, was recently honored by the Jacksonville Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates as “Jurist of the Year” (2015). “Florida Super Lawyer” for the 10th year in a row. Mark

Abbott 75

White 75

Boyer 76

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CLASS NOTES P. Buell, trial lawyer in Buell & Elligett, has become a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, one of the premier legal associations in North America. Buell specializes in eminent domain representing businesses and landowners, personal injury and commercial litigation.

1977 Jack Kirschenbaum, shareholder in GrayRobinson’s Melbourne law office, has become certified as a Florida Supreme Court circuit civil mediator. Kirschenbaum is an AV-rated experienced civil trial lawyer and has litigated and mediated cases for more than 30 years. His practice includes a variety of commercial litigation matters including business and contract disputes, eminent domain, family law and personal injury.

Dennis Wall co-authored Catastrophe Claims: Insurance Coverage for Natural and Man-Made Disasters.

1978

Tax Institute UF Law Dean Laura A. Rosenbury, left, and Lauren Detzel (JD 77) at the reception kicking off the third annual Florida Tax Institute in Tampa. Detzel, who was integral in founding the institute and is a past chair and current member of the steering committee, said that the April institute was the most successful to date, with nearly 350 registrants, including approximately 75 law students.

anniversary of the firm he founded, Eisinger, Brown, Lewis, Frankel & Chaiet, P.A.

chapter of the Exit Planning Institute.

The institute is a national organization for professionals who specialize in exit planning for individuals and their businesses. Klorfein was also recently named a 2015 “Five Star Financial Service Professional” for providing outstanding estate planning legal advice.

Scott N. Richardson, of Wellington, Florida, has been elected vice chair of The Florida Board of Bar Examiners by members of the board. His term will begin Nov. 1, 2016. Richardson is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and has served as a volunteer lawyer with the Center for International Legal Studies since 2006.

Philippe Jeck, managing partner of Jeck, Harris, Raynor & Jones, was elected to a two-year term as chair of the Palm Healthcare Foundation, Inc. board of trustees, a public health care foundation that addresses the needs of Palm Beach County residents. Jeck has also been nominated for the 12th annual “Leadership Excellence Award” presented by Leadership Palm Beach County, recognizing his contributions to improve his community.

1979

1981

1983

Virginia Bogue has been named a partner at Howick, Westfall & Kaplan, LLP. Bogue specializes in bankruptcy and creditors’ rights litigation and has been practicing law in Georgia for more than 10 years. Bogue graduated from the Leadership Academy of the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers and has been a lecturer on bankruptcy issues at various seminars.

Richard Comiter (LLMT, JD 80), senior partner of Comiter, Singer, Baseman & Braun, celebrated the inclusion of his firm in the 2015 Super Lawyers Business Edition as a “Top Law Firm in Florida” for its work in business and transaction. The firm was selected based on the number of its attorneys that have been included in the 2014 or 2015 editions of Super Lawyers and the quality of their work.

Kenneth Bush has concluded his term as president of the Miami chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates.

ABOTA is dedicated to the preservation of the right of trial by jury, civility, professional education, providing civic education for our nation’s schools and to saving the civil justice system for future generations.

1980

Stephen R. Klorfein, of Chaiken Klorfein LLC, has been selected to serve on the initial board of directors for the Georgia

Dennis Eisinger celebrated the 20-year

Kirschenbaum 77

Bogue 79

Eisinger 80

Comiter 81

Klorfein 81

Jeanne Trudeau Tate, of Tampa, has been appointed to the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission by Gov. Rick Scott. Her term will run from Oct. 22, 2015, to July 1, 2019.

John F. Eversole III, of Eversole & Associates in Miami, has been selected for inclusion in the 2015 edition of Best Lawyers in America and named a 2015

Tate 81

Bush 83

S P R I N G 2 0 1 6 33

CLASS NOTES

Vision 2016

Incoming Florida Bar President William Schifino Jr. (JD 85) speaks during a UF Law Center Association Board of Trustees meeting.

Alum to tackle legal representation, diversity as Florida Bar president B Y M AT T WA L K E R G AT O R L AW Y E R S D O M I N AT E the Florida legal elite, and on the other hand, we have way too many of our citizens not getting the legal services they need.” nowhere is this more apparent than the leadership of The Florida Bar. The Florida Bar is participating in the state Supreme Court’s Florida In June, William Schifino Jr. (JD 85) becomes the sixth UF Law alum in eight years to take the reins as president of The Florida Bar. Commission on Access to Civil Justice, Schifino said, as it searches for Since 1950, UF Law alumni have held more than half of the annual creative solutions to the problem.

Schifino, who is also a member of the UF Law Center Association terms of Florida Bar presidencies.

Board of Trustees, said he and the bar’s board of “With all the dynamics and all of the working governors are working closely with UF Law Dean pieces today, I don’t have a single issue but several “Some people talk areas I want to work on to benefit Florida attorneys, Laura A. Rosenbury and other law school deans in about too many citizens and law students,” Schifino said. the state to assess how to best equip law students lawyers, but on the to enter the practice of law, whether through One major component of his term will be seeing the Vision 2016 initiative to completion. Schifino’s other hand, we have classroom education or clinics.

“We want our students doing what’s appropriate law school classmate Eugene Pettis (JD 85) started way too many of our for them to be ready to practice law,” Schifino said. the program in 2013, when Pettis was serving as citizens not getting Florida Bar president. The Vision 2016 commission Diversity and inclusion will also be an important part of Schifino’s presidency. He said the legal aims to evaluate four main areas for possible the legal services profession and The Florida Bar will continue to strive improvements: bar admissions, legal education, they need.” to be true leaders in the area. technology and access to legal services.

Schifino is managing partner of Burr & Forman’s “We’ve known for decades now that we’ve had —WILLIAM SCHIFINO JR. (JD 85) a civil justice access issue with legal services and Tampa office, where he focuses on litigation and trial resolution in our courts, with representation being unaffordable not practice, including securities litigation and arbitration, professional only for those below the poverty line but also for the middle class,” malpractice litigation, employment litigation and intellectual property litigation. Schifino helped establish Williams, Schifino, Mangione Schifino said.

