Coastal Law Magazine (Winter 2011)

T H E M A G A Z I N E O F F L O R I D A C O A S TA L S C H O O L O F L AW

New Age Athletes As Social

EntrepReneurs

W I N T E R 2 01 1 1

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

WINTER 2011

greetings F R O M C O A S TA L L A W

We welcome the beginning of 2011 with a sense of enthusiasm for the coming year, as well as satisfaction with the many successes of our students and alumni from 2010. In particular, I am pleased to report the school continues in its efforts to emphasize ethics and professionalism in our curriculum and the everyday lives of our students, faculty and staff.

In 2008, we determined we were doing a fine job teaching students the theory and skills required to pass the bar and begin legal careers under the guidance of more seasoned attorneys. However, we believed we could do a better job of infusing professionalism in our already sound program of legal education. To that end we formed a standing committee of professionalism, which includes faculty, staff, students, and alumni. The goal of the committee is to improve the exposure of our students to opportunities to learn about professionalism. One result of the committee’s work is the requirement for all students to complete six hours of continuing professionalism programs during their educational career.

C. Peter Goplerud III, Dean and Professor of Law

As another part of those efforts, Coastal Law launched an innovative program designed to impart the principles of ethics and professionalism from the perspective of practicing attorneys and judges. We call it The Shadow Program. Through it, we are able to provide students with opportunities to observe state and federal judges, private practice attorneys, public interest lawyers, and governmental law departments at trial and pretrial proceedings, mediations, settlements and other practice related activities. Consistent with our encouragement of students to gain practical legal experience while in school, the program bridges classroom instruction with exposure to daily practice activities and the tenets of professionalism.

Over the summer, the program was one of only two programs recognized with the ABA E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award, which recognizes projects contributing to the understanding of professionalism among lawyers. Presented annually by the ABA Standing Committee on Professionalism, the award was established in 1991 and is named for E. Smythe Gambrell, ABA and American Bar Foundation president from 1955 to 1956.

On a related note, I am pleased to report that the Jacksonville Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) has announced plans to award $250 to the students earning the top grades in each Professional Responsibility section offered annually – eight in total. ABOTA stated these book awards are intended to recognize Coastal Law’s commitment to increasing professionalism in legal education and in the legal profession.

I wish you a wonderful 2011, and thank you for your continued support of Coastal Law.

C. Peter Goplerud III

2

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

intracoastal WINTER 2011 | VOL. 3, NO. 2

ISSUE FOCUS: The Business and Law of Sports

10

New Age Athletes as Social Entrepreneurs Proposing A Philanthropic Paradigm Shift and Creative Use of Limited Liability Company Joint Ventures

By Roger M. Groves, Associate Professor of Law

18

Spotlight Shines on Center for Law and Sports Coastal Law faculty provides national insight and expertise on the business and law of sports Illustration by Heather Blanton

20

Sports law alumni blend love for the game with global, innovative opportunities Jeff Reel, class of 2000, and Joshua Kane, class of 2007, enjoy the business of sports Illustration by Karen Kurycki

Cover Illustration by Karen Kurycki

DEPARTMENTS

5 Save the Date 6 News and Events 22 Everyday Ethics 23 Faculty News 28 Alumni News 32 Snapshots 34 Q & A Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

3

BOARD OF ADVISORS F LORI D A CO A STA L SCHOOL O F L A W Audrey McKibbin Moran, Chair President and Chief Executive Officer Sulzbacher Center Barbara “Babs” Strickland The Suddath Companies Henry M. Coxe III Director Bedell, Dittmar, DeVault, Pillans & Coxe, P.A. Paul I. Perez Executive Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer Fidelity National Title Group, Inc. Robert M. Rhodes Of Counsel Foley & Lardner LLP Kenneth L. Shropshire David W. Hauck Professor Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania Paul Vance Senior Vice President of Football Operations and General Counsel Jacksonville Jaguars

Publisher: C. Peter Goplerud III, Dean and Professor of Law Editor: J. Brooks Terry, Director of Marketing and Communications Managing Editor: Margaret Widman Dees, Director of Institutional Advancement Contributors: Assistant Professor Roger Groves Assistant Professor Ericka Curran Susanna Barton Jennifer Hyde Bradley Parsons Emily Tracy Design and production: BroadBased Communications, Inc. Photography: Jamie B. Cicatiello Evan Hampton Jim LaBranche Heather Blanton MAIN NUMBER 904.680.7700 admissions 904.680.7710 admissions@fcsl.edu alumni 904.256.1212 fcslalumni@fcsl.edu Marketing and communications 904.680.7730 bterry@fcsl.edu registrar 904.680.7631 registrar@fcsl.edu institutional Advancement 904.680.7649 mdees@fcsl.edu

Coastal Law Magazine is published by the Florida Coastal School of Law Office of Institutional Advancement.

Address correspondence to: 8787 Baypine Rd., Jacksonville FL 32256 Telephone: 904.256.1212 Fax: 904.256.1104 Email: fcslalumni@fcsl.edu Web: www.fcsl.edu or http://alumni.fcsl.edu

4

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

save the date

OUR CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS*

February 4 Justice Raymond Ehrlich Award Luncheon Jacksonville Public Library

March 4 Law Review Symposium: A Decade of Transformation: The Continuing Impact of 9/11 on National Security and Civil Liberty in America

MAY 13 Graduate Open House

MAY 14 Spring Commencement Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena

JUNE 23 Alumni Reception Florida Bar Annual Convention Gaylord Palms Orlando, Florida

October 2011 Alumni Sequester

For information, contact Coastal Law’s Alumni Office. *­­Events listed are on campus unless specified elsewhere.

Dates are subject to change.

Need more copies or back issues?

Contact the Alumni Office at (904) 256-1212 or fcslalumni@fcsl.edu *The original illustration covers of both 2009 Coastal Law Magazine issues recently earned Awards of Excellence, as recognized by Case District III.

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

5

news & events A CAMPUS-WIDE ROUNDUP OF HAPPENINGS AND ACTIVITIES

School earns ABA honor Florida Coastal School of Law’s acclaimed Shadow Program received a glowing endorsement from the American Bar Association in August.

The association’s Standing Committee on Professionalism awarded the program one of two 2010 E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Awards.

The program was selected for its “contribution to the understanding of professionalism among lawyers.”

Professors Karen Millard and Thomas Hornstein with Dean Peter Goplerud (center)

With Holland & Knight LLP as its founding sponsor in 2008, Coastal Law launched the program as a means to impart the principles of ethics and professionalism from the perspective of practicing attorneys and judges. Today it provides hundreds of students each semester with opportunities to observe, at close view, state and federal

judges, private practice attorneys, public interest lawyers, and governmental law departments at trial and pretrial proceedings, mediations, settlements and other practice-related activities. Consistent with Coastal Law’s encouragement of its students to gain practical experience and ethical awareness, the program bridges classroom instruction with exposure to daily practice activities and the tenets of professionalism.

The Florida Times-Union highlighted the program in a recent issue, explaining how Coastal Law Professor and program co-director Rob Horstein launched the idea with Holland & Knight partner George “Buddy” Schulz, Jr., over a lunch meeting. The experiences of student participants Michael Hunter and Jessica Narducci also were featured.

In addition, the Shadow Program was also profiled in the Financial News & Daily Record.

Presented annually by the ABA Standing Committee on Professionalism, the Gambrell Award was established in 1991 and is named for E. Smythe Gambrell, ABA and American Bar Foundation president from 1955 to 1956. Law schools, bar associations, law firms and other law-related organizations are eligible for the awards.

Professor returns to Bosnia on Fulbright Scholarship Professor David Pimentel is working in Bosnia and Herzegovina this year on a Fulbright Scholarship. Pimentel, who has extensive experience studying judicial systems and reforms around the world, is analyzing the effectiveness of those efforts in developing nations - many of which he helped initiate more than eight years ago.

His work will give the U.S. State Department, as well as international aid organizations, a realistic and timely perspective of reform policy in post-war areas. Countries like Iraq and Afghanistan could be the first to benefit from the research.

“By the time I started my academic career at Florida Coastal in 2007, I had become somewhat skeptical about the impact of these reform efforts — many of which seemed rooted in cultural perspective of donor nations,” Pimentel said.

Pimentel’s first trip to the area was in 2002, when he worked on a project funded by the Norwegian government to help reform the court system in post-war Bosnia. He stayed on to lead another project funded by the Agency for International Development to restructure the court system in Bosnia. That work was followed by similar court reform research and reform in Romania and Southern Sudan, where he headed the Rule of Law efforts for the United Nations.

“They wanted to see the judiciaries of the post-conflict or developing nations reformed to look more like their own,” he said.

Pimentel published an article called “Rule of Law Reform without Cultural Imperialism,” in which he questioned the concept.

Other academics, specifically Rosa Brooks at Georgetown University, have raised similar questions. In his Fulbright 6

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

proposal, he suggested a research project that would examine the post-war judicial reforms in Bosnia to see if any had achieved their intended goals eight to 10 years later.

“These include some of the reforms I worked on personally, so I am well acquainted with the goals, the projects, the reforms and the people involved,” he said. “So last time I came as a reform worker and this time I’m coming as an academic — with an inquiry into the effectiveness of the rule of law reform in this post-conflict society.”

While his academic discoveries in Bosnia are far from over, Pimentel wonders if it is possible for Western reforms to ever take root in developing countries.

“This comes as a surprise to some, just as many were surprised that American-style democracy was not enthusiastically embraced in Iraq,” he said. “But a legal system - a judicial system - is deeply rooted in cultural institutions and expectations.”

Pimentel said the return to Bosnia has been a personally rewarding experience for his family, as well. The four oldest Pimentel children went to Bosnian public schools in Sarajevo in 2002. This time, the three youngest children are “discovering the wonders of this beautiful city.” The family is also learning the Bosnian language.

“The Bosnian people are very warm and friendly which makes this cultural experience very rewarding,” Pimentel said. “Much of the anti-American sentiment that prevails around the world does not exist in Sarajevo. Indeed, it was the intervention of the Americans that brought the war to an end, and the Bosnians remember this.”

Pimentel will also be lecturing at the University of Sarajevo as part of his visit.

Students provide legal support to military community Florida Coastal School of Law students Rolando Rodriquez and Mike Cintron could best be described as men on a mission. Their goal? To help military reservists at Naval Air Station Jacksonville get their legal needs squared away before deployment.

The program is helping bridge the gap between the city’s legal community and the military in Jacksonville, which boasts two naval air stations.

As a naval reservist, Rodriquez was familiar with the legal needs facing local military. However, his decision to help meet those needs took shape after having conversations with his reserve unit following his first year at Florida Coastal.

“I realized how much legal help our reservists and veterans need prior to deploying overseas — whenever a unit deploys, there are many things that need to happen, and I would like to lessen the burden that most of these service members have to go through,” Rodriguez explained. “Family planning is a part of Navy life. Naval reservists have to have family plans in hand prior to deploying — I figured if we lent a helping hand with some of the basic legal issues now, the reservists could get one more check mark done well in advance.”

Law Review Symposium draws interest, spring event in works In the spring, approximately 100 guests attended the Florida Coastal Law Review’s annual Symposium, “Family, Life, and Legacy: Planning Issues for the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, and Transgender Communities.” The day-long event featured a standout panel of speakers and has given new momentum to the upcoming 2011 event.

Florida Coastal Law Review Submissions Editor Nathan R. Ross helped orchestrate the event, which attracted students and faculty, as well as attorneys who were eligible for continuing legal education credits that day.

Featured speakers included: Anthony M. Brown, Esq., from Albert W. Chianese & Associates in New York City; Professor Mark Strasser from Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio; Professor Scott Titshaw from Mercer University School of Law in Macon, Ga.; Dr. Jillian T. Weiss, Associate Professor of Law and Society at Ramapo College of New Jersey; Gregory Nevins, Supervising Senior Staff Attorney in the Southern Regional Office of Lambda Legal; and Judi O’Kelley, Director of Life Planning and Director of Law School Development for Lambda Legal.

Rodriguez and Cintron helped found the Military Law Society at the law school.

Cintron is currently the organization’s president. The group has brainstormed about different legal issues that Navy reservists face and has worked together to find solutions. Drafting service members’ wills, for example, is one way the group has assisted the mission. The undertaking has been supported by local private attorneys, Jacksonville Area Legal Aid and members of Naval Construction Battalion 14.

Assisting the military with its legal challenges is a growing need, Rodriguez said.

Since Jacksonville has such a dominant military presence, he believes local attorneys should be increasingly familiar with issues involving veteran rights, UCMJ, military retirees and TriCare.

“It will be a lot of hard work, but I believe the results warrant such an effort,” Rodriguez said. “This initiative not only provides students with a hands-on experience with clients, but also exposes the students to the legal needs of our service members.”

“We look for topics that challenge established legal thought, and that are enlightening to our students,” Ross said. “At the same time, we try to make sure we explore ideas and concepts that are likely to be relevant to guests in their legal careers.”

Plans for the 2011 Third Annual Florida Coastal Law Review Spring Symposium are already in the works, with organizers setting their sights on March 4. Ross said the 2011 program will examine the changes to the American legal landscape since the events of 9/11.

“The goal is to enlighten the audience by critically examining how, a decade later, the events of 9/11 continue to influence American jurisprudence,” he said.

Rolando Rodriguez

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

7

news & events A CAMPUS-WIDE ROUNDUP OF HAPPENINGS AND ACTIVITIES

Coastal students earn legal services fellowships Florida Coastal School of Law was honored to see two students receive prestigious Florida Bar Association Legal Aid Summer Fellowships this summer.

