UF Student Writing in Spotlight

One University of Florida student’s writing has attracted national and international attention recently, and a UF seminar has been selected as one of three in the nation to compete in the ABA Environment, Energy, & Resources Section’s first-ever Law Student Writing Competition.

Third year student Erika Zimmerman’s paper, which she wrote in Professor Joan Flocks’ Environmental Justice Seminar, recently won the NYU Environmental Law Journal’s Environmental Essay Contest. In addition to a $1000 prize, her essay will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal.

Earlier this year, Ms. Zimmerman participated in the Conservation Clinic, directed by Professor Tom Ankersen. As part of her clinic assignment, she drafted a petition to UNESCO to designate the Belize Barrier Reef – already a World Heritage Site – as a threatened World Heritage Site under the World Heritage Convention, based on impacts from climate change. Professor Ankersen reports that there is no set format for a petition to designate a World Heritage Site as threatened, so Ms. Zimmerman developed a template. Two other groups submitting petitions at the same time, based in part on the impacts of climate change to Mt. Everest and a World Heritage site in Peru, adopted her template in drafting their petitions. The petitions were submitted to UNESCO in Paris and are currently pending. The filings were noted by The New York Times and the BBC.

This semester’s seminar on Animal Rights and the Law, taught by Adjunct Professor David Hoch, received recognition recently and a unique opportunity from the ABA Section on Environment, Energy & Resources. The ABA Section selected the seminar, along with seminars at the University of Virginia and the University of Memphis, as one of three in the country to participate in the Section’s first ever Law School Writing Competition. The ABA Section’s Law School Programs Committee will consider the top five papers from each of the three seminars. The papers selected by the Committee will be published on the ABA Section’s website. The announcement of UF's selection and the details of the competition are available at:
http://www.abanet.org/environ/committees/lawstudents/home.html .

Successful Spring Conferences, Speaker Series

Over 250 people took part in the 11th Annual Public Interest Environmental Conference Feb. 24-26. The participants included more than 175 attendees, 80 panelists and speakers, and some 30 law students who organized the conference. This successful collaboration between the UF Environmental and Land Use Law Society and the Florida Bar ELULS, provides continuing legal education in a unique format – offering attendees four separate concurrent education tracks that build on kick-off plenaries. The panels were developed by the students, who worked closely with members of the Section’s Public Interest Committee to identify timely topics of broad appeal and knowledgeable panelists.

This year’s program included extremely popular panels on mercury in fish, a legislative session preview featuring Past ELULS Section Chair Larry Sellers and Rep. Thad Altman (R-Melbourne), conversion of rural agricultural land, inter-agency conflicts in permitting, springs protection, citrus canker, water quality trading, and post-hurricane redevelopment, among others. The grand finale plenary panel focused on the state of our seas, highlighting the ecological and economic consequences of over-fishing.

Keynote speaker Margie Eugene Richard, a former teacher from Norco, La. and winner of the 2003 Goldman Environmental Prize, was a highlight of the conference, with her inspiring tale and dedication to the hard work of getting the facts necessary to protect her community’s health.

A second UF Conference this spring, the Richard E. Nelson Symposium entitled “The Signs of Our Times” – focused on billboards and the laws regulating their use. The day-long symposium featured an array of national experts who explored a wide range of topics that covered federal constitutional law, state and local land use law, and federal antitrust issues. About 75 people heard from billboard industry advocates, scholars and lawyers with expertise, and advocates for better enforcement of laws regulating billboard use. This event, organized by Nelson Chair holder Professor Michael Wolf, was made possible through the generous gift of the late Richard E. Nelson and his widow Jane Nelson.

Meanwhile, this spring’s Environmental Speaker Series continues to bring top national scholars to UF’s campus to speak to students, faculty and interested members of the bar. The Speaker Series is supported by gifts from Hopping Green & Sams, Lewis Longman & Walker, LLC and the Section. For more information or to receive information about future programs at UF, contact Marla Wolfe at elulp@law.ufl.edu.