Although lawyers in Florida last year contributed approximately & Steady, P.A., as a founding shareholder, president and managing half a billion dollars in free legal services and millions of dollars in director. The firm combined with Burr & Forman in 2012. direct support, it’s just not enough, he said.

Schifino joins Pettis, Scott Hawkins (JD 83), Gwynne A. Young (JD “You’ve got (approximately) 75,000 lawyers serving 20 million 74), Mayanne Downs (JD 87) and John G. White III (JD 83) as UF Law people,” Schifino said. “Some people talk about too many lawyers, but alumni who have recently served as presidents of The Florida Bar.

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CLASS NOTES

Hawkins 83

Marraffino 84

Domnick 89

Scott G. Hawkins, former president of The Florida Bar, received the Palm Beach County Bar Association’s Judge Edward Rodgers Diversity Award at the bar’s annual Bench Bar Conference Luncheon in February. The award honors an individual who “cultivates and promotes diversity and gender initiatives that establish and foster a more inclusive and equitable work environment.”

1984

Donnelly 89

Fleming 89

1987 Harvey L. Jay has been appointed to the 1st District Court of Appeal by Gov. Rick Scott. Jay has served as a 4th Judicial Circuit judge since 2012 and was awarded the 2015 “Jurist of the Year Award” by the Jacksonville Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He fills a vacancy created by the resignation of Judge Simone Marstiller.

David Akins, shareholder in the estate and succession planning department of Dean, Mead, Egerton, Bloodworth, Capouano & Bozarth, P.A., has been elected a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. His election is based on reputation, skill and significant contributions to the field through writing, lecturing and participating in bar activities.

1988

Gwen A. Baumann, associate municipal judge of Plano, Texas, was appointed associate municipal judge of the city of Carrollton, Texas.

Spencer H. Silverglate, managing partner of Clarke Silverglate, served as a panelist at the Minority Mentoring Picnic in Miami. The panel gave advice to minority law students and provided opportunities for them to network with lawyers and judges in an informal environment. Silverglate was recognized by Best Lawyers for his work in labor and employment litigation, employment law and commercial litigation.

Lawrence Marraffino has been awarded the AV-Preeminent rating by Martindale-Hubbell based on recommendations of high levels of professional excellence from his peers. Marraffino was also named a “Top 100 Litigation Lawyer” in Florida by the American Society of Legal Advocates, and he has maintained a 10.0 AVVO rating since 2010. Marraffino is board-certified in civil trial law and focuses his practice on personal injury, family law and bankruptcy.

1985 Steven Ellison, partner in Broad and Cassel’s West Palm Beach office, has been selected for inclusion in the 2016 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

Reginald Garcia has published Second Chances: Florida Pardons, Restoration of Civil Rights, Gun Rights and More. The book is designed to help Florida’s convicted felons with transition, reentry, state licenses and jobs.

1986 Jennifer Taylor, general magistrate and hearing officer for the 18th Judicial Circuit Court, has been appointed as a judge to the 18th Judicial Court by Gov. Rick Scott.

Kevin Hyde, partner with Foley and Lardner, LLP, has been appointed to the University of North Florida board of trustees by Gov. Rick Scott. Hyde previously served as president of the Jacksonville City Council and chair of The Florida Bar Labor Employment Section.

Robert Wheeler, of Tallahassee, has been appointed to the 2nd Judicial Circuit Court by Gov. Rick Scott. Wheeler has served as a Leon County judge since 2010 and fills the vacancy left by the resignation of Judge Frank Sheffield.

1989 Sean C. Domnick, shareholder in the national plaintiff litigation firm Domnick Cunningham & Whalen, has been elected secretary of the Palm Beach County Justice Association for the 2016 term. Domnick served as past president of the Miami Dade Trial Lawyers Association and currently serves on the board of governors for the American Association for Justice. He is the 2015 recipient of the “Florida Justice Association BJ Masterson Award for Professionalism” and the Daily Business Review’s “Verdicts Hall of Fame” award.

Paul Donnelly has been included in Florida’s Best Lawyers for labor and employment law for the past 10 years and received an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell. Donnelly was also selected for inclusion in Florida Trend’s

Stein 89

Akin 90

“Legal Elite” (2015) and Florida Super Lawyers (2015). His firm, Donnelly and Gross, founded with Laura Gross (JD 90), was recognized in the 2016 edition of U.S. News’ “Best Law Firms.”

T. Mills Fleming, chair of HunterMaclean’s health care practice group and partner in the firm, has been selected for inclusion in the 2016 edition of Georgia Super Lawyers. Fleming was also honored with the 17th annual “Justice Robert Benham Award for Community Service” by the State Bar of Georgia and the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism, for his outstanding contributions in community service.

Lawrence Krutchik joined global strategic communications firm Hill+Knowlton Strategies as senior vice president of public affairs. Krutchik leads the agency’s West Coast public affairs practice, where he provides issues management, community engagement and crisis communications counsel as well as media training for executives and spokespersons.

Guy Norris, attorney with Norris and Norris P.A., has been appointed to the Commission on Ethics by Gov. Rick Scott. His term began December 2015 and will end in June 2017. Norris previously served as the chair of the 3rd Judicial Circuit Nominating Commission.

Jeffrey Paskert has been elected president of Mills Paskert Divers. Paskert was noted in the 2015 Super Lawyers list and listed by Best Lawyers in Tampa Bay, Florida and America.

Mark E. Stein, of Mark Stein Law, has been appointed as a team leader for the Social Media and Mobile Application Subcommittee for the International Trademark Association. Stein was named “Co-lawyer of the Year” by Florida’s Best Lawyers in America for his work in copyright law. He also received a tier 1 ranking in the 2016 edition of U.S. News’s “Best Law Firms.”

1990 Sherri D. Bailey Akin (LLMT) has joined ShuffieldLowman’s two Volusia County offices and Orlando office as of counsel. Akin practices in complex estate planning and tax law.

Steven Bernstein, managing partner in Fisher & Phillips’ Tampa office, has been appointed treasurer of the Greater Tampa Chamber of

S P R I N G 2 0 1 6 35

CLASS NOTES Commerce where he will oversee the chamber’s budget and ensure its funds are used to further its priorities. As a member of the executive committee, he will oversee chamber activities, determine strategic priorities and provide guidance to the organization.