Travis Sumpter and Annie Kwon were two students of more than 40 across the state chosen for the fellowships. More than 400 students applied.

The opportunity gives students interested in public law the hands-on experience of working at a Florida legal aid program for 11 weeks. To qualify, applicants had to show their commitment and experience working with the low-income community, a passion and insight for public service work, their future goals and employment objectives and academic achievements, among other selection criteria.

Sumpter, a South Carolina native and 3L Coastal student who is the first male in his immediate family to attend college and pursue a higher level of education, worked as a fellow with Southern Legal Counsel Inc. His experiences included work on a city ordinance case involving no-trespass citations and the homeless in city parks.

“I want to practice labor and employment law upon graduating law school,” said Sumpter, who is currently an employment law bureau clerk at the Office of the Attorney General. “I have a passion for learning about the laws and regulations that govern the U.S. workforce. I also have a profound interest in ensuring that there are productive working relationships between employer and employee and the workplace is free of allegations of discrimination.”

Kwon, also a third year student at Florida Coastal School of Law, spent her 11-week fellowship at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid Inc. As a fellow, Kwon was involved in the research and drafting of pleadings and motions in class action and individual cases — particularly collections and foreclosure issues. She observed and participated in many areas of the firm’s work, including insight on how consumers are harassed by debt collectors.

Kwon, who is from Orlando, is pursuing a career in Florida consumer law, and called the experience “eye-opening.”

8

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

Coastal Law Mock Trial teams win, reach final round in two national competitions In November, two Florida Coastal School of Law Mock Trial teams competed in two separate national competitions, placing first in one and reaching the finals in the other. In the Georgetown White Collar Crime Mock Trial Competition, Coastal Law won the entire tournament by outpacing Emory, Texas, NYU and South Texas law schools.

The Georgetown Team Champions are Clarence Sydnor, Kelly Lewis, Adrianne Irish and Chris Basler.

Team Manager is Darley Richard and the coaches are Judge James Klindt and Kara Woods.

SBA raises funds for local cancer foundation The 2010 SBA Charity Ball, Coastal Law’s philanthropic Barrister’s Ball, was held in April, with more than 600 people attending. And while law students are typically known to live on tight budgets, event guests this year contributed to the more than $10,000 collected for local charity The Donna Foundation, which supports Northeast Florida women living with breast cancer.

SBA President Whitney Wright and Alexis Hailpern, vice president of internal affairs for the SBA’s executive council, said they chose The Donna Foundation because of its close ties to the Jacksonville community.

The second Coastal Law team competed, along with 40 other schools from across the country, in the Buffalo Niagara Trial Competition. Teams in the competition include Chicago-Kent, Duquesne, FSU, Illinois, South Texas, Syracuse, Temple, Villanova, and Wisconsin law schools. The team successfully won five trials before narrowly losing to Creighton School of Law in the finals. The Buffalo Niagara Team finalists are Brooke Fuller, Tenisia Burke, Tim Pribisco and Vanessa Albaum. The Team Manager is Carlos Mora. They were coached by London Kite and Janeen Mira.

“After we were elected, Whitney and I decided to heighten the event even more by donating to a Jacksonville charity and to raise our goal amount,” Hailpern said. “Although many students at Florida Coastal are not from Jacksonville, we all become a part of the community for at least three years, and it was always on our minds to give back.”

Moot Court team wins regional round of National Moot Court Competition

The planning team knew of The Donna Foundation through friends who had participated in the foundation’s annual marathon. After researching the foundation and its mission, the group decided the foundation would be an excellent choice. A theme emerged for the casino-themed event: “Ante up for Breast Cancer.”

In November, a Florida Coastal School of Law Moot Court Honor Board team won its regional round of the National Moot Court Competition. This is one of the oldest and most prestigious moot court competitions in the country. In the final round, the team argued in front of a bench comprised of two federal judges and Florida’s Solicitor General, Scott Makar. Florida Coastal faced the University of Georgia in the finals, after beating Stetson in the semi-finals and the University of South Carolina in the quarter-finals. Florida Coastal went 4-0 in the preliminary rounds, including wins over the University of Miami and Barry University.

“I think participation was high, overall, because students at Coastal are invested in public service and pro bono work,” Hailpern said. “The Donna Foundation does exceptional work for women in Jacksonville, and the more we educated the students about The Donna Foundation, the more willing they were to help and participate. Unfortunately, cancer affects almost everyone.”

Will the successful fundraising event become an annual tradition? Organizers say there are no guarantees, but all signs look promising.

“At the bottom of my heart, I know that students at Coastal understand the importance of giving back,” said Hailpern, who described the fundraiser as one of the greatest honors in her life. “Something tells me that this new tradition will not fade.”

In 2009, Coastal Law’s SBA earned national recognition for programming that raised $5,000 to benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Wells Griffith, vice-chair of the American Bar Association Law Student Division, referred to Coastal Law as being an example to the approximately 200 ABA-accredited law schools during his semester address to all SBA presidents.

“My law school holds its Barrister’s Ball in the spring, and we are planning to follow Florida Coastal’s lead and use it as a platform to raise money to benefit one of the many charities in need,” said Griffith in a correspondence to all SBA chapters.

In addition to winning the championship, team member Mason Bradshaw won the Best Brief Award for the Regional. C.J. Scott, the Honor Board’s President, won Best Advocate, Second.

Team member Todd MacLeod ranked third among all the advocates in the Regional. Victoria Andrews served as the Team Manager. Professor Nick Martino coached the team.

While Florida Coastal is one of the top law schools in the country in appellate advocacy, this is the first time the law school has advanced to the national rounds in this competition.

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

9

cover story

PROPOSING A PHILANTHROPIC PARADIGM SHIFT AND CREATIVE USE OF LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY JOINT VENTURES

By Roger M. Groves, Associate Professor of Law, Florida Coastal School of Law1

“If LeBron were an IPO, I’d buy it…At 21, I wasn’t remotely as mature as LeBron.”

—Warren Buffet, on professional basketball player LeBron James.2 “I want to …do things differently than anyone has ever done them before.

Of course, I grew up watching Michael [Jordan]…and he set the roadmap.

I want to run my own business. I want to be my own business.”

—LeBron James3

While professional athletes in this country’s four most popular professional leagues have significant player salaries, this article focuses on the National Basketball Association (“NBA”). The NBA players are Exhibit A for great potential and unrealized opportunity.

They comprise a group of the world’s most talented employees for this particular industry who by virtue of both wealth and the cultural connectivity, have the potential for an extraordinary “giving back” impact on urban America. If the vast majority of those players establish charitable foundations and pool their funds they could do something unprecedented - have transformative effects on entire communities.

Such like-minded players can be termed “New Age Athletes.”4 But the term is a bit of a misnomer because the reference is not just for those who are chronologically new in years on the planet.

Each year there will be rookie players as young as 19 years old joining an NBA roster who may choose to translate their instant multi-million dollar income into a multi-million dollar consumption of goods and services with little or no capital contributions to charitable causes or the ownership of assets. What is new is the culture to use sophisticated private foundations in partnership with other for-profit entities to make major and sustainable improvements in communities from which they come.

One such example is a player who is now retired after nearly a decade in the NBA. A testimonial to his status as a new age athlete is codified in the State of the Union address in January 2007 by President George W. Bush:

10

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

“The greatest strength we have is a heroic kindness, courage and self sacrifice of the American people. You see this spirit often if you know where to look. And tonight we need only look above to the gallery. Dikembe Mutombo grew up in Africa amid great poverty and disease. He came to Georgetown on a scholarship to study medicine. Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson took a look at Dikembe and had a different idea. Dikembe became a star in the NBA and a citizen of the United States. But he never forgot the land of his birth or the duty to share his blessings with others. He built a brand new hospital in his own hometown. A friend has said of this good-hearted man, Matumbo [sic] believes that God has given him the opportunity to do great things. And we’re proud to call this son of the Congo a citizen of the United States.”5 A statistical review of current NBA players reveals that most have similar income but are not nearly as focused on such charitable projects. The NBA teams in the aggregate pay their players a total of just under $2 billion a year.6 Yet at various times during the 2009-2010 season, there were approximately 418 players, and only 130 appear to have a semblance of a foundation.7 A recent study of the 2008 season concluded that only 43 players were likely to have truly functional foundations.8 The median salary per player for the aggregate 30 teams is $3,425,665.9 If even half of 418 players funded a foundation with .05% of their salaries,

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

11

without touching any endorsement money, more than $71 million of charitable funds would be generated each year. If that group chooses to pool their funds over five years for a portfolio of common projects, they could contribute $355 million for those initiatives.

A view of the highest paid NBA players also provides a glimpse of a significant opportunity to raise equity capital for charitable causes. The 25 highest paid NBA players have a combined salary of more than $462 million.10 That represents more than the entire gross domestic product (purchasing power) of the country of Zimbabwe.11 That purchasing power would make those players the 211th richest nation in the world.12 If they allocated 10% of just their salaries for charitable causes, without touching endorsement income, and pooled their funds for five years they would have amassed more than $231 million. Many of those top players have cultural connectivity with the crisis-burdened urban areas, and as such, high octane potential to be investors, as some already are, in urban projects. In fact, 20 of the top 25 salaried NBA players are African Americans.13 Income from endorsements also can be funneled into foundations, which in total can result in significant amounts of pooled assets.

LeBron James’ high school graduation gift endorsement from Nike was $90 million, and since 2007 he leads the NBA in endorsements with an estimated $25 million in that year alone.14 His total endorsement package was $170 million.15 His mission is beyond the bounce of the basketball - to view his profession “differently than anyone has ever done ... before.”16 That statement was made in 2007. Within three years, those words proved prophetic.

James was savvy enough in 2008 to re-negotiate his contract to establish free agency while he was still at a prime time to maximize his value and options. And then on July 9, 2010, he did what no other player had done before. He and premier sports network ESPN orchestrated the largest media feeding frenzy in NBA history over his

A view of the highest paid NBA players also provides a glimpse of a significant opportunity to raise equity capital for charity causes. announcement as to where he would take his professional services.17 Of particular relevance to this article, no other player devised such an announcement and negotiated with the multi-billion dollar media empire to mandate that all proceeds be donated to a charity.18 The beneficiary was the Boys and Girls Clubs of America in the amount of $2.5 million dollars.19 As testimony that the charitable purpose was genuinely part of his view of professionalism as an athlete, James secured ESPN’s agreement to commit 10 minutes of the one-hour program to give credit to charity sponsors.20 James, his marketing team and his foundation presented this idea to the network and the commitment to make the announcement, not from ESPN studios, but from the Boys and Girls Club.21 This is the different view of the player James referenced. It is an entrepreneurial and philanthropic perspective well beyond just playing the game on the floor. For these reasons, LeBron James is the poster child for the new age athlete.

Beyond the charity activities of James, there are 400-plus NBA players who can participate in myriad projects designed specifically for low-

12

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

income communities. They can be laced with tax incentives that not only assist people in great need, but provide numerous tax benefits to reduce the player’s considerable tax liability and that of other partners in those projects. Those benefits include tax-exempt financing, non-recognition and exclusion of gross income, bond credits, tax credits, expense deductions and favorable depreciation rates.22 The aggregation of those benefits has often been the missing piece that allows the venture to make economic sense - essentially gap financing.23 As will be discussed below, therein lies the opportunity to collectively provide a transformative impact on entire communities of historic proportions.

The Jacksonville, Florida, Illustration In many urban cores where the poor and historically disenfranchised reside, a common litany of maladies is faced daily that are uncommon to the general US population and major cities globally.24 Jacksonville, Florida, is just one of several major cities that faces some of those issues and therefore presents a philanthropic opportunity. The city is 15th largest in the nation, nearly 30% of which are African American.25 While the city of Jacksonville comprises the entirety of Duval County and is the largest city in square miles in the contiguous 48 states of this country,26 it has an overconcentration of African Americans in economically depressed areas, particularly north and northwest Jacksonville.27 Approximately 90% of the tenants of low-income public housing provided by the city are African American.28 Just over 41% of the African-American residents live on city blocks that are greater than 80% black.29

Infant Mortality The infant mortality rate for African Americans in Jacksonville is 16.2 deaths per 1,000 births.30 That rate is 122% higher than that for the white population generally and 20% higher than the rate among African Americans in Florida as a whole.31 From a global perspective, the Jacksonville rate among African Americans is slightly better than that in Malaysia, but worse than in the countries of Bahrain, Jordan, Panama, Jamaica and Argentina.32 As stated by the most recent authoritative study regarding Jacksonville infant mortality, African-American infants in Jacksonville are more than twice as likely to die within the first year of life as white babies.33

The Asthma Epidemic One may initially think asthma is not a serious health issue, since heart disease and cancer and AIDS take far more lives per year.34 But a recent Jacksonville area health department study revealed startling statistics about asthma-related issues, starting with the fact that asthma is now the most common chronic illness of Jacksonville children.35 The study then notes “remarkable disparities” in asthma-induced deaths between blacks and whites in Jacksonville.36 The death rates among African Americans were 117% higher than that of whites.37 Beyond the tragedy of death is the drain on the individuals who survive and the millions of dollars in health care costs after emergency room visits and overall hospitalization to treat the asthma attack. The disproportionate effect on African Americans is again apparent. In

2005, the hospitalization rate in Jacksonville for asthma was 91.5% higher for blacks than whites, and blacks were over 2 1/2 times more likely to be treated in the emergency room for an attack than whites.38 Some suggest that emergency room care is an inadequate remedy because it “only [treats] the asthma attack, not the long-term problem” often addressed early by primary physicians in preventive care to avoid the attack.”39 These facts, coupled with the fact that the “numbers of minorities with asthma is increasing exponentially” led the author of the study to conclude that asthma is a “local epidemic.”40 The same study suggests means of ameliorating the epidemic. The primary asthma prevention targets are identified as the following: 1. Decreasing the occurrence of asthma through eliminating the “environmental triggers” (e.g., mold, dust, allergens, bug feces, industrial pollution).41 2. Increase access to quality health care.42 3. Increase education and community awareness and prevention activism.43 4. Reduce obesity and low birth rates, both of which are linked as an associated adverse factor.44 Dare we have the audacity to hope that some of those professional NBA players with multi-million dollar salaries use their respective foundations to bring those curative solutions to reality? To reduce the above environmental triggers for asthma, foundations could, for example, be part of a team that partially subsidizes the cost of mold elimination.