Laura Gross has been included in Florida’s Best Lawyers for labor and employment law for the past 10 years and received an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell.

Gross was also selected for inclusion in Florida Trend’s “Legal Elite” (2015) and Florida Super Lawyers (2015). Her firm, Donnelly and Gross, founded with Paul Donnelly (JD 89), was recognized in the 2016 edition of U.S. News’ “Best Law Firms.”

David A. Wolf, partner with Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A. in Jacksonville, published his fifth book entitled Bikes, Trikes and Automobiles – Legal Rights of the Injured Cyclist. The book is provided as a free resource for injury victims and families dealing with the aftermath of a bicycle accident.

1991 Keith S. Grossman, founder and managing partner of Grossman Law & Conflict Management, has been awarded the Hugh E. Starnes “Think Outside the Box” award by the Association of Family Law Professionals. The award recognizes his leadership, critical thinking, innovation and dedication to non-adversarial practice.

Kevin F. O’Brien, Georgetown University’s vice president for mission and ministry, will become the dean of Santa Clara University’s Jesuit School of Theology in August.

Kimberly Rezanka, attorney with Dean Mead, has been appointed to the Commission on Ethics by Gov. Rick Scott. Her term began December 2015 and will end in June 2017.

Nelson C. Bellido, managing partner of Roig Lawyers’ Miami office, has been re-elected to the Miami-Dade County Fair & Expo board of directors and elected incoming chairperson.

Bellido also served on a panel in March at

36

qualified women candidates for Florida Bar committee appointments. Gerber has also been named chair of the subcommittee on law firm advancement.

John Guy has been appointed to the 4th Judicial Circuit Court as a judge by Gov. Rick Scott.

He has served as an assistant state attorney for the 4th Judicial Circuit and as managing director of the office since 1993.

Tim Cerio has rejoined GrayRobinson as a shareholder after serving as general counsel to Florida Gov. Rick Scott. Cerio focuses his practice on regulatory and health care law; administrative law, including representation of clients in regulatory, administrative and quasi-judicial proceedings; and complex litigation in state and federal courts.

D. Bruce Hoffman, head of the global competition practice at Hunton & Williams, has been recognized in Washington’s Best Lawyers and International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers for his accomplishments in antitrust and competition law. He was also named a “Washington, D.C. Super Lawyer” and ranked a leader in antitrust by Chambers and Partners.

He was recently admitted as a fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America, an invitation-only trial lawyer honor society.

Paul Militello, past president of the Citrus County Bar Association, has been appointed to the Sumter County Court by Gov. Rick Scott.

1993 Jed L. Frankel, partner with Eisinger, Brown, Lewis, Frankel & Chaiet, P.A., was certified by the Supreme Court of Florida as a circuit mediator for a two-year term.

Lawrence “Larry” Freiman, of MendenFreiman LLP, has been selected for inclusion in the 2016 edition of Georgia Super Lawyers based on research evaluation and peer reviews.

Carl V. Romano, partner in Broad and Cassel’s West Palm Beach office, has been selected for inclusion in the 2016 edition of Best Lawyers in America.

1994

1992

Gross 90

the 2016 Hispanic National Bar Association Corporate Counsel Conference. The panel, entitled “Judges that Google: the Ethics of Judicial Use of Internet Resources,” discussed the concerns of accuracy, fairness and permanency that comes from judicial searching and citing Internet materials.

Grossman 91

Tracy L. Gerber, co-managing shareholder in Greenberg Traurig, P.A.’s West Palm Beach office, has been appointed to the Florida Association of Women Lawyers standing committee on Member Advancement and Placement. The committee helps to vet

Bellido 92

Frankel 93

McClelland 96

1995

Douglas A. Harrison, an assistant city attorney with the city of Miami, has been reappointed by Gov. Rick Scott to the South Broward Hospital District board of commissioners for a four-year term.

1996 Dennis McClelland, partner in Phelps Dunbar’s Labor and Employment Group and newly named managing partner of Phelps Dunbar’s Tampa office, now serves as an editor-in-chief of the newly published third edition of The Fair Labor Standards Act. The volume is a nationally recognized legal treatise published by the American Bar Association’s Section of Labor and Employment Law and Bloomberg BNA.

1997 Brian D. Burgoon, of the Burgoon Law Firm, LLC, in Atlanta, was elected vice president of the UF Alumni Association and was re-elected as an out-of-state representative on The Florida Bar Board of Governors. Burgoon practices in the areas of civil and business litigation.

Jennifer Fowler-Hermes has become a counsel in the Sarasota firm Williams Parker Harrison Dietz & Getzen as part of the expansion of its Labor and Employment Practice Group.

Nicole L. Goetz, of Nicole L Goetz, P.L., has become treasurer of the family law section of The Florida Bar. For more than 10 years,

Burgoon 97

Fowler-Hermes 97

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CLASS NOTES

Goetz 97

Lazarus 97

Brown 00

Heilman 00

Gould 01

Pinnock 01

Goetz has been practicing exclusively in marital and family law at the trial and appellate levels. She has won multiple awards for her work with the family law section, and she frequently lectures on the topic of family law.

She has recently been admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court.

John Heilman has been named a shareholder in Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin. Heilman is a member of the firm’s casualty department and represents clients in retail liability, premises liability, product liability and automobile and trucking negligence.

Kevin R. Jones, an assistant city attorney with the City of Miami, has been named chief of the Labor and Employment Division.

2001

Jason Lazarus was presented with “The Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award” for the 15th Judicial Circuit in Tallahassee.

1998 Azim Saju, vice president and general counsel of the Hotel Development & Management Group, was selected as chairperson of the Choice Hotel Owners’ Council for the upcoming year. The council represents several thousand Choice Hotel franchises across North America. Saju also celebrated the opening of HDG’s 10th and 11th hotels in June and July, and opening of a 12th in January.

1999 Jennifer Bass, assistant state attorney for the 5th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office, has been appointed to the 5th Judicial Circuit Court by Gov. Rick Scott.

2000 Julie Brown was reappointed to a second two-year term as chairman of the Florida Public Service Commission by Gov. Rick Scott. Brown will lead the agency, addressing important utility issues affecting all Floridians.

Hunter Carroll, attorney with Matthews Eastmoore, has been appointed to the 12th Judicial Circuit Court by Gov. Rick Scott.

Carroll is president-elect of the Sarasota County Bar Association and has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America and Florida Trend’s “Legal Elite” list.

Bradley Gould, shareholder in Dean, Mead, Minton & Zwener, served as the moderator for the Current Developments Program in January. The program was held by the S Corporation Committee of the Section of Taxation of the American Bar Association.

Gould’s presentation discussed recent legislative, administrative and judicial developments relating to S corporations.

Joshua Heller was appointed as a federal administrative law judge.

Duane Pinnock, attorney with Boyes, Farina & Matwiczyk, P.A., has been selected as an honoree for UF Association of Black Alumni’s 2nd Annual Gator Greats networking and recognition reception. Pinnock was also named a “Top Lawyer” in South Florida Legal Guide’s 2016 edition based on peer nominations.

Coughlin 03

Finnegan 03

2002 Christopher Codling, of Givens Sparks, headed a trial team that settled a confidential six-figure property insurance case. The case was in litigation for more than two years.

Allen Winsor has been appointed to the 1st District Court of Appeal by Gov. Rick Scott.

Winsor serves as the solicitor general in the Office of the Florida Attorney General. He fills a vacancy created by the resignation of Judge Robert T. Benton (JD 70).

2003 Brian Coughlin has been appointed chair of The Florida Bar Professional Ethics Committee by incoming Florida Bar President William J. Schifino Jr. (JD 85).

Brian Dorn was elected to the board of directors for BioFlorida, Inc., the statewide organization representing Florida’s life science industries. Dorn also participated in the Naples Roundtable’s 2016 Patent Experts Conference, an invitation-only conference in which experts in patent law exchange ideas on how to improve the patent system.

Hall of Fame Frank A. Orlando (JD 63), right, is inducted into the UF College of Health and Human Performance’s Hall of Fame. Orlando, who is director of the Center for the Study of Youth Policy at Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad College of Law, served as a Florida circuit court judge for more than 20 years and has written extensively in the areas of mediation, juvenile justice and restorative justice.

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CLASS NOTES

Troy Finnegan, general counsel of Dr. Philips Charities, was elected president of the University Club of Orlando.

Larry Fleurantin, of Fleurantin, Francois & Antonin, P.A., recently published a coauthored article titled “Attorneys’ Fees on Appeal: Misapplication of the Law of the Case Raises Procedural and Substantive Due Process Concerns.”

Whalen J. Kuller has joined Hartman Simons & Wood’s Atlanta office as senior of counsel.

Kuller practices in the areas of acquisitions and divestitures, joint ventures, private equity and venture capital, crowdfunding, and public offerings and private placements of debt and equity securities and technology licensing.

Allison R. Sabocik, of Pankauski Law Firm PLLC in West Palm Beach, has earned a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rating based on peer reviews and recommendations.

This rating reflects the highest level of competency, ethics and professional excellence.

Sabocik focuses her practice on estate and trust litigation.

L. Elijah Stiers has founded Stiers Law, P.A., a boutique civil litigation firm located in Miami. The firm focuses on catastrophic personal injury, specializing in medical malpractice, wrongful death, auto negligence and general liability matters, as well as commercial and business litigation disputes.

Stiers has been recognized as a 2015 “Top 40 Under 40,” a “Rising Star” (2010-2015), “Up and Comer” (2011 and 2013), and has been given an AV Preeminent rating by Martindale-Hubbell.

2004 Brian Arthur (LLMT, JD 02), of Baker & McKenzie, has become a partner in the firm’s tax practice. Arthur practices in the areas of international and federal taxation, focusing on transfer pricing and federal income tax controversy matters.

Travis Hayes, vice chair of The Florida Bar Probate Rules Committee, along with Laird A. Lile, has formed Lile & Hayes, PLLC, a legal

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Stiers 03

practice specializing in estate and trust related matters. Hayes is a member of the Executive Council for the Real Property, Probate & Trust Law Section of The Florida Bar. He serves as vice chair of both the Probate Law and Procedure Committee and the Digital Assets and Information Study Committee. He serves on the board of directors of the Collier County Bar Foundation and has been named a “Top Up & Comer” by Florida Trend and a “Top 40 under 40 Trust and Estate Attorney in Florida” by the American Society of Legal Advocates.

2005 Jill Bechtold has been elected as shareholder in Marks Gray, P.A. Bechtold practices in the areas of medical and professional liability defense, products liability and general civil litigation defense.

Jarrett Hoffman joined Boies, Schiller and Flexner LLP as head of the firm’s Executive Compensation & Benefits practice and was elected partner in December 2015. Hoffman was also selected again by Super Lawyers Magazine as a “Rising Star” in the New York metro area for employee benefits.

Erin Houck-Toll (LLMT), stockholder in Henderson Franklin’s Business & Tax Division, has been recertified as a board-certified tax expert by The Florida Bar. Houck-Toll is also board-certified in health law and is one of only three attorneys in the entire state of Florida dual-certified in both health and tax law.

Charles Jimerson, managing partner of Jimerson & Cobb, was named to the Jacksonville Business Journal’s inaugural “Ultimate Attorneys” list. The list honors those who have elevated the legal profession and helped to shape Jacksonville’s business community.

Kenneth M. Poole Jr. has been named a partner in the Sarasota law firm of Syprett Meshad. Poole focuses his practice on family and criminal law and is a member of the Sarasota County Bar Association as well as the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys.

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Michelle Yard was presented with the Joseph W. Durocher “Foot Soldier of the Constitution” award by the Central Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. The award is given annually to a criminal defense attorney who fights for their clients’ rights and improves the criminal justice system as a whole.

2006 Florence Taylor Barner, former Broward County assistant state attorney and AV Preeminent-rated civil trial attorney, announced her candidacy for Broward County court judge in group 3 as the first-ever candidate of Haitian decent seeking election to the Broward judiciary.

Willard A. Blair has been named a partner of Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP. Blair practices primarily in corporate and securities law and mergers and acquisitions and has experience in all aspects of public and private company representation.