As to access to quality health care, those without health insurance already have some assistance through the Duval County Health Department.45 But that department has found that “grants are difficult to get because every community in the country wants them.”46 The player foundations can be an alternate source for grants, or a collaborative link to governmental sources. In light of the needs described above for Jacksonville, foundations may infuse capital or be contributors to health care plans to increase access by those who are unable to afford commercial insurance.47 And since these athletes are already highprofile images for physical exercise, they are uniquely positioned to inspire others to minimize obesity, and thereby assist in reducing the adverse effects of that factor on the incidence of asthma. The player can make appearances at obesity awareness workshops as easily as he can appear for car dealership-sponsored golf tournaments. And his foundation can just as easily co-sponsor or fund those workshops.

Reduction of the Government Burden These remedial efforts from the player foundations can also reduce the public burden of paying for the inadequacies in asthma-related health care. African-American asthma patients in Jacksonville’s emergency rooms are almost twice as likely to be covered under public sources, i.e., Medicare, Medicaid and KidCare.48 If player foundations infuse sufficient funds into existing support structures to help those patients receive preventive care, or assist in the purchase of commercial insurance, there may be fewer asthma attacks, and the incidence of emergency room visits would decrease. And that could also reduce the public costs associated with emergency room and general hospital care. The potential savings may be significant. In 2005, Jacksonville’s cost for

asthma-related emergency room visits was almost $8 million, equating to 7.5% of the state total.49 Nearly one in five of all ER asthma-related visits in Jacksonville were of African-American children between the ages of five and 14, a rate 260% higher than the asthma-related ER visits of whites in Jacksonville.50 These disparities are revealed to show how players who self-identify with those in need have the wherewithal to make a difference. Reducing that disparity can have the dual benefit of saving lives and saving dwindling and scarce public funds.

As noted above, Jacksonville is just one example. In Harlem, a programmatic success is found in a project that focuses on transforming the quality of life for a 100-block low-income community, particularly tracking children from birth to 21 years old.51 The fundamental principles are stated as “help[ing] kids in a sustained way, starting as early in their lives as possible, and to create a critical mass of adults around them who understand what it takes to help children succeed...”52 Initiatives include heath care (“Baby Care”), nutritional programs like a subsidized farmers’ market, and charter schools.53 The model has been replicated in other cities, and typifies projects into which new age athletes can invest through their respective foundations.54

Joint Venture Opportunities with Profit Entities There are three primary types of charitable organizations a socially conscious professional athlete would consider to house and distribute charitable funds. Sophisticated donors may funnel contributions through public charities, private foundations, or donoradvised funds.55 Professional athletes have most often elected to use private foundations in light of the propensity to actively direct their own funds rather than primarily raise funds from the general public.56 If a new age athlete establishes a private foundation for pursuing projects with long-term beneficial effects in historically disadvantaged communities, the foundation is not likely to achieve those large-scale benefits as a stand-alone entity. It is more likely that joint venturing with other entities, even profit entities, is required. Section 4944 of the

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

13

Internal Revenue code is an obscurely helpful authority for reaching the limits of the joint venture opportunities with private profit entities.

Particularly relevant to this article is the use of joint ventures and investments made by tax-exempt entities into for-profit entities.

athletes can be a member in a limited liability company with for-profit members and still have a primarily exempt purpose without losing exempt status, and without being subject to excise taxes due to jeopardizing investments.

Program-related Investments versus Jeopardizing Investments

Properly Purposed Investments as PRIs for the New Age Athlete and the Creative Use of LLCs

Section 4944 of the Internal Revenue code (“IRC or Code”) imposes excise taxes when a private foundation “invests any amount in such a manner as to jeopardize the carrying out of any of its exempt purposes …”57 Those taxes can be substantial and a very clear deterrent to any questionable investment. The tax can be imposed on both the foundation and separately on any and all managers of the foundation.58 Also noteworthy is the fact that private foundations are subject to other excise taxes beyond the jeopardizing investments. Code sections 4940 through 4945 and a complex array of companion regulations are even greater cause for very careful analysis before a foundation invests in and jointly with for-profit ventures.59 The investment decision therefore is a high-risk game.

An exception to the jeopardy excise tax exists for what are called program-related investments (“PRIs”).60 An investment will not be considered a jeopardizing investment if it meets two criteria: (1) the “primary” purpose is to accomplish its exempt purposes and (2) no “significant” purpose of the investment is for production of income or appreciation of property.61 So investments significantly related to the exempt purposes are program-related and thus not in jeopardy of losing exempt status or having the excise taxes applied.

Conversely, investments made primarily for the production of income or property appreciation are subject to those excise taxes and potential loss of exemption. Obviously then the question is what factors determine whether the primary purpose of the investment is for exempt purposes rather than income production or property appreciation. As described below, there is ample authority for the conclusion that a private foundation composed of professional

14

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

To have major impact on communities, athletes and their venture partners may need to pool their funds just to amass the amount of capital required to make a difference. With the rare exceptions noted above, most NBA player foundations examined to date have yet to pool their funds or develop a portfolio of investments. And as stated earlier, most NBA players have not created their own foundations. Yet the IRS has provided guidance to private foundations on portfolio development, albeit from obscure sources. The vehicle is a creative joint venture with for-profit entities and non-exempt individuals through a limited liability company.

In Private Letter Ruling 200610020, the IRS was asked to rule on whether a private foundation could make investments as part of an LLC with other non-exempt members without being subject to the excise tax under Section 4944.62 Stated in the affirmative, the entity sought IRS endorsement of the investments as program-related investments.

In the request for the PLR, the private foundation proposed an organizational structure whereby the members of the LLC invest (via capital contributions) into a common fund. The members would include the foundation, composed of individual professional athletes, and for-profit entities and individuals.63 The fund is designed to invest in businesses operating in low-income communities owned by minorities or other disadvantaged groups who have lacked access to conventional financing on reasonable terms.64 The overall intent is to enhance the economic well-being of those communities. An additional mission of the LLC is to educate individual LLC members on entrepreneurship and finance training. The fund will make qualified investments into “Portfolio Companies” (i.e., the target businesses in low-income communities).65 In order to qualify as a PRI, rather than a jeopardizing investment and excise taxes or exemption loss, the LLC investment must comply with the two-pronged requirements noted above (primary charitable purpose and no significant purpose for income production or property appreciation). The IRS concluded both requirements were met. There was a primary charitable and educational purpose because there was a sufficient nexus between the recipients of the investment (the Portfolio Companies) and the charitable purpose (improving the economic well-being of low-income communities). The nexus was evidenced from having the Portfolio Companies (1) actually operate in the target communities, (2) owned by those denied conventional financing, and (3) selected based on the ability to fill community needs.66 The educational program was further evidence of the charitable purpose since individual LLC members must participate in that activity, including training on how to evaluate business opportunities, and the principles of angel investing, which gave them practical business experience.67 The IRS also found that the LLC investment was not made for income production or property appreciation.68 Deriving factors from its regulations, the IRS stated the non-income purposes were evidenced

from the following considerations: (1) private investors investing solely for profit would not likely make the same LLC investment on the same terms as the LLC,69 (2) the LLC members expected a lower return on their investment than private sector investors (angel investors) due to the risky nature of the fund’s investment criteria in low-income communities without conventional financing, and (3) the foundation is authorized through the LLC’s Operating Agreement to assure that the fund’s activities remain charitable. The third factor includes the foundation’s ability to veto any non-charitable investment objectives, liquidate any non-charitable investment, redeem any fund investment that jeopardizes the status as a PRI, or alternatively cap its investment return.70 There are several other private letter rulings consistent with the above ruling, including allowing the profit corporation’s own investment to qualify as a PRI because it furthered the foundation’s exempt purpose.71 The IRS also endorsed as a PRI the foundation’s ownership of stock in for-profit businesses.72 The regulations also authorize PRI treatment of a foundation’s capital contribution if conventional financing is available, but dependent on the foundation’s funds to fill in the gap on the amount of equity capital necessary to make the loan.73 This is acceptable even when the private foundation purchases the common stock of a forprofit corporation, and even if that stock appreciates in value and the foundation profits thereby.74 In each circumstance, the IRS approved the private foundation’s joint venturing with for-profit entities, both LLCs and corporations, and with private individuals. In each instance, the foundations were allowed to invest their own funds jointly with funds of for-profit entities even if the LLC or corporation in which they both contributed funds was a for-profit business. And the IRS allowed PRI status for the LLC’s investments in target businesses as long as their funds were used in furtherance of the foundation’s exempt purposes and that governing documents for the LLC authorized the foundation to assure that the funds shall be used for those exempt purposes.

Application to the New Age Athlete If a professional athlete or a group of athletes wanted to have transformative effects on the health care issues facing those in acute need in the city of Jacksonville, the IRS has endorsed sophisticated joint ventures through the players’ respective foundations. Certainly individualized efforts can occur without these joint ventures. A single player could make a simple contribution from his foundation to targeted individuals. Or a player could infuse funds into targeted nonprofit organizations that in turn allocate resources to those targeted individuals. But if the mission is to provide real and sustainable solutions, such big issues likely require big resource allocations. As noted above, the Jacksonville issues in infant mortality and asthma are pervasive among a community of nearly a quarter million people.75 These maladies have causes that are complex and long-developing in genetics, environment, class and race. Dissolving the heath care disparity, in this author’s view, is therefore not likely solved by governmental subsidies alone, or nonprofit organizations alone, which are often already under-resourced.76 The private sector has a role to play, and these athletes have a propitious opportunity to make a larger contribution as part of and in connection with that sector.

There are also existing major corporations available as joint venture partners from the private sector. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.,

funded its own foundation in 1999 with a $200 million donation.77 Grants have been awarded in excess of $114 million since its inception.78 January 2010 initiatives were created specifically to “deploy the firm’s capital to help transform distressed US communities into sustainable and vibrant neighborhoods of choice and opportunity.”79 The most recent projects may well be part of its larger effort to reestablish itself as a good corporate citizen after the recent economic crisis.80 The value of that intangible asset of goodwill, like many assets, is more appreciated when it is lost. If Goldman Sachs is dedicating its own capital for urban projects to improve its goodwill, who better to partner with than foundations of professional athletes that carry considerable cache in those same urban communities?

PRL 200610020 is a model for Jacksonville joint ventures in an LLC between the exempt player foundations and the non-exempt private sector corporate entities. The foundation would be composed of several professional athletes. Those athletes could be current or former players for the Jacksonville Jaguars, or those who were raised in Jacksonville, or those with any other basis of affinity with the city or their selfidentification with the low-income target community. The foundation would be just one member of a for-profit LLC.81 Other members could be individuals and for-profit entities that could include corporations with local business activity, historically or as part of its growth model.82 All the members would then make capital contributions into a fund. The fund would be the principal asset of the LLC. The vast majority of that fund would then be invested in a chosen Jacksonville health care initiative.

This LLC model accommodates a dual philanthropic bottom line. The mission can be both charitable for the low-income community and educational for entrepreneurial training. In PRI 200610020, 15% of the funds were to be used to train entrepreneurs and athlete LLC members.

For the Jacksonville initiative, methods to improve health care for the target community have already been identified. But the service providers are under-resourced. The foundation could help fund the training of those who need access to quality care, preventive education, and obesity prevention. The athlete members could receive training in how to evaluate the health care services and preferred investment methods in meeting the charitable goals.

If a professional athlete or a group of athletes wanted to have transformative effects on the health care issues facing those in acute need in the city of Jacksonville, the IRS has endorsed sophisticated joint ventures through the players’ respective foundations.

One significant benefit to the new age athlete is that effective use of foundations during current seasons can help them transition into careers after their on-field career has ended. In the Jacksonville example, the player foundation members may envision owning and/ or operating stand-alone health clinics within the target community or subsidiary out-patient clinics of existing hospital facilities. If athletes establish foundations during their playing days while they are

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

15

highly visible, they can maximize their goodwill with their team, and presumably increase bargaining power for upcoming contracts. The use of a foundation during playing days also increases bargaining power to negotiate favorable terms with a corporate joint venture partner while his intangible asset of brand name is most valuable. Once his playing career is over or in the fourth quarter, his bargaining power may have decreased and the transition to other industries is more difficult.

The NBA players have a propitious opportunity to do something unprecedented – pool funds through their respective private foundations to have transformative effects on entire communities.

The LLC is particularly well suited for these joint ventures because of statutory flexibility in management and profit distribution. Unlike the typical C corporation, the LLC members determine whether to manage the entity through a single manager or any agreed configuration of a

1. Professor Groves is a former tax judge and equity partner at Howard & Howard Attorneys P.C. Appreciation is extended to research assistants Sean Murray and Sean Murrell for their valuable contributions.