Amanda Groover Hyland, attorney at Taylor English Duma in Atlanta, has been elected partner in the firm. Hyland was ranked by Chambers and Partners in 2015 as a leader in intellectual property law and also is Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rated. She has also been named a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers in intellectual property litigation for the fourth consecutive year.

C. Victoria Knight-Alaee has been named a partner of Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP. Knight-Alaee practices primarily in health law.

Joanna Lardin has joined Carlton Fields’ Miami office as an associate. Lardin is a member of the firm’s business transactions practice group and focuses her practice on domestic and international income, estate and gift planning and probate, trust and guardianship administration and litigation.

Chad McCormick (LLMT) has joined Kirkland & Ellis LLP as a partner. McCormick will help build the Houston office’s Tax Practice Group.

Kevin McCoy, an attorney with Carlton Fields, has been elected president of the board of

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CLASS NOTES

Wire-to-wire Miami-Dade county attorney concludes 45 years of service

BY TI M G R OVES ( 2 L ) W H E N R O B E R T C U E VA S J R . ( J D 7 0 ) joined the Miami-Dade UF Law, which focuses on current County Attorney’s Office in June 1970, he did so with the idea of staying land use topics, including eminent for a couple years before moving on to the next phase of his legal career. domain.

Instead, Cuevas retired in September after 45 years working for the Wolf said eminent domain is county. usually invoked after initial negotiaAfter completing his UF undergraduate studies in political science tions with the property owner have and his law degree from UF Law, Cuevas chose the County Attorney’s broken down because the owner Office to begin his legal career and never looked back. may not want to sell the property or “When I interviewed there I just felt it would be a good fit,” he said. is asking too much.

“Forty-five years later, it still was.”

Eminent domain is by no Cuevas began as an assistant county attorney before becoming first means rare and is often a vital comassistant county attorney, the second in command, in ponent in the 2005 and finally county attorney in May 2007. Along construction of Cuevas played Cuevas the way he headed numerous legal departments within some of the most a key role in the office, including tax, eminent domain, transit and important public commercial law. structures, Wolf said. However, it is often met with the 1980’s Robert Ginsburg was a colleague of Cuevas beskepticism from the general public because they view fore becoming his boss for approximately 25 years as construction of the it as the government “using the bulldozer to take their county attorney.

21-mile Metrorail houses,” Wolf said.

“He had a rare ability — you don’t see this in everyWhile Cuevas turned the highly challenging Meand the 4.4-mile body — to actually take responsibility for his work and trorail project into a rousing success, he does not view Metromover. follow through,” Ginsburg said. “He was just superb. it as his greatest accomplishment. He instead referencHe’s a good trial lawyer and a great administrator as es his eight years as county attorney. well.”

The position of county attorney places a great deal of responsibilIt was in the field of transportation law, according to Ginsburg, that ity on a single individual. Miami-Dade operates Miami International Cuevas completed his greatest project. He played a key role in the 1980’s Airport, PortMiami, some of the largest police and fire departments in construction of the Rapid Transit Project, which included the 21-mile the country, and many other government entities. All of the legal issues Metrorail and the 4.4-mile Metromover. of those massive projects fall on the county attorney’s desk, resulting in “You wouldn’t believe the amount of federal regulations that sur- roughly 10,000 lawsuits a year for the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Ofround a project of that type,” Ginsburg said. “In those days, the federal fice. To handle the caseload, the office requires approximately 70 lawyers government was funding transportation projects so they called the shots. and 75 staff members.

I remember going into the office of the administrators who worked on The position also requires working one-on-one with clients, such as that and there was an entire wall of federal regulations. He was able to county commissioners, the mayor and all county department heads. master that.”

The office is an atypical governmental entity as the turnover rate is The system was subject to intense scrutiny, eventually reaching low, and many attorneys make their careers there, much the way Cuevas the desk of President Reagan. But Cuevas soldiered on and the project did. Ginsburg said the office wins roughly 90 percent of its cases, which opened for service in 1984. led it to be featured in the book The Greatest Places to Practice Law in Cuevas handled Miami-Dade’s acquisition of virtually all the proper- America. ty and right-of-ways required for the project. He managed to accomplish “People like Bob Cuevas were part of that and made it that way,” this massive land accumulation through both purchases and eminent Ginsburg said. domain.

Cuevas retired in 2015 and is pondering his next step. But Cuevas UF Law Professor Michael Allan Wolf, the Richard E. Nelson Chair will forever cherish his time with the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s in Local Government, is one of the most recognized scholars on eminent Office. domain. He is the general editor of Powell on Real Property (17 volumes), “I miss them tremendously,” Cuevas said of the County Attorney’s the most prominent treatise in the area that is regularly cited by state and Office staff. “I got up every morning looking forward to going in and federal courts. He also hosts the annual Richard E. Nelson Symposium at interacting with them and solving the issues we had.”

S P R I N G 2 0 1 6 39

CLASS NOTES

Samantha A. Orender has joined Burr & Forman LLP’s Jacksonville office where she focuses on lending and financial services litigation.

Connecting with Native American alumni

William “Chad” Roberts (LLMT) was named an equity member at Harris Shelton Hanover Walsh, PLLC, in Memphis, Tennessee. Roberts practices in business and corporate law, estate planning, taxation and probate and trust.

The University of Florida Levin College of Law is embarking on an exciting new project this fall related to the history of Native Americans on the university’s campus. In order to ensure full development of this history, we need your help to identify Native American law graduates. If you identify as Native American or know of other alumni who so identify, please reach out to Bill Turner at bturner@law.ufl.edu. For more information on the project, please contact Amy Mashburn at mashburn@law.ufl.edu.

We look forward to connecting with you.

directors of Bay Area Legal Services, a nonprofit law firm that provides civil legal assistance to low-income Tampa Bay residents. McCoy has been involved with BALS since 2007.

2007 Jeff L. Allen, attorney at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP in Nashville, Tennessee, has been named to the 2015 “Mid-South Super Lawyers Rising Stars” list for his work in entertainment and sports law. The list recognizes lawyers who are under 40 years old or have less than 10 years of legal experience and includes only 2.5 percent of attorneys.

Ian M. Alperstein has recently become an associate in Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin’s Fort Lauderdale office.