2. Tim Arango, Lebron Inc., in The Building of a Billion-Dollar Athlete, Fortune, Vol. 156, No. 12, December 10, 2007, p 100, col 2., p 102, col. 2. Buffet is one of several financial advisors, when asked, for James and his companies. James replaced his well-established silk-tie agent with childhood chum turned CEO, Maverick Carter. Buffet said, “Neither of them needs my help, but I am available if they need me.” Id. 3. Id at p. 104, col. 1. The above passages focus on James’ profit-making enterprises, but stem from the desire of a young player to take control of his own economic fortunes. This article extends the opportunity to those with the same new age mentality to also take control over his charitable activities and the not-for-profit entities he can own to accomplish his charitable goals.

4. This author defines New Age Athletes as those professional athletes with the perspective to create their own sophisticated exempt entities, including private foundations, public charities or donor-advised funds to joint venture with other for-profit entities (corporations and limited liability companies) to make major and sustainable improvements in underserved communities. That perspective includes a focus on building assets that generate revenue rather than spending on consumer goods that do not.

5. A video clip of this passage is found at the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation website at http://www.dmf.org/news. php (last visited June 7, 2010).

6. The NBA total payroll through the 2009 season was $1,899,608,095.

USA Today Salaries Database, http:// content.usatoday.com/sports/ basketball/nba/salaries/mediansalaries. aspx?year=2008-09 (last visited June 8, 2010).

16

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

7. A database was compiled from reviewing the websites of players.

8. From the researchers’ review of the 433 players in the NBA during the 2008 survey period, only 43 filed 990 tax forms. Kathy Babiak, Scott Tainsky, Matthew Juravich, Professional athlete philanthropy: Walking the Talk?, comments written from presentation on Friday, May 30, 2008 at the 2008 North American Society for Sport Management Conference (NASSM 2008), Toronto, Ontario May 28 - 31, 2008, p 41.

9. See USA Today Salaries Database at http://content.usatoday.com/sports/ basketball/nba/salaries/mediansalaries. aspx?year=2008-09 (last visited June 8, 2010).

10. USA Today Salaries Database, http:// content.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/ nba/salaries/top25.aspx?year=2008-09 (last visited June 9, 2010).

11. US Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook, https://www.cia.gov/ library/publications/the-world-factbook/ rankorder/2001rank.html (last visited June 9, 2010).

12. US Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook, https://www.cia.gov/ library/publications/the-world-factbook/ rankorder/2001rank.html (last visited June 9, 2010).

13. USA Today Salaries Database, http:// content.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/ nba/salaries/top25.aspx?year=2008-09 (last visited June 9, 2010).

14. Tim Arango, Lebron Inc., in The Building of a Billion-Dollar Athlete, Fortune, Vol. 156, No. 12, December 10, 2007, p 100, col 2., p 106, col. 1.

15. Id. 16. Id. 17. LZ Granderson, Credit LeBron James’ charitable intent: Boys and Girls Club deserve attention, especially on day of Oscar Grant shooting verdict, ESPN. go.com; July 12, 2010, http://sports. espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/ story?id=5367008 (last visited July 12, 2010).

group of members regardless of respective ownership interests.83 These managers need not own any particular amount of ownership interests.84 Under the PLRs and regulations, the foundation must have primary authority to assure the invested amounts by members into the fund shall be distributed consistent with the charitable and educational purposes.85 Under the Delaware LLC statutes, the foundation can be the manager by whatever terms are established in the operating agreement.86 Regarding distributions, the LLC operating agreement may govern the allocation of profits among members even if that allocation is different from a corporate dollar-per-share distribution based on respective ownership interests.87 That flexibility would allow the foundation and the for-profit members to adjust their respective profits to meet the complex requirements of the excise tax statutes and regulations in order to retain PRL status for the foundation’s investment and the LLC distributions.

Another advantage of the LLC model in the Jacksonville context involves the use of pooled investments and portfolio companies. When funds are pooled to amass significant capital, investments still may need to be placed in more than one area. To resolve that city’s multi-faceted health care issues, investments may need to occur in stages and be strategically placed in various service providers. One investment may

18. Id. 19. Id. 20. Thomas Kaplan, First Winner in the James Sweepstake, N.Y. Times, July 12, 2010, http://offthedribble.blogs.nytimes. com/2010/07/08/first-winner-in-thejames-sweepstake (last visited July 12, 2010).

21. Id. 22. For a comprehensive list of tax incentives for such projects see James Edward Maule, 597 T.M., Tax Incentives for Economically Distressed Areas, (2007) Tax Management, Inc., subsidiary of The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. 23. Id. 24. See a comparison of major cities in the US and Europe, noting “racially segregated populations…characterized by decaying infrastructure, paucity of fiscal resources, public insecurity and crime.” Ivonne Audirac, urban shrinkage amid fast metropolitan growth (Two faces of contemporary urbanism), 69, 71, Berkeley Institute of Urban and Regional Development, U of Calif. (2009). See http://iurd.berkeley.edu/catalog/Other/ Future_Shrinking_Cities_Problems_ Patterns_and_Strategies_Urban_ Transformation_Global (last visited June 9, 2010).

25. US Census Bureau, http://www.census. gov/population/www/documentation/ twps0027/twps0027.html#tabB (last visited June 9, 2010); African Americans represent 29.0% according to 2000 US Census. See US Census Bureau, State and County QuickFacts, http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/ states/12/1235000.html (January 2008).

26. See journal articles published by the Jacksonville Historical Society at http://www.jaxhistory.com/journal11. html#journal.

27. The United States Justice Department filed suit against the City of Jacksonville and its Housing Authority claiming violations of the federal Fair Housing Act. The Justice Department alleged a “long standing pattern and practice by the City and the Jacksonville Housing Authority

of refusing to site public housing anywhere except predominantly black neighborhoods.” See the US Department of Justice press release at www.usdoj. gov, http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2000/ October/611cr.htm (October 18, 2000), announcing a settlement of the lawsuit, where the city agreed to build 225 new public housing units outside of the African-American communities, and pay more than $380,000 in damages to complainants.

28. See the US Department of Justice press release at www.usdoj.gov, http://www. usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2000/October/611cr. htm (October 18, 2000).

29. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Racial integration in urban america: A block level analysis of African American and white housing patterns, http://www. uwm.edu/dept/eti/integration/integration. htm (March 31, 2008).

30. Urvaksh Karkaria, Duval black infants at higher risk of dying, Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville), Apr. 5, 2006, at G-1.

Infant mortality refers to the death of a child prior to the first birthday. http:// www.healthystartassoc.org/p1.html.

31. Id. 32. US Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook, https://www.cia.gov/ library/publications/the-world-factbook/ rankorder/2091rank.html. (last visited February 7, 2008).

33. Too young to die; Solutions Offered, Florida Times-Union, August 29, 2005.

34. Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville. com, Finding Solutions, http:// www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/ sstories/022108/opi_248942343.shtml (February 21, 2008).

35. Sudhir Prabhu, M. D., Asthma: Control and prevention, Duval County Health Department, Health Policy & Evaluation Research Institute, Vol. 6, Issue 5, (November, 2007), p 1.

36. Id. at 2.

37. The study and this statistic covered years 2000-2005. Id. at p 2.

38. Id. at 5.

involve a capital outlay into a new community clinic specializing in the infant mortality and asthma issues they face most acutely, and a separate investment in existing nonprofit organizations that are also part of the solution. Another investment may be loans or educational training grants to service providers (nurses and technicians). Still another investment may be the creation of an equity capital fund for small businesses designed to assist that same community (e.g., providers of durable medical equipment for infants and asthmatics). Through greater use of portfolio investments, the new age athlete can therefore enhance the effectiveness of his private foundation by working simultaneously on several fronts of the same war. The net effect may be accelerated achievement of major long-term benefits to the target community.

Conclusion The NBA players have a propitious opportunity to do something unprecedented - pool funds through their respective private foundations to have transformative effects on entire communities. Jacksonville, is just one of many large urban communities that could be the beneficiary of such targeted efforts. Through regulations and private letter rulings, the

39. Larry Hannan, Asthma in Duval a ‘local epidemic’, The Florida TimesUnion, Jacksonville.com., http:// www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/ stories/020808/met_244927017.shtml .

February 8, 2008. p 1.

40. Id. at 2.

41. Supra, note 28, at 15. See also Larry Hannan, Asthma in Duval a ‘local epidemic’, The Florida TimesUnion, Jacksonville.com., http:// www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/ stories/020808/met_244927017.shtml .

February 8, 2008. p 3.

42. Supra, note 32, at 2.

43. Id. 44. Supra, note 28, at 12.

45. Supra footnote 49, at p 3.

part of its activities involves lobbying for legislation or on behalf of a candidate for public office. I.R.C. § 501(c)(3). The donor-advised funds are organizations true to their entitlement. The donor can only advise how the funds will be used, which essentially means a recommendonly position.

56. See Victoria B. Bjorklund, Current developments in giving to donor-advised funds supporting organizations and private foundations, 116, The American Law Institute, (2007).

57. I.R.C. § 4944.

58. I.R.C. § 4944(a)(b). Managers have an additional concern because they are joint and severally liable under subsection (d) (1), I.R.C. § 4944(d)(1).

54. Supra, note 47.

55. Public charities and private foundations can gain exemption from federal income tax by meeting three primary criteria: (1) Being organized exclusively for charitable, educational, religious, or scientific purposes (2) No part of the net earnings benefit any private shareholder or individual, and (3) No substantial

73. Reg. 53.4944-3(b). This was example (3) of (5) that the IRS provides as guidance for what will be deemed adequate circumstances for PRI treatment.

74. Reg. 53.4944-3(b).

75. Supra, note 18.

64. Id.

78. Id.

65. The Portfolio Companies in this request would start in one designated metropolitan area and expand thereafter.

At least 67% of the individuals in the business must be a member of a group that has been traditionally denied access to equity funding or credit due to gender, minority or low-income status. Id, at 3-4.

79. See The Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group (UIG) website at http:// www2.goldmansachs.com/services/ financing/urban-investments/index.html (last visited June 7, 2010).

61. I.R.C. § 4944(c).

53. Supra, note 47.

72. I.R.S. Priv. Ltr. Rul. 199943044.

77. S ee the Goldman Sachs Foundation website at http://www2.goldmansachs. com/foundation (last visited June 7, 2010).

60. I.R.C. § 4944(c).

50. The actual percentage was 18%. Id, at 5.

52. See The Harlem Children’s Zone website at http://www.hcz.org/about-us/the-hczproject (last visited June 12, 2010).

71. Id.

63. Individual members also include former athletes, coaches or managers of a professional sports team. Id, at 2.

49. Id, at 7.

51. See Time-CNN report at http://www.time.com/ time/specials/2007/ artticle/0,28804,1657256_1655085 _1654859,00.html (last visited June 12, 2010).

70. Id, at 9-10.

62. I.R.S. Priv. Ltr. Rul. 200610020.

48. Supra, note 28, at 12.

47. Legislative changes may be required, and proposed laws that add nongovernmental entities to the mix to reduce the public burden of health care for low-income residents is politically viable.

69. The PLR actually only states “investors” would not likely make the investment on the same terms as the foundation.

This author presumes the IRS meant non-exempt investors since it referred to them as those who would invest “solely for profit.”

76. See Roger M. Groves, More private equity, less government subsidy, and more tax efficiency in urban revitalization: Modeling profitable philanthropy and investment incentives, 8 Florida State U Business Review 93 (2009). The premise of the Florida State article was that as a matter of tax policy, increasing the private sector contribution to charitable projects should reduce the need for as many governmental subsidies, and the preferred method of increasing investor participation is to increase the amount of investment return rather than focus on tax deductions.

59. There is a tax on the private foundation’s net investment income under I.R.C. § 4940(c), each act of self-dealing between foundation manager(s) or certain other foundation contributors and the private foundation under I.R.C. § 4941(a)(1) (2), undistributed income under I.R.C. § 4942(a)-(e), excess business holdings under I.R.C. § 4943(a)(c) and spreading propaganda under I.R.C. § 4945(a)-(h).

46. Id.

IRS has now provided reliable guidance for carefully constructed joint ventures through LLCs that are well designed to pursue those goals.

The foundations can joint venture with profit entities as long as the capital contributions remain devoted to the charitable projects, and the LLC’s operating agreement requires the foundation to monitor the investment distributions. The LLC can identify and invest in portfolio companies and still allow profits to both the foundation and its forprofit members. And the operating agreement can provide the flexible allocations of profit to avoid loss of exempt status or excise taxes. The benefits of the increased profitable philanthropy by these new age athletes are not just to the target community and their tax return and career transition. More capital contributions to revitalize communities can translate to fewer governmental subsidies and tax loss for the country.

So while players may often answer oft-repeated media questions with a cliché, another worn cliché is a comment to these talented potentially new age athletes — “the ball is in your court.”

66. I.R.S. Priv. Ltr. Rul. 200610020, p. 9.

The IRS cited Rev. Rul. 77-111 and 74587 as primary authority for the nexus analysis at p 9.

67. Id, at 9.

68. Id, at 9-11.

80. Goldman Sachs Group In., along with Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co, received a toxically controversial $12.9 billion of taxpayer dollars as a government bailout under the TARP. See NY Times article, http://dealbook.blogs. nytimes.com/2009/10/16/bonusesput-goldman-in-public-relations-bind, October 16, 2009 (last visited December 8, 2009).