Alperstein joins the firm’s professional liability department and primarily concentrates on the representation and defense of insurance carriers in insurance coverage disputes.

James M. Bandoblu (LLMT) has been elected partner in Hodgson Russ, a leading law firm that provides business-focused legal counsel.

Bandoblu is a member of the tax dispute resolution, international tax and business tax practices, focusing on federal and international tax matters.

Jonathan Huels has become a shareholder in Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed, P.A. Huels focuses his practice on environmental permitting and compliance,

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zoning, comprehensive plans, concurrency, administrative law, developments of regional impact, due diligence and property rights. Huels is a member of the executive council of the Environmental and Land Use Section of The Florida Bar, Orange County Environmental Protection Commission and the Central Florida Association of Environmental Professionals. He also serves on the Back to Nature Wildlife Refuge and Education Center board of directors.

Jason A. Smith has been named a partner of Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP. Smith focuses his practice primarily in patent application preparation and prosecution as well as opinion work and client counseling.

2008 Aaron P. Davis has been named a partner of complex civil litigation firm Thornton Davis Fein in Miami. Davis focuses on general counsel services, commercial litigation, complex product liability, intellectual property and premises liability.

Joshua R. Levenson, an associate in Holland & Knight’s Fort Lauderdale office, has been awarded “The Centurion Award” by the Boy Scouts of America’s Order of the Arrow program. The national award highlights Arrowmen who have significantly contributed to the forming, maturing and ongoing operational excellence of their local council’s lodge.

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Eric Ruben, of complex civil litigation firm Thornton Davis Fein, has been named a partner. Ruben manages complex products liability lawsuits and serves as regional counsel for various tire manufacturers. He was selected to the Florida Trend 2015 “Legal Elite Up and Comers” List.

Jesus M. Suarez has been named a partner in Miami-based Genovese Joblove & Battista, P.A. Suarez focuses on litigation, governmental law, creditors’ rights, bankruptcy litigation and realestate transactions.

2009 Jonathan Blocker has joined Christian & Small LLP as an associate, focusing on professional liability and medical malpractice, construction, aviation, liquor liability and cyber and data breach liability.

William N. Spicola has been appointed

by Gov. Rick Scott as general counsel in his office. Spicola previously served as general counsel at the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

David N. Torre, partner with Murrah Doyle Wigle & Torre, P.A., was one of 10 recipients of the 2015 “Distinguished Alumni” award from Valencia College.

Stephanie L. Varela, an associate in Greenberg Traurig P.A.’s Miami office, was accepted into Leadership Miami for the 2015-16 class. The program provides educational training and experiences to cultivate young community leaders.

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CLASS NOTES

Plata 10

D’Alessandro 11

Madden 12

Raiford 12

Morgan 12

Gaffney 13

Nozzolillo 13

Griffin 14

Diaz-Cortes 15

Gallagher 15

Greiwe 15

Rodriguez 15

2010 Belkis Plata, of Plata Schott Attorneys & Counselors at Law, was honored as a champion of mentoring by MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership for her commitment to the needs of young people at the national, state and local levels. Plata began mentoring through Take Stock in Children and continues to mentor young attorneys and speak to high school students.

She was honored with two others at the 6th annual Mentoring Summit at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., based on nominations by members of MENTOR’s national network of affiliate partnerships and youth-serving partner organizations.

2011 Amy D’Alessandro, assistant Florida state attorney for the 20th Judicial Circuit, joined Aloia, Roland & Lubell, PLLC, as an associate.

She will initially focus on representing clients in the firm’s rapidly expanding business litigation and real estate practices.

Jeffrey A. Eisel has become a partner with BaskinFleece, Attorneys at Law. He practices in the areas of guardianship, probate, and trust litigation and administration; fiduciary litigation; estate planning; commercial and civil litigation; and business law.

2012 Deborah K. Madden, attorney with Gunster’s Ft. Lauderdale office, has been elected to the leadership team of the 2016 board of directors for the Florida Association of Environmental Professionals

(FAEP). The multidisciplinary professional association includes environmental professionals from a variety of disciplines and is an affiliate of the National Association of Environmental Professionals.

Hilary Flint Morgan has joined Trent Cotney, P.A., where she focuses on all aspects of construction law including lien law, surety bond law, litigation, arbitration, construction defect, contract review and drafting, licensing, bid protests and OSHA defense.

Anitra Raiford has joined Shook Hardy and Bacon as an associate in its Tampa office.

She practices in the areas of business disputes, employment litigation and policy, mass tort and product liability.

2013 Nicholas Gaffney (LLMT, JD 12), attorney in Quarles & Brady LLP’s Tampa office, was selected as part of the Hillsborough County Bar Association Leadership Institute Class of 2015-16. The institute helps attorneys develop the skills to become leaders.

Armando Nozzolillo has joined Burr & Forman’s Jacksonville office. The firm opened the Jacksonville office in early January, and Nozzolillo is one of the first attorneys to join in what the firm expects to be a high-growth year.

2014 Kyle C. Griffin (LLMT, JD 13) has joined Dean Mead’s Orlando office in the estate and succession planning department. Griffin focuses his practice in the areas of estate planning, probate and trust administration and taxation law.

2015 John F. DeStefano (LLMT, JD 14) has joined Proskauer Rose LLP in Boca Raton.

Marcelo Diaz-Cortes has joined Levine Kellogg Lehman Schneider + Grossman as an associate. Diaz-Cortes focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation.

Marjorie Gallagher (LLMT) has joined Comiter, Singer, Baseman & Braun in Palm Beach Gardens. Gallagher practices in federal taxation of partnerships, S Corporations and limited liability companies; business transactions; income and estate planning; asset protection; and trust, estate and guardianship litigation.

Donald Greiwe has joined de la Parte & Gilbert, P.A., practicing primarily in the areas of civil and business litigation, appeals and commercial transactions.

Yisell Rodriguez has joined Broad and Cassel as an associate in the affordable housing and tax credit practice group in its Orlando office.

Send your class notes to classnotes@law.ufl.edu or to: UF LAW magazine, Levin College of Law, University of Florida, P.O. Box 117633, Gainesville, FL 32611. The class notes deadline for the fall issue is July 25. Please limit submissions to 75 words or fewer by focusing on new endeavors and recognition.