81. An LLC could also be organized as a not-for-profit entity in some states. The Delaware LLC Act states: “A limited liability company may carry on any lawful business, purpose or activity, whether or not for profit …” Delaware Laws, § 18-106(a). In a few states, a new middle ground entity between profit and nonprofit, known as a L3C can be formed. See Cassady V. Brewer and Michael J. Rhim, The L3C, using the L3C for program-related investments, 21 Tax’n of Exempts 11, 2009 WL 5449633, (2009) RIA. 82. State statutes typically allow an LLC to have corporate members and individual members. CITE. 83. The relevant provision of the Delaware Code states: “A limited liability company agreement may provide for classes or groups of managers having such relative rights, powers and duties as the limited liability company agreement may provide…” DE § 18-404.

84. The relevant provision of the Delaware Code states: “Unless otherwise provided in a limited liability company agreement, the management of a limited liability company shall be vested in its members in proportion to the then current percentage or other interest of members in the profits of the limited liability company owned by all of the members.” (emphasis added).DE § 18-402.

85. Supra, note 52.

86. Supra, note 72, DE §18-402 and §18-404.

87. The Delaware LLC Act explicitly states the Act’s policy “to give the maximum effect to the principle of freedom of contract and to the enforceability of [LLC] agreements. The Supreme Court of Delaware noted, “…commentators observe that only where the agreement is inconsistent with mandatory statutory provisions will the members’ agreement be invalidated. Elf Atochem North America, Inc. v. Jaffari and Malek LLC, 727 A.2d 286(1999). There is no statutory mandate that LLCs divide their profits in exact accord with the ownership interests of the members.

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

17

perspectives

Spotlight shines on Center for Law and Sports Coastal Law faculty provides national insight and expertise on the business and law of sports One of the joys of sports fandom used to be flipping the morning paper past all the stories of crime and lawsuits to the sanctuary offered by the sports pages. But when an athlete appears in the sports pages these days, he’s as likely to be dodging a paternity suit as a linebacker, negotiating a contract rather than a race course, or shooting a gun instead of a ball. Since most fans spent their time studying box scores rather than law books, the sports media have increasingly relied on legal experts, including those at Florida Coastal School of Law’s Center for Law and Sports, to help make sense of the legal system’s growing influence on the sports landscape.

That sports could provide Coastal Law a vehicle to broadcast its legal expertise nationally makes sense. Coastal Law established the Center for Law and Sports in 2005 in recognition of the growing interest in sports law and the expanding market for specialists in the area. The center, one of only a handful of sports law programs across the country, combines specialized courses taught by faculty with experience in sports as well as law.

to school his senior year after being drafted in the major leagues. However, his eligibility was threatened when he refused to cooperate with an investigation into alleged improper contact between UK players and agents.

Coastal Law professor and the center’s director Rick Karcher said that, in addition to extensive practical experience in the field, the faculty’s expertise is founded on scholarship and research.

Reggie Bush, a former star tailback at the University of Southern California, had his eligibility stripped by the NCAA after an investigation revealed that he had taken improper benefits, including a house, from representatives of agents who hoped to represent him.

“The scholarship aspect is very important to us, because it bolsters our credibility, makes us much more knowledgeable about specific areas within sports law, and provides us with a variety of perspectives and ways in which to analyze the issues,” he said.

Karcher speaks from experience. His numerous articles published in law reviews nationally have led to him being a frequent speaker on sports law topics at conferences and symposia nationwide. He’s testified in front of Congress and contributes to a leading sports law blog.

Additionally, Karcher’s research and writing on illegal agent contacts with amateur athletes has made him a sought-after expert witness in those matters.

He served as an expert witness in James Paxton v. the University of Kentucky. In the case, Karcher was asked to give his opinion involving a college baseball player who returned

18

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

Karcher’s research into the area of agent contacts was prescient. In 2005, he wrote the article: “How to Curb Agent Misconduct in Professional Baseball.” Five years later, illegal agent contact has made front-page news.

may become the first player ever stripped of the Heisman Trophy, college football’s most prestigious award.

While USC fans may understand the impact of Bush’s actions, they may not understand the underlying NCAA bylaws that led to them. In explaining the interplay between sports and law, Karcher said the sports law expert must often explain an entire body of law separate from United States criminal and civil law.

“Commentary on sports law can be made even more complex in that sports law is in many respects its own separate body of law with its own unique case precedent and league rules, constitutions and bylaws,” said Karcher.

The Center for Law and Sports continues to help to raise Florida Coastal’s profile nationally,

According to Karcher, it seems that those athletes facing legal consequences garner the most interest from the media.

Bush probably wishes he had the benefit of Karcher’s research before he met with those would-be agents. The revelation of Bush’s improper agent contacts led to severe NCAA sanctions including a two-year postseason ban, loss of football scholarships, and the vacating of wins in the 2004-05 championship season. Since the NCAA retroactively stripped Bush of his eligibility, the status of the many awards he won in 2005 is in question. He

with its faculty - Karcher included - being quoted more than 600 times in print, television and radio news outlets in recent years. Notable highlights since 2007 include mentions in the New York Times, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, The Associated Press, and USA Today. The combined audience: more than 250,000,000.

Sports coverage, once concerned only with on-field exploits, is now likely to include contract negotiations, gender discrimination,

legal entanglements and an athlete’s choice of legal representation. ESPN recently devoted an entire hour of its airtime to basketball player LeBron James’ decision to sign a contract with the Miami Heat as a free agent.

Famed baseball pitcher Roger Clemens similarly secured exclusive airtime, albeit in less pleasant circumstances. His testimony before Congress about baseball’s steroid scandal went beyond ESPN and was broadcast by all the major news networks. That testimony led to Clemens being charged with perjury, which once again has him in the national spotlight.

According to Karcher, it seems that those athletes facing legal consequences garner the most interest from the media.

“Unfortunately, the stories that generate lots of interest are when athletes get into trouble off the field, whether it be an amateur athlete suspended or investigated for improper agent activity or an athlete suspended or investigated for taking [performance enhancing drugs] or doing something illegal or immoral,” said Karcher.

But while a fan might be naturally curious about an athlete’s legal challenges, that fan won’t necessarily understand the nature of a legal dispute no matter how hard a sports anchor tries to explain it. Collective bargaining is harder for the average fan to process than a quarterback rating or earned run average.

Filling the gap between sports knowledge and legal concepts is where the Florida Coastal sports law faculty can be used to their best advantage.

“The business of sports is a multibillion dollar enterprise with as many facets,” said Peter Goplerud, Coastal Law’s dean and professor of law. “As with any business that comprehensive, a multitude of complex legal issues can arise – contract negotiations, labor disputes, government interactions, regulatory issues, or ethnic and gender concerns.”

Goplerud was elected to the Sports Lawyers Association Board of Directors in 1997. He is a frequent lecturer on sports law topics, has written numerous law review articles on sports law, and is co-author of one of the country’s leading sports law textbooks. Goplerud was

involved in the representation of professional athletes in team and individual sports during the 1980s and 1990s and, more recently, has served as a consultant to universities, athletes and coaches on contracts, athlete eligibility issues, and collegiate athletic compliance matters.

Like Karcher and Goplerud, the remainder of Florida Coastal’s sports law faculty brings substantive, hands-on experience as well as scholarly and research expertise, which allows them to render complex issues more understandable to legal contemporaries, the media, and everyday sports fans alike.

Professor and sports law faculty member Nancy Hogshead-Makar knows first-hand the pressures and legal challenges facing modern athletes. She earned her law degree from Georgetown Law after an amateur swimming career that included three gold medals in the 1984 Olympics.

Hogshead-Makar has been one of the school’s highest profile faculty members. In 2007, she was named by Sports Illustrated as one of the 13 most influential people in the history of Title IX, the landmark gender equality legislation requiring colleges to allow women comparable sporting opportunities to men.

There are few people nationally more qualified than Hogshead-Makar to comment on coverage of Title IX issues or on gender equality issues generally facing sports. She has authored numerous articles on the legislation and wrote in 2007 “Equal Play: Title IX and Social Policy.”

Joining Coastal Law in 2008, Associate Professor of Law Roger Groves has also served as a resource on the national level, penning several books and articles, and also serving as a frequent commentator on stories

ranging from contract issues to, most recently, stadium financing with Forbes. Groves was a state and local tax judge for a decade in Michigan, and then a partner in the major Midwest law firm of Howard & Howard, where he represented multi-national corporations, high profile entertainers and coaches. In 2005 he wrote what is considered among the most comprehensive books regarding AfricanAmerican football coaches, Innocence in the Red Zone, and has been called upon to be a NCAA speaker to coaches, and the Black Coaches Association.

Karcher, not surprisingly, points to the Center of Law and Sports faculty as its strength. He said it’s their commitment to cutting-edge research into emerging sports law issues that makes the center a go-to resource for not only the media on deadline but other sports industry attorneys and professionals. Karcher calls the center’s status as a research center and legal scholarship resource an important part of our mission.

“All of [our faculty] have made significant contributions in the sports industry through their publications, consultant work and expert witness testimony at congressional hearings and in high-profile lawsuits,” said Karcher. “I think media outlets frequently seek our advice because we have established a high level of trust with reporters, and they feel comfortable that our opinions are reliable.”

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

19

in practice

Sports law alumni blend love for the game with global, innovative opportunities Jeff Reel, vice president and general counsel for ATP Tour Inc., has drafted many contracts with international companies during his 18 years with the tour. Rolex, Club Med, Waterford Crystal and Barclays Bank are just a few of the big corporations with which Reel has negotiated trademark relationships.

But despite those highs, Reel has seen his share of lows in the business of sports, and his perspective is global.

“There was definitely a down period when the economy was down,” said Reel, a class of 2000 alumnus and a Coastal Law adjunct professor.

“Major companies weren’t doing sports sponsorships anymore. In fact, a lot of them were pulling back from that.”

However, if sports marketing provides any glimmer of consumer confidence, Reel said business is picking up.

In February, Reel and the ATP orchestrated a major sponsorship deal with Corona in Mexico City and, most recently, negotiated a plum sponsorship relationship with FedEx to bring them on as an ATP sponsor.

“This year has been one of the best, if not the best year I’ve seen,” he said. “These are the kinds of things that, as a lawyer in my position, you like working on: getting to work with international companies you want to have your brand associated with. It certainly helps to raise our profile

20

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

Jeff Reel with sons, Davis and Hayden

in the sports world — and it’s a lot more fun doing that than working on litigation.”

The growing international flavor of sports flaw is also a trend Joshua Kane is seeing in his line of work. Kane, associate counsel at the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) in Daytona Beach and a 2007 graduate, said LPGA is getting into many more markets for sports sponsorships than it has in the past.

New smart phone tool!

“If you look at the LPGA, we’ve exploited opportunities all over the world,” said Kane. “Emerging markets like China, Japan and South Korea offer great business opportunities and an untapped consumer marketplace.”

His expertise has been a boon in emerging markets.

“The business and legal issues are complex, including negotiation of governing law and dispute resolution mechanisms,” Kane said.

Joshua Kane

Kane also cited the use of new platforms as another emerging trend. Technology has provided many creative and previously untapped outlets for reaching fans. So keeping up with technology, industry standards and communication laws related to marketing and the promotion of sports and athletes has added another layer of growth to the business.

Florida Coastal School of Law helped both Kane and Reel gain a practical perspective of the industry — a quality both attorneys make a point to share with up-and-coming attorneys, interns and students.

“Before I entered the LPGA as an intern, I was familiar with both legal and business sports issues,” said Kane of his Florida Coastal education. “You receive an insider’s perspective in the school’s sports law program, and I also see it in my interns from the school.”

The school gave Kane an opportunity to pursue two passions — sports and law. He said he worked as closely as he could with Professor Rick Karcher to find and seize new opportunities to expand his experience. The first summer of his law school career, Kane worked for a corporate legal department and the next summer worked for MPS Group in Jacksonville. Later came Kane’s first big break to intern at LPGA. “During my LPGA internship, I worked as many hours as I could and tried to involve myself in as many business meetings as I could,” Kane said. “Just before graduation, I received a job offer — a product of hard work, good timing and luck.”

Four years later, Kane continues to pay it forward, routinely recruiting interns from Florida Coastal at LPGA. “Coastal’s interns are more familiar and better prepared to discuss and research sports legal and business issues,” he said. “The school focuses on practical skill-building, and that makes a difference in the workplace.”

The latest Florida Coastal news right at your fingertips!

As a student, Reel said he was impressed with the professors and training he received at Florida Coastal. Now an adjunct professor, Reel works to help his students focus on practical training. His mid-term and final exams test knowledge of black letter law, but also students’ abilities to draft contracts or interpret memos from business clients.

Festures include:

“I’ve had a lot of students say that was great to do because it’s not something other classes always allow for,” Reel said. “I set it up so that my classes are designed for practical experience.”

• On-campus directory of all faculty and staff,

In the working world, however, Reel is still ecstatic to be working in the field of sports law — and even more delighted to be living in Northeast Florida. Reel, an avid sports fan from the Chicago area, said it did not take long to say yes to the job offer that set his career in motion at ATP Tour and Florida Coastal School of Law. “It’s a fun area to work, and fun to see our work out there on ESPN and in the news,” Reel said. “There are a lot of really good people in the business, too, which makes it easy to get up in the morning and get to work.”

• Calendar listings of important deadlines and upcoming events • News about the school and its programs • Links to Jacksonville resources like taxis, hospitals, shopping, and hotels • Image gallery Download our app today!

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

21

everyday ethics

One good burn deserves another

By Erika Curran, Assistant Professor of Professional Skills The phone rang. I cringed as I answered.