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CLASS NOTES

Laying the foundations Mid-career law students build upon past work experiences

BY CH A NTELLE Mc H UG H A S A P R A C T I C I N G E N V I R O N M E N TA L E N G I N E E R in Atlanta, “Experience in the workforce before law school can make you a stronger Dana Mehlman (JD 10) grew frustrated dealing with attorneys who lacked a applicant and a stronger law student,” said Ian McInnis, UF Law’s associate fundamental understanding of the issues that arose in her work. After almost director of admissions. “It gives you experiences someone else may not have, a decade working as an engineer, she knew she could succeed in the technical which bolsters the learning experience.” world, but was it time to venture into a new field altogether and view her work Associate Dean for Student Affairs Rachel Inman noted the educational from a different angle? benefits of combining mid-career students with recent graduates.

Drawn by the strength of the Environmental and Land Use Law Certifi“Mixing students who have previous work experience with those who are cate Program and its course variety, Mehlman left Atlanta for the orange and viewing subjects with fresh eyes creates a dynamic atmosphere in the classblue halls of UF Law. room that incorporates different perspectives,” Inman said.

She found that her environPrevious work experience can also influence how stumental engineering experience dents approach law school in general. Goliath Davis IV “As a former helped her acclimate to environ(1L) ran a nonprofit before enrolling in UF Law. Now he engineer, I can mental law. While her classmates treats law school like a full-time job. take depositions had a hard time understanding “I get to campus by 8 or 9 a.m., whether I have class the environmental acronyms and or not, and stay until around 5 pm. When I’m here, I’m of engineers technical jargon, her work before working, whether studying or reading or in class, so that more easily law school placed her ahead of the when I’m home I can relax,” Davis said. “It’s exhausting, but than if I didn’t learning curve.

I co-founded a nonprofit, Citizens for a Sustainable Future, Mehlman “I was up to speed on envihave a technical before coming to law school, and a law degree seemed like ronmental aspects of the field so the most practical skill I could have to grow that nonprofit. background.”

I wasn’t intimidated by the mate“The nonprofit works on issues pertaining to environ—DANA MEHLMAN (JD 10) rial,” Mehlman said. “As a former mental justice and food sovereignty in low-income comengineer, I can take depositions of munities, particularly African-American neighborhoods,” engineers more easily than if I didn’t have a techni- Davis said. “Having that specific goal in mind gives me more focus and discical background. Furthermore, the engineers I have pline to do what needs to be done.” hired, as well as those hired by opposing parties, Some students find that their technical background also allows them to show a unique respect for me because they know think more deeply about the legal issues concerning their areas of specialty.

I am not only an attorney, but a licensed engineer This positions them to advance an organization because they understand its Davis as well.” goals, obligations and technical functions before offering counsel.

This interdisciplinary focus means Mehlman “My law classes allowed me to see how the technical aspects of environstands out in the legal field for her ability to interpret what experts say and to mental engineering interacted with the policy aspects of environmental law,” translate it into legal arguments courts can understand. Last year, the National Mehlman said.

Law Journal recognized her as one of its inaugural “Energy & Environmental Even without previous work experience, students can immerse themselves Trailblazers.” in fields that interest them during law school through certificate programs, Today Mehlman is a manager in the corporate environmental division of clinics and conferences. Experiential work coupled with the expertise of visitPCS Administration (USA), Inc., one of the world’s largest fertilizer compa- ing practitioners and scholars from different disciplines broaden perspectives. nies by capacity, producing potash, nitrogen and phosphate. She is leading the UF Law students also benefit from the law school’s location on the UF development and evolution of the firm’s environmental management system, campus, a major research university with a multitude of resources and scholwhich includes the creation of a legal register — a list of relevant legislation ars, which allows law students to earn a master’s degree in related fields while — for each of the company’s facilities. Mehlman especially credits UF Law pursuing their J.D. degrees.

Professors Mary Jane Angelo (JD 87) and Alyson Flournoy with much of her For UF Law students, Flournoy noted, these opportunities allow them to law school and career success. Flournoy is former director of the Environmen- transition into employment with experience and knowledge of the legal imtal and Land Use Law Program and Angelo is the current program director. pacts in the various areas that interest their clients.

Mehlman is just one of a growing number of students who decide mid-ca“Whether they are mid-career professionals or students coming directly reer to pursue a degree at UF Law. In the fall 2015 entering class, 46.5 percent from their undergraduate studies, UF Law students have the opportunity to of incoming students had been out of school up to four years before enrolling, gain experience and knowledge of topics that will help them to understand and 5.8 percent had been out of school for five or more years. their future clients’ concerns,” Flournoy said.

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Research Report A sampling of the wide-ranging scholarly articles and books UF Law professors are producing

“Technology has facilitated both the amount of trade secrets that are now stored electronically and the rise of cyber intrusions.

Together, this has created a storm perfectly ripe for economic espionage.”

ELIZABETH ROWE Feldman Gale Term Professor in IP Law; UF Research Foundation Professor; Director, Program in Intellectual Property Law “RATs, TRAPs, and Trade Secrets,” 57 B.C. L. Rev. (forthcoming)

WENTONG ZHENG Associate Professor of Law “Exhausting Patents,” 63 UCLA L. Rev. 122 (2016)

“Yet underneath the seemingly unequivocal mandate of patent exhaustion lies a doctrine fraught with contradictions.”

“Yet perhaps the most alarming aspect of overdisciplining students and of the school-toprison pipeline generally is that not all racial groups are affected equally by these negative trends.”

JASON NANCE Associate Professor of Law; Associate Director, Center on Children and Families “Over-Disciplining Students, Racial Bias, and the SchoolTo-Prison Pipeline,” 50 University of Richmond L. Rev. 1063 (2016)

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SCHOLARSHIP

“Structured properly and achieved fairly as to senior executives, a non-binding employee vote would politically legitimate executive compensation and income disparity at both the firm and political levels.”

ROBERT RHEE John H. and Mary Lou Dasburg Professor of Law “Intra-Firm Monitoring of Executive Compensation,” 69 Vanderbilt L. Rev. (forthcoming 2016)

44

AMY STEIN Associate Professor of Law “Distributed Reliability,” 87 University of Colorado L. Rev. (forthcoming 2016)

“Coordination with energy storage resources will require greater effort, both because of the multitude of energy storage forms, as well as the ability of customers to reap the private benefits of energy storage without regard to contracts.”

“In applying these standards, states have denied a defendant’s self-representation because of his stuttering, strong foreign accent and low level of education, even when the defendant has intact decision-making abilities.”

LEA JOHNSTON Professor of Law; Assistant Director, Criminal Justice Center “Communication and Competence for SelfRepresentation,” 84 Fordham L. Rev. 2121 (2016)

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EXPERT OPINION

Faculty in the News “The consequences are not likely to be serious, however serious it is for (Trump) I think it is really just going to be the way that it plays out in the media more so than the way it plays out in the courts.”

KENNETH NUNN Professor of Law; Associate Director, Center on Children and Families; Assistant Director, Criminal Justice Center “Florida legal expert: Lewandowski incident ‘is a battery’” (March 30, 2016, The Washington Post)

“(The pattern) may be the least effective way to rehabilitate youth. (It has a) disproportionate impact on students of color, LGBTQ and those with disabilities.”

“Clearly, the existence of the sex tape is newsworthy in the context of this particular celebrity.

But does that mean the actual tape itself is newsworthy?”

JASON NANCE Associate Professor of Law; Associate Director, Center on Children and Families “Too many students are being diverted from school into the criminal justice system, report says” (Feb. 6, 2016, ABA Journal).

Nance is co-author of the report referenced in the article.

LYRISSA LIDSKY Stephen C. O’Connell Professor; Associate Dean for International Programs “Hulk Hogan’s Suit Over Sex Tape May Test Limits of Online Press Freedom” (March 4, 2016, The New York Times)

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EXPERT OPINION

“I think the court understands that our sentencing scheme is different from (Arizona’s), and therefore it’s not a slam dunk that the same analysis would apply in Florida.”

TERESA REID Master Legal Skills Professor; Assistant Director, Criminal Justice Center “Attorneys for Florida inmate argue for execution delay” (Feb. 2, 2016, Associated Press)

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STACEY STEINBERG Legal Skills Professor; Associate Director, Center on Children and Families “Parent partnerships: A better way to co-parent” (March 8, op-ed in The Washington Post)

“Children thrive when their parents work harmoniously to meet their needs. While laws establish each parent’s legal obligation to the child, they do not specify obligations between co-parents in the absence of a marriage.”

“The deeper point, however, is that it is hard to see why those wishing to honor the originalist principle for which Scalia stood are voicing such strong objection to the Senate voting on the nominee of a lameduck President Obama.”

JONATHAN COHEN Professor of Law “Why ‘originalists’ who loved Scalia should want a vote on his replacement” (Feb. 22, 2016, op-ed in The Washington Post)

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UP&COMING

Equal marriage model Student, professor publish in European journal

BY C H A N TE L L E M c H U G H SI MON E CH RI SS (3 L ) AN D P ROFESSOR DANAYA WRIGHT

have entered the international conversation about same-sex marriage with an article published in the Italian law journal Genius. The article examines the evolution of the 50-year-old same-sex marriage debate in the U.S. It also analyzes the Supreme Court’s June 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges and its implications moving forward.

“Very few countries in Europe have legalized same-sex marriage, and Italy is a long way from doing so,” Wright said. “But Genius is read by a lot of people in different countries around Europe and outside of Europe. We wanted to give the European legal community – or a general audience who are not specifically educated on this issue – an understanding of what we did in this country, how we got there and the basis on which we made the decision.”

The project began after “Conversations Across the Curriculum” – a UF Law initiative to expose students to diverse perspectives on social issues – brought U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker to campus in February. Judge Walker spoke about his Hollingsworth v. Perry ruling that some say sparked the same-sex marriage litigation of the past several years.

Chriss was one of two students on the panel who interviewed Judge Walker on the landmark decision and his predictions for the future of LGBT rights.

Roberto Virzo, a visiting Italian scholar at UF Law, asked Wright, who had organized the event, and Chriss to write a piece on how the same-sex marriage debate in the U.S. had come about and where it could go, with a European audience in mind.

“I approached Professor Wright about writing an article because she is an eminent expert on constitutional law with a sensibility for the constitutional rights of sexual minorities,” Virzo said.

The goal was to give European lawmakers a model of how the discussion was handled here, showing the successes and pitfalls, so that they could understand or one day follow our path.

“When I started writing and doing the research for it, we didn’t have nationwide same-sex marriage,” explained Chriss, president of OUTLaw, a UF Law student organization that brings awareness to LGBT issues through events and guest speakers. “So the focus of the paper was about how far we’d come and all of the little pieces of the same-sex marriage fight and gay rights fight at that point, as well as different avenues on which the Supreme Court could eventually decide.”

With the 2015 Obergefell decision, holding that all states must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, the article grew to in-

SPRI NG 2016

corporate an analysis of the consequences of the dissenting and majority opinions. The article was the first analysis of Obergefell to be published in a European law journal, Virzo said.

“European law scholars are studying the continued battle over equal rights for sexual minorities in the United States because of the role that judges are playing in it,” Virzo said. “In Italy, Parliament has yet to adopt any law on same-sex marriage or on same-sex partnership. Our hope is that judges might shake the Italian Parliament out of its apathy.”

Wright said she tries to co-author with students regularly to encourage them to get into the spirit of academic work outside of the classroom. For example, she worked with Shelbi Day (JD 02), who went on to become one of the lawyers that filed the Nevada lawsuit instrumental in striking that state’s gay adoption ban.

While same-sex couples can now marry, Chriss stresses that they still do not possess all of the privileges of heterosexual couples.

States can still discriminate in the workplace, in housing and in public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, which are not protected classes in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its various amendments.

“That is the civil rights issue of the early 21st century,” Wright said.

UF Law Professor Danaya Wright and Simone Chriss (3L).

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Federal judges, Florida Moot Court members and sponsors come together in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center courtroom for the F. Maguire Appellate Advocacy Competition in January.

(Photo by Julian Pinilla)

UF Law on the rise