“Oh please don’t cancel on us tonight,” I hoped, knowing we had taken four extra clients because I thought we had the extra help.

worked the case more quickly by herself AND she was taking time out of her schedule to mentor and supervise me on pro bono cases. I even thought of myself as “extra help.”

At 6 p.m., I dreaded who might be on the line. Reluctantly, I took the call.

“I won’t be able to make it to your pro bono event tonight after all,” the attorney, a would-be volunteer, said. “Something came up. Maybe next time. I do really enjoy it.”

The event started at 6:30. I peered from my window and saw the line of clients clutching paperwork in their hands.

“They’ve been waiting weeks for this chance to get some legal advice,” I thought. “Down one attorney either means an extra hour for the other volunteers, or we turn people away who are counting on our help.”

The choice was already made.

I dug into my purse for money to buy pizza for our team.

Shorthanded, we were going to need extra food. I was grateful for the attorneys who are already streaming in, rolling up their sleeves and getting ready to work. However, I realize even when no one cancels there’s never enough help.

RING! The next call came in. This time it was a student volunteer.

“Hi. Yeah. I am not going to be able to come tonight because it turns out I actually have a paper due and I’m not finished,” the student said.

I take note: Take that student off the list. I was angry, stressed, disappointed. But inside, I knew I was that law student, only maybe worse …

I remember my own shameful phone call to my legal aid supervisor when I was an intern: “I am so sorry, but it turns out I got tickets to the Alanis Morissette concert and I am not going to be able to come in this Friday,” I said excitedly, with maybe a touch of embarrassment. “I was so lucky to get those tickets. My boyfriend and I were on hold all day.”

Isn’t it ironic – don’t you think?

And, no, I am not ashamed about my taste in music. I enjoy “One Hand in my Pocket.” I’m not even entirely sure I wouldn’t jump in line for tickets if she mounted a comeback tour today.

I am ashamed I didn’t realize what a huge responsibility and privilege pro bono work really is. I certainly didn’t realize the attorney I was volunteering to assist probably could have 22

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

As a law student and a new attorney doing pro bono work, I often thought I was just doing someone a favor - a “favor” I wasn’t required to do. It was just me “going the extra mile,” and if I chose not to, no big deal. I didn’t see myself as being lucky to be getting the training while being able to help someone in need.

Well, you know what they say about payback.

It wasn’t until I had my own gigantic case load at a nonprofit that I realized the errors of my ways. I didn’t understand that when a legal service organization gets an offer of help from a lawyer or a student, they count on that person to actually show up and help. They take on additional cases. They commit to serving additional clients. They invest time in supervising students to train them to do important legal work with clients.

I didn’t understand pro bono clients are real clients – real people.

Many attorneys and law students feel like pro bono is the right thing to do, but maybe only when it’s convenient for them. As lawyers, we are the gate keepers of our legal justice system, and it is our responsibility to ensure that everyone has access to it.

It is not our gift to give the community – really, it’s the other way around. We have a responsibility, and if just one client loses his case because he was unrepresented, then we all lose and the system fails.

As Martin Luther King so eloquently stated: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

faculty news HIGHLIGHTS, ACHIEVEMENTS AND APPOINTMENTS

Professor Susan Daicoff In April, Professor Daicoff was selected to be a keynote speaker at an international conference on Nonadversarial Justice in Melbourne, Australia. On May 5, 2010, she spoke on “The Future of the Legal Profession: The Comprehensive Law Movement.” In April, she gave a presentation, “Mentoring the Millennial Generation,” at the University of South Carolina’s Second National Mentoring Conference in Columbia, South Carolina. In March, she was a guest speaker in Professor Leonard Riskin’s dispute resolution class at the University of Florida Levin College of Law in Gainesville.

Professor Elizabeth DeCoux In March, Professor DeCoux debated Ilya Shapiro, a Senior Fellow with the Cato Institute, in a program jointly sponsored by the Florida A&M University School of Law Federalist Society and Animal Legal Defense Fund Student Chapter. The topic was U.S. v. Stevens, a case involving a first-amendment challenge to a federal statute outlawing depictions of illegal cruelty to animals.

Professor DeCoux’s article, “Speaking for the Modern Prometheus: the Significance of Animal Suffering to the Abolition Movement,” was the lead article in the March issue of Animal Law Review, Vol. 16, No. 1.

Also in March, Henry Mark Holzer, Chairman of the International Society for Animal Rights, interviewed Professor DeCoux regarding her recent article. Holzer is Professor Emeritus at the Brooklyn School of Law. The interview is available at ISAR’s website as part of ISAR’s web project archiving interviews that chronicle the modern animal advocacy movement.

During the summer, Professor DeCoux’s essay “Human Law, as Seen Through the Lens of Animal Suffering,” appeared in the proceedings of the First International Conference on Animal Law, edited by Martine LaChance and entitled “The Animal, Within the Sphere of Humans’ Needs.”

Published by Editions Yvon Blais in English and French, the proceedings are available in the United States through Thomson Reuters.

Professor Gina Donahoo In April, Professor Donahoo moderated the following panel: “Controlling the Use of Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports: Maintaining Competitive Balance without Destroying Due Process.”

The panel addressed the contemporary issues and challenges facing sport leagues and governing bodies in testing athletes for the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PED). Topics for discussion included testing for human growth hormone, what qualifies as a PED, proper sanctions imposed on athletes who test positive, the impact of PEDs on a level playing field, protecting the athlete’s interest as well as the amorphous topic of due process and where the future is headed.

PROFESSOR Cleveland Ferguson III In July, Professor Ferguson represented the United States at the Colloque: La Coutume Dans Tous Ses Etats (Custom in All of its Forms/States). The conference celebrated 500 years of Roman law and spoken custom in the Auvergne Region of France and was held at the Universite d’Auvergne in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

Professor Ferguson presented: “Reimagining Common Law as a Form of Custom: A Comparative Approach between the UCC, the Common Law Judge, and La Doctrine.” The talk focused on the controversial American contracts case, Hill v. Gateway 2000, Inc., and its progeny in the wake of the attempted revisions of custom in U.S. commercial law in UCC sections 2-206 and 2-207, and the impact American scholars have on the development of contracts law in relation to French scholars. Professor Ferguson’s paper will be published in French and English at the Universite d’Auvergne later this year.

During the summer, Professor Ferguson published International Human Rights, with The International Lawyer at 44 Int’l Law 473 (2010). He served as general editor for the ABA Committee for International Human Rights. He was reappointed as Chair of Publications for the Committee for 2010-2011.

Professor Ferguson was reappointed to the board of directors of Florida Legal Services, Inc., by the Florida Bar Board of Governors. He will

chair the Personnel Committee, which provides guidance on employment contracts, pension plan, and workplace rules changes. He was also appointed to serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Kappa Alpha Psi representing Alabama, Florida, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, and the Republic of Panama.

Finally, during the summer Professor Ferguson was elected to the board of directors of the Jacksonville Urban League and class representative to the board of directors of Leadership Jacksonville, Class of 2010.

Professor Brian Foley During the summer, Professor Foley, along with The Defender Association of Philadelphia, The Juvenile Law Center, and professors from University of San Francisco School of Law and Temple University School of Law, wrote three amicus briefs that were filed in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the Pennsylvania Superior Court, and the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Criminal Trial Division, on behalf of people serving sentences of life without possibility of parole for crimes they committed as juveniles.

The briefs contain an updated 50-state survey of juvenile sentencing law that initially was researched and written by Professor Foley and a group of Coastal Law students in 2005-06.

Professor Mary Margaret Giannini In April, Professor Giannini’s article “Redeeming an Empty Promise: Procedural Justice, the Crime Victims’ Rights Act, and the Victims’ Right to be Reasonably Protected from the Accused” was accepted for publication by the Tennessee Law Review. Professor Giannini presented an earlier version of this article as the invited speaker at the Honorable Stephanie K. Seymour Lecture at the University of Tulsa College of Law in the spring of 2009.

Also, Professor Giannini presented her paper at the National Crime Victim Law Institute’s June 2010 conference in Portland, Oregon. She discussed the difficulties inherent in enforcing state and federal laws that afford crime victims the right to be reasonably protected from the accused. By invoking procedural justice theory, Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

23

she suggested ways in which the protection right can become more enforceable and provide a meaningful and tangible right to crime victims.

During the summer, Professor Giannini and Professor Jana McCreary presented at the Institute for Law Teaching and Learning’s June conference at Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas. In their session, “Beyond the Black Letter: Promoting the Learning Process through Continual Assessment in the First-Year Curriculum,” Professors Giannini and McCreary discussed ways instructors can efficiently integrate continual assessment learning tools into first-year courses, which help students master the law as well as enhance the students’ individual learning styles.

Professor Susan Harthill In June, Professor Harthill presented her most recent article, “Workplace Bullying as an Occupational Safety and Health Concern: A Comparative Analysis,” at the Seventh Annual International Conference on Workplace Bullying and Harassment, in Cardiff, Wales.

Professor Harthill’s article “The Need for a Revitalized Regulatory Scheme to Address Workplace Bullying in the United States: Harnessing the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Act,” was published at 78 U. Cinn. L. Rev. 1250 (2010).

In July, Professor Harthill was a panelist at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools annual conference in West Palm Beach, Florida; the panel was entitled “Beyond the Job Talk: Maneuvering Presentation Formats.” Earlier in the summer, Professor Harthill was appointed by the Jacksonville City Council as a Commissioner of the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission.

Professor Carolyn Herman Professor Herman both co-chaired and presented at the continuing legal education seminar titled “Adventurers in Technotainment” held in conjunction with the 2010 Annual Retreat of the Entertainment, Arts & Sports Law Section of the Florida Bar in Palm Beach over the Memorial Day weekend. Her specific topics included a segment on the ethical issues surrounding the current use of cloud computing (“Cloudy with a Chance of Ethics”) and an overview of the videogame industry, including a discussion of the players, the major deal points, and the major cases (“Have You Seen Your Avatar Lately?

24

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

Current Developments in the Videogame and Computer Entertainment Industries”).

Professor Sonya Hoener Professor Hoener presented her paper “Expanding Wrongful Death Damages to Kinship-care Relationships” at the Arizona State University Southwest Junior Scholars Workshop in Tempe, Arizona, on March 15, 2010.

Professor Thomas Hornsby Professor Hornsby participated in a judges panel presentation at the 29th Annual National CASA Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 17, 2010. His presentation was entitled: “Review of the Adoption of the 2007 ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct and its Effect on Ethical Considerations for Judges Involved with CASA Programs.” This is a follow up to Professor Hornsby’s 2009 Second Supplement to Chapter 7: “Ethical Considerations for Judges Involved with CASA Programs,” in Judges’ Guide to CASA/GAL Program Development, 2004 Edition, A National CASA Association Resources Library Publication. Professor Hornsby is an Emeritus Board of Director member of CASA and attended a meeting of the CASA Board of Directors and of the Emeritus Board members at the conference.

National CASA is an organization representing local CASA/GAL programs, which in 2008 consisted of 68,842 unpaid citizen volunteers furnishing 5.8 million advisory hours to 240,894 children in dependency courts in the United States.

A book entitled Domestic Violence, Abuse and Child Custody, Legal Strategies and Policy Issues, co-authored by Mo Therese Hannah, Ph. D., and Barry Goldstein, J.D., 2010 Edition, was published and released in April by the Civic Research Institute, ISBN 1-887554-76-9.

Professor Hornsby authored Chapter 7: “Do Judges Adequately Address the Causes and Impact of Violence in Children’s Lives in Deciding Contested Child Custody Cases?”

Professor Andrew W. Jurs In March, Professor Jurs’ most recent article, “Science Court: Past Proposals, Current Considerations, and a Suggested Structure,” appeared as lead article in the contemporary issue of the University of Virginia Journal of Law and Technology. It assessed prior attempts to make science assessment objective, why it may be the right time to reconsider that goal, and what

structure would best serve the ends of accurate, efficient, and fair assessment of complex scientific evidence. Downloads are available at: http:// papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_ id=1561724.

Professor Rick Karcher In April, Professor Karcher was retained as an expert witness by the plaintiff in the case of Hambric Sports Management, LLC v. Anthony Kim. The lawsuit is pending in the district court of Dallas County, Texas, and involves a breach of contract action brought against a professional golfer by a sports management firm specializing in the representation of professional golfers.

During the summer, Professor Karcher’s article, “Rethinking Damages for Lost Earning Capacity in a Professional Sports Career: How to Translate Today’s Athletic Potential into Tomorrow’s Dollars,” was published in the Fall 2010 issue of Chapman Law Review.

Professor John Knechtle In March, Professor Knechtle presented a paper titled, “Comparative Law Research in the Commonwealth Caribbean” at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Law Schools in New Orleans. Professor Knechtle’s presentation was part of the Roundtable Discussion on Comparative Scholarship.

Professor Michael Lewyn Professor Lewyn published two articles during the summer: “Character Counts: The ‘Character of the Government Action’ in Regulatory Takings Actions,” 40 Seton Hall L. Rev. 597; and “Why Pedestrian-Friendly Street Design is Not Negligent,” 47 University of Lousiville Law Review 339.

In addition, he participated in the Congress for the New Urbanism task force on sustainable street networks.

Professor Jana McCreary In March, Professor McCreary presented her paper at Brown University at the 13th Annual Conference of the Association for the Study

of Law, Culture, and the Humanities. Her talk was part of a panel discussion on issues involving patient-therapist relationships.

Professor McCreary’s contribution specifically addressed the conflict that arises when a person’s therapist also serves the role of that person’s minister and how the First Amendment doctrine of ecclesiastical abstention may work to remove private tort causes of action should confidentiality be breached by the therapist/ minister. Professor McCreary presented the same material at Florida Coastal’s Faculty Colloquium Series in February.

Her latest article, “Tell Me No Secrets: Sharing, Discipline, and the Clash of Ecclesiastical Abstention and Psychotherapeutic Confidentiality,” was published in the Quinnipiac Law Review’s first issue in the Fall, 2010.The article explains why ecclesiastical abstention, which prevents courts from deciding matters of church doctrine, should not apply in a therapist/ minister situation if the client/congregant has voluntarily left the church before a breach of confidentiality occurs, thus allowing a private

tort action to proceed. The article also provides recommended guidelines for therapists/ministers who are faced with a confidentiality-based ethical dilemma.

Also during the summer, Professor McCreary presented her most recent article at the Southeast Association of Law Schools annual meeting in Palm Beach, Florida, as part of a New Scholars panel addressing regulation.

Additionally, Professor McCreary, along with Professor Mary Margaret Giannini, presented at the Institute for Law Teaching and Learning’s June conference at Washburn University School of Law. In their session, “Beyond the Black Letter: Promoting the Learning Process Through Continual Assessment in the First-Year Curriculum,” they discussed ways professors can efficiently integrate continual assessment learning tools into first-year courses to help students not only master the law but also to help them evaluate and enhance their learning efficiency.

Professor Andrew Long Professor Long gave a presentation at Stetson University College of Law in connection with the International Wildlife Law Conference on March 13, 2010.

The presentation addressed the interaction between the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and climate change adaptation.

He also presented research at Emory University School of Law in connection with the annual meeting of the Society for Environmental Law and Economics on March 27, 2010. This presentation, titled “Designing REDD to Maximize Co-Benefits: Voluntary Certification & Economic Incentives,” highlighted Professor Long’s work in proposing design elements to increase holistic forest protection through mechanisms within the climate change regime.

In addition, Professor Long gave a presentation at the University of Mississippi, National Sea Grant Law Center on March 31, 2010, titled “Adaptive Management of Salmon in the Columbia River Basin,” as a part of the annual National Sea Grant Law Center Conference.

Also in March, Professor Long was invited to present his work on international law and climate change in May at an international conference sponsored by the University of Aarhus (Denmark). He discussed the potential for enhancing the effectiveness of international environmental law through development of mechanisms that create economic incentives by linking multiple environmental issues.

Again in March Professor Long was invited to contribute articles to two international environmental law books. He contributed a chapter on climate change and forestry to the interdisciplinary book Adaptation to Climate

Jennifer K. Millis Professor Millis spoke at the Florida Bar Annual Convention for the Health Law Section on June 25.

The panel discussion was “Health Law Hot Topics— Personal and Confidential: Special Symposium on Lawyer Ethics and Responsibility for Patient Information.”

Professor Greg Pingree Professor Pingree was part of a panel presentation/discussion on “The Interdisciplinary Teaching of Law in the Liberal Arts” on March 19th at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. The occasion was the Thirteenth Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities. Professor Pingree’s presentation focused on how law schools can create better curricular incentives and options for prospective students who excel in pre-law and other liberal arts programs.

Change, which will be published by Springer (Heidelberg, Germany).

In May, Professor Long delivered a research presentation at the University of Aarhus Conference “Climate Change and Intellectual Property Rights: Legal Frameworks and Institutions for the Development and Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technologies.” His presentation suggested a framework for developing multi-issue international mechanisms to create economic incentives for activities that provide net benefit for climate, biodiversity, and human well-being. The conference was held at Sandbjerg Estate, in Sønderborg, Denmark.

Over the summer, Professor Long accepted an appointment to serve as a Vice Chair on the Intellectual Property Law Committee of the Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association. Over the coming year, the Committee will focus on programs related to “Clean, Green, & Humane IP.” Professor Long was appointed to the committee based on his work related to international technology transfer and the role of intellectual property rights in supporting climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries.

In June, Professor Long presented his research on the emerging “reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation” (REDD) mechanism of the climate regime on a panel of the 2010 Association for Environmental Studies & Sciences Annual Conference, held at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Professor Long also discussed lessons that international policymakers can draw from experience with REDD to create more effective international environmental programs in other areas, such as agricultural policy.

In July, Professor Long spoke on a panel addressing climate change adaptation law, which he organized for the 2010 Southeast Association of Law Schools meeting in Palm Beach. Professor Long’s presentation focused on state and local law approaches to facilitating the preservation of Florida’s biodiversity and ecosystems in the face of anticipated climate change impacts. He emphasized the need for greater attention to adaptation in land use decision-making throughout the state, including a closer dialogue between Florida’s Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission and local land use authorities.

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

25

Professor David Pimentel Professor Pimentel was a featured guest speaker of the University of North Florida’s History Department on March 30, delivering a lecture on “International Efforts to Suppress Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity.”

Professor Pimentel traveled to Maputo, Mozambique, at the end of April to present his paper “Legal Pluralism in Post-Colonial Africa.” His appearance was hosted and funded by Aquino de Braganca Social Studies Centre in Mozambique and the Danish Institute for International Studies.

His paper was accepted for presentation in May at the “Beyond Law” conference at Osgoode Hall, York University in Toronto.

Professor Pimentel’s article “Rule of Law Reform without Cultural Imperialism” was the lead article in the April volume of The Hague Journal on Rule of Law. He was also asked to provide peer review for articles being considered for publication in that journal.

In April, Professor Pimentel submitted an article for publication in the Harvard International Review for their summer 2010 Symposium: “Grappling with the Spread of Western Law.” Professor Pimentel presented his paper on “Legal Pluralism in Post-Colonial Africa” in Maputo, Mozambique last spring. The conference, “State and Non-State Justice Provision Conference,” was sponsored by the Danish Institute of International Studies.

While in Kathmandu, Nepal, in July, as a pro bono Legal Specialist for the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (funded by the Open Society Institute), Professor Pimentel was asked by the United Nations Development Programme to speak at the Centre for Constitutional Dialogue on “How to Ensure and Strengthen Access to Justice in the Federal System.” His standing-room-only audience included 22 members of the Nepali Constituent Assembly (i.e., its Parliament). Later that week, he appeared on a panel, alongside the Chief Justice of the Nepal Supreme Court and the Chair of Nepal’s Constitutional Drafting Committee, hosted by the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights and the Constitutional Lawyers’ Forum. The topic of this panel was “The Independence of the Judiciary and Constitutional Courts.” Finally, the Supreme Court Bar Association of Nepal asked him to speak on “Judicial Independence and Accountability in the Post-conflict State.”

During the summer, Professor Pimentel appeared on a panel on “Rehabilitation and Restoration in Criminal Punishment: Dead End or Realistic Imperative?” at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools conference in Palm Beach, Florida. He presented an unpublished essay entitled “From Crow Dog to Ted Bundy: Restorative and Retributive Justice as a Cultural Divide.”

Two of Professor Pimentel’s articles were published this summer: “Legal Pluralism and the Rule of Law: Can Indigenous Justice Survive?,” 32(2) Harv. Int’l. Rev. 32 (2010); and “Constitutional Concepts for the Rule of Law: A Vision for the Post-Monarchy Judiciary in Nepal,” 8 Wash. U. Global Stud. L. Rev. 283 (2010).

Finally, Professor Pimentel commenced his year as a Fulbright Scholar at the “Pravni Fakultet” (Faculty of Law) at University of Sarajevo in September.

26

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

Professor Lucille Ponte In March, Professor Ponte’s article, “Coming Attractions: Opportunities and Challenges in Thwarting Global Movie Piracy,” was reprinted as a chapter in the book Copyright Piracy – Issues and Implications 199241 (Audhinarayana Vavili ed., The Icfai University Press (Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India), Amicus Books 2009-2010).

The original article appeared at 45 Am. Bus. L. J. 331 (2008). 199241 (Audhinarayana Vavili ed., The Icfai University Press (Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India), Amicus Books 2009-2010). The original article appeared at 45 Am. Bus. L. J. 331 (2008).

Professor Ponte presented, “Getting a Bad Rap? Unconscionability in Clickwrap Dispute Resolution Clauses” and “Proposal for Improving the Quality of These Online Consumer ‘Products’” at the North Atlantic Regional Business Law Association’s Annual Conference and Meeting at Suffolk University School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts on April 10. She also serves on the organization’s Executive Board and Editorial Board for its blind peer review journal, Business Law Review.

As a member of Coastal Law’s Education Technology Committee and SEALS Distance Education Committee, Professor Ponte made panel presentations on incorporating distance education techniques into standard face-to-face classes. She organized and presented as a panelist on “Not Ready for the Full Monte? Getting Started on Using Distance Education Techniques in Traditional Face-to-Face Classrooms,” at CaliCon 2010 and “Rebooting Legal Education” at the Rutgers School of Law in Camden, New Jersey, in July. She also served as a Coastal Law exhibitor (with Susie Pontiff-Stringer) at the SEALS Distance Education Expo and in the session “Deconstructing the Distance Education Expo” at the SEALS Annual Conference at the Breakers Hotel in West Palm Beach, Florida in August.

Professor Benjamin Priester Professor Priester’s article, “Apprendi Land Becomes Bizarro World: ‘Policy Nullification’ and Other Surreal Doctrines in the New Constitutional Law of Sentencing,” was published in Volume 51 of the Santa Clara Law Review in fall 2010.

Professor Alan Ragan In March, Professor Ragan’s article, “Balancing ERISA’s Anti-Alienation Provisions Against Garnishment of a Convicted Criminal’s Retirement Funds: Unscrambling the Approaches to Protecting the Retirement Nest Egg,” was published in Volume 39, Issue 1 of the University of Baltimore Law Review.

Professor Annette Ritter During the summer, Professor Ritter was nominated to become a Fellow in the American Bar Foundation. Nomination to this honorary organization is recognition of a lawyer as one whose professional, public and private career has demonstrated outstanding dedication to the welfare of the community, the traditions of the profession and the maintenance and advancement of the objectives of the American Bar Association. One-third of one percent of lawyers in each state are asked to become members of the ABF.

Professor Brad Shannon During the summer, Professor Shannon served as the moderator for the panel “Obtaining and Executing Casebook Contracts” at the 2010 SEALS conference in Palm Beach. Professor Shannon’s draft article, “I Have Federal Pleading All Figured Out,” is currently on the Top Ten download list for several SSRN topical journals, including Trial Practice, Procedure (Courts), and Law & Society: Courts.

Professor David Simon Professor Simon served as a panelist and presenter for a TeachingLaw.com roundtable at the Legal Writing Institute’s Biennial Conference in June in Marco Island, Florida.

Professor Diana Donahoe of Georgetown Law and Aspen Publishers invited Professor Simon, as an early adopter of the TeachingLaw.com e-book and course management system, to discuss innovative ways to use this resource and other technology throughout legal skills teaching.

Professor Rod Sullivan Professor Sullivan addressed the members of the Northeast Florida Paralegal Association at a meeting in Jacksonville on March 4, 2010. The topic of the presentation was “How Paralegals Can Assist Lawyers in Preparing for Arguments before the Supreme Court.”

In April, Professor Sullivan spoke to the Stetson University College of Law Maritime Law Society in St. Petersburg, Florida. His topics included an international approach to dealing with piracy off the coast of Somalia, careers in maritime law, and his appearance before the Supreme Court in Atlantic Soundings v. Townsend.

Also in April, Professor Sullivan was consulted by the Florida Times-Union on a matter of maritime contract law, asked to review contracts, and was quoted in an article entitled “Couple Feels Taken in Boat Club Fiasco.”

Professor Sullivan and a representative from the Jacksonville Humane Society were guests on The Morning Show on WJXT-TV4 in April. They were called upon to discuss the recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of United

States v. Stevens. In that case the Court found that the federal statute that criminalized the sale and possession of DVDs depicting dog fighting and animal cruelty was overly broad, and therefore unconstitutional. Professor Sullivan’s position was that the overbreadth of the statute could be readily cured by Congress.

In May, Professor Sullivan was a guest on The Morning Show on WJXT-TV4. The topic being discussed was the nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to fill the position of retiring Justice John Paul Stevens on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Also in May, Professor Sullivan was interviewed by the Florida Times-Union on a decision of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Am. Ass’n of People with Disabilities v. Harris and was quoted in an article entitled “Court Dismisses Blind Voters Lawsuit.”

Professor Sullivan was quoted in the Miami Daily Business Review in an article entitled “It’s Buyer Beware in Unregulated World of Used Yacht Sales” (May 7, 2010).

During the summer, Professor Sullivan was appointed to the Florida Bar Association’s Admiralty & Maritime Law Board Certification Committee. The Committee reviews and considers applications from members of the Florida Bar who wish to be designated as board certified in Admiralty and Maritime Law. Also during the summer, Professor Sullivan was appointed by the Tax Section of the Florida Bar as its liaison to Florida Coastal School of Law.

Professor Morse Tan Professor Tan presented his research on human rights in North Korea at a conference held in Athens, Greece.

He reviewed and provided feedback on a book chapter in the bioethics area, more specifically on cognitive enhancement.

On a different note, he played cello in the Haiti Relief Concert, which gathered humanitarian relief supplies and support for Haiti.

Professor Tan’s Texas International Law Journal article on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights was cited in the fourth edition of an international human rights text edited by Thomas Buergenthal, Dinah Shelton and David P. Stewart.

On a personal note, Professor Tan devoted a large portion of the last seven years to supporting his wife Sarah’s completion of her Ph.D. in cell biology, which she finished in August.

Professor Alan G. Williams Professor Williams served as a medical malpractice law expert for Sermo – an association of 115,000 physicians worldwide – lecturing online and responding to physician questions the week of August 30; more than 5,000 physicians accessed Professor Williams’ lecture and posts. Professor Williams was interviewed and quoted in the Florida TimesUnion regarding a potential medical malpractice case at the Mayo Clinic resulting from a hepatitis-C infected employee.

Professor James Woodruff In May, Professor Woodruff was appointed to the Florida Bar’s Small Claims Rules Committee.

During the summer, Professor Woodruff became a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Mediator.

ADJUNCT FACULTY Sandra McDonald Professor McDonald presented the paper “In Defense of Stephen King” at the International Conference of Fantastic in the Arts in March in Orlando, Florida. Her story “Tupac Shakur and the End of the World” appeared in the April issue of Futurismic, and her story “Seven Sexy Cowboy Robots” appeared in the September issue of Strange Horizons. Her latest collection, Diana Comet and Other Improbable Stories, was released on June 1, and her latest novel is now available on Kindle. Her website is at www. sandramcdonald.com.

Penny Schmidt and Dennis Schutt Professor Schmidt and Professor Schutt are both adjunct professors who teach Alternative Dispute Resolution at Coastal Law and are also practicing attorneys and co-owners of the Jax Mediation Center. They are proud to say that in May the Jacksonville Bar Association contracted with the Jax Mediation Center to host and facilitate the mandatory residential foreclosure mediations in Duval County. If you would like more information, contact Professor Schmidt.

Ann K. Smith Professor Smith became a Supreme Court Certified Family Law Mediator (certified May 21, 2010).

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

27

alumni news HIGHLIGHTS, PROMOTIONS, AWARDS AND OTHER NEWS

1999

Matthew Shirk was elected to the Alumni Association Board of Directors in April 2010. He is the Public Defender for the Fourth Judicial Circuit.

2000

Kathy Para received the Woman Lawyer of the Year award from the Jacksonville Women Lawyers Association and the Chairperson of the Year for her pro bono work from The Jacksonville Bar Association. Kathy is the Pro Bono Development Coordinator at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid in Jacksonville, Florida.

Helen W. Spohrer has been named partner at Spohrer & Dodd in Jacksonville, Florida. Her practice areas include sovereign immunity litigation, personal injury, and child abuse and neglect. She also represents clients with mental and physical disabilities.

2002

F. Susannah Collins has opened her own family law practice, The Law Office of F. Susannah Collins PLLC, in Jacksonville, Florida.

Kelly DeGance co-founded a new firm, Alexander DeGance Barnett, in mid-April as one of Jacksonville, Florida’s, only free-standing labor and employment practices representing management. Before Alexander DeGance Barnett, Kelly worked within the national labor, employment and benefits practice group at the law firm of Holland & Knight.

C. Ryan Eslinger has been named shareholder at Milton, Leach, Whitman, D’Andrea & Eslinger, P.A. in Jacksonville, Florida. His practice now involves all aspects of general civil litigation for both plaintiffs and defense, including railroad and maritime litigation, personal injury, and probate litigation.

2003

Megan Seitz Clinton launched a solo practice, Law Office of Megan Seitz Clinton, located in New York, New York. Megan handles transactional real estate matters and is licensed in New York, Connecticut, and Florida.

Keith S. Howell is a partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLC in Jacksonville, Florida.

He focuses his practice in the areas of commercial litigation, general liability defense and workers’ compensation defense.

Judi Setzer was elected president-elect of the Alumni Association Board of Directors.

She will take office in May 2011. Judi operates Law Office of Judi Setzer, P.A. in Jacksonville, Florida, and has been practicing adoption law for the past six years. She is currently applying to become board certified in Adoption Law.

Sheldon J. Vann has opened a law office, Law Offices of Sheldon J. Vann & Associates, in downtown Jacksonville, Florida. His practice concentrates in the area of mortgage foreclosure defense, employment law, real estate law, personal injury, collections, immigration, criminal and civil litigation, family law and wrongful death.

2004

Eric J. Friday joined the firm Fletcher & Phillips in Jacksonville, Florida. He focuses on personal injury, criminal defense, firearms law, consumer defense, and general civil litigation.

Jo-Anne Yau opened her own firm, Yau Law, in Jacksonville, Florida. Her areas of practice include personal injury, criminal defense, patents, trademarks, and franchises. Jo-Anne is also handling BP claims.

2005

Jay M. Howanitz has been named partner at Spohrer & Dodd in Jacksonville, Florida.

He focuses his practice of law on automotive and other defective consumer products, premises liability, workplace accidents, trucking accidents and other personal injury claims.

28

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

David C. Lazzaroni is the Vice President of MacDuff E&S Insurance Brokers / Hull & Co., Inc. in Newport Beach, California.

2006

Christy Greene opened a full-service law firm, Advocates for Justice, PLLC, in Jacksonville, Florida.

Stephanie Harriett joined U.S. Trust in Jacksonville, Florida, as Senior Vice President, Senior Trust Officer in February 2010.

Dana (Spencer) Mallard was elected to the Alumni Association Board of Directors in April 2010. Spencer is an associate at the firm Lycker Diaz in Miami, Florida.

Tara E. Newberry joined the law firm of Fleet, Spencer and Kilpatrick, P.A. in Shalimar, Florida.

She practices in the areas of business and civil litigation.

Krista A. Parry has joined Vicki Joiner Bowers, PA, in Jacksonville, Florida, where she will be practicing law in the following areas: elder law, long term care planning, advance directives, wills and trusts, special needs trusts, pet trusts, probate, and guardianship.

2007

Beverly “Bev” Brown is the recipient of an Equal Justice Works fellowship sponsored by the Florida Bar Foundation. She advocates for children with disabilities at Three Rivers Legal Services, Inc., in Jacksonville, Florida.

Deanna Coates has recently accepted a position with the Social Security Administration as an Attorney-Advisor in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

Rachel A. Compton opened her own firm, The Law Office of Rachel A. Compton, in Jacksonville, Florida.

She focuses on family, labor, and personal injury law.

Richard (Brad) Copely works at Ryuka International IP Law Firm, an international patent firm in Tokyo prosecuting patent applications before the U.S. Patent and Trade Office for Japanese corporations. Copely also practices trademark law.

T. Brent Gammon joined The Whited Law Firm in Daytona Beach, Florida. He had been previously employed by the Office of the State Attorney, 7th Judicial Circuit, since graduating in 2007. The Whited Law Firm is a criminal defense firm with an emphasis on DUI litigation.

Tiffany Jones joined the O’Hara Law Firm in Jacksonville, Florida. Previously, Tiffany worked for the Office of the Public Defender, 2nd Judicial Circuit in the Tallahassee office.

2008

Vilma Janusyte is an associate at Adorno & Yoss in the Atlanta, Georgia, office. She is a member of the Litigation and Financial Institutions Practice Groups where she represents corporations and financial institutions in connection with commercial and real estate litigation. She also passed the February 2010 Georgia bar exam.

Christopher C. Koos joined the firm Fein, Such, Kahn & Shepard, PC in Parsippany, New Jersey. He focuses on civil litigation issues including creditors’ rights and real estate.

Coral Messina joined the Office of the Public Defender, 4th Judicial Circuit. Prior to her current position, she was an associate at Camerlengo & Brockwell in Jacksonville, Florida.

Coral was invited to become an Associate in the Chester Bedell Inn of Court in Jacksonville, Florida. She began her one-year term in September and will work locally to advance the movement of the organization in the Jacksonville legal community.

Preston H. Oughton opened The Law Office of Preston H. Oughton in Jacksonville, Florida. He practices in the areas of real estate, property, wills, trusts, and estates.

Stephanie Schaap was invited to become an Associate in the Chester Bedell Inn of Court in Jacksonville, Florida. Her one-year term began in September. She has served as an Assistant Public Defender since February 2009 and represents clients in the Felony Court Unit.

Latangie Williams has opened the Law Office of Latangie Williams, P.A, specializing in immigration law in Jacksonville, Florida. The firm also handles probate/estate planning matters as well as family law issues and traffic violations.

2009

Christian Lukjan is working at Legal Aid of Wyoming in Casper.

The Rising Stars distinction is awarded to nominees who are under 40 years old or have practiced for less than 10 years. This year’s alumni include: Fraz Ahmed, Class of 2006, Kubicki Draper Bradley A. Blair, Class of 2007, Murphy & Anderson, P.A.

Mathias Maurer was elected president of the Washington, D.C., alumni chapter. He resides in Capitol Hill.

Laura Randeles was elected vice president of the Washington, D.C., alumni chapter. She is a contract attorney.

Jamie Wershbale received the highest score of all applicants on the Arizona Bar Administration in February 2010. She is interning at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of General Counsel.

2010

Carla Adams is an associate at the Newman Law Firm in Jacksonville, Florida. The firm handles criminal and family law matters.

The Jacksonville Women’s Lawyers Association appointed six Coastal Law alumni to their 2010-2011 board of directors. Appointments included:

Lindsay Tygart-Havice, president, Murphy & Anderson, P.A. (class of 2006) Stephanie Harriett, president-elect, U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management (class of 2006) Megan Harper, director of public relations, Fidelity National Financial Inc. (class of 2006) Millie Kanyar, director of technology, Affinity Law Firm PL (class of 1999) B.J. Taylor, director of opening reception, Boyd & Jenerette, P.A. (class of 2008)

Lacy L. Brinson, Class of 2007, Kurzban Kurzban Weinger & Tetzeli, P.A. Giselle Carson, Class of 2001, Marks Gray, PA Kaitlin H. Clark, Class of 2005, Bolton and Helm, LLP Christopher M. Cobb, Class of 2001, Tritt | Henderson Eric J. Friday, Class of 2004, Fletcher & Phillips PLLC William M. Hammill II, Class of 2004 , Driver, McAfee, Peek & Hawthorne, P.L. Jay M. Howanitz, Class of 2005, Spohrer & Dodd, PL Meagan L. Logan, Class of 2005, Marks Gray, PA Michael R. Phillips, Class of 2004, Fletcher & Phillips PLLC Bryan Rendzio, Class of 2001, Tritt | Henderson Amanda Rolfe, Class of 2002, Rolfe & Lobello PA Wesley T. Straw, Class of 2003, Justin C. Johnson & Associates Stephanie Sussman Eubanks, Class of 2007, Bledsoe Jacobson Schmidt Wright Lang & Wilkinson Erik F. Szabo, Class of 2002, Higley & Szabo, P.A.

‘Rising Stars’ is published as part of Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters publication. It recognizes outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.

2.5 percent or fewer of the lawyers in the state are named to the Rising Stars list.

Tiffiny Safi, director of judicial reception, Cooper, Ridge & Safi, P.A. (class of 2003)

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

29

alumni news (continued)

DEATHS

BIRTHS

2001

2003

Rebecca Barner died in a fatal car accident in Polk City, Florida on April 24. She was buried in her home town of Pinehurst, North Carolina.

MARRIAGES

2007

2005

Clark Wilson married Sindy Dean. Clark was elected to the Alumni Association Board of Directors. He is an associate at Gardner Groff in Atlanta, Georgia.

2007

Lynette Monem and her husband, Husam, welcomed their first son, Rayyan, on February 18, 2010. Lynette practices at The Law Offices of Robert Rubenstein, P.A. in Miami, Florida, in the area of personal injury.

2004

Antoinette Magli and Carter Burgess were married on May 15, 2010. Annie is an attorney at Law Office of Fred Tromberg, and Carter practices at the McGlinchey Stafford Law Firm.

Both firms are in Jacksonville, Florida.

Paul Green married Malinda Kay McCuiston on May 1, 2010 at Palm Valley Gardens in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, Paul is an attorney with Green & Poore, LLC, Jacksonville, Florida.

Angela Sturm and her husband Greg Harrigan welcomed Connor Justus Harrigan, born on August 13. He was 7 pounds 12 ounces and 19 1/2 inches long. Angela is an attorney at Morgan Law, P.A., in Melbourne, Florida. She focuses on personal injury, criminal and creditors rights.

2006

Bradley Blair and his wife Alyssa welcomed their first child, Millie Austin Blair, on June 15, 2010. Millie weighed in at 7 pounds 9 ounces and measured 21 inches long. Brad practices business law at Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. in Jacksonville, Florida.

2008

David and Valarie Linnen welcomed their son, John David Linnen, on April 14, 2010. Valarie practices at her firm, Valarie Linnen, Attorney at Law, in the areas of property, probate, and appellate law in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.

Claire Woodward married Michael O’Donnell on July 24, 2010, at Central United Methodist Church. Claire is currently working as the CJA Panel Administrator for the Federal Public Defender, District of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina.

2008

Meredith A. Williams was married on December 19, 2009, to Michael Paul Eng. She and her husband have a joint practice, The Eng Law Firm, LLC, that offers family law mediation services in Jacksonville, Florida.

BI RTHS 30

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

Melissa and Jonathan Martin, Class of 2007, welcomed Eleni Patra Martin on June 18 at 10:33 am. Eleni weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce.

Her name is Greek and means “sun ray” or “shining light.” She is named after her maternal grandmother.

Summer R. Nichols (Davis) and her husband, David Nichols, welcomed their daughter Summer Mary on June 30, 2010. Summer operates The Law Office of Summer R. Nichols in Jacksonville, Florida, where she practices family law.

We’re now online!

With the release of this issue, Coastal Law Magazine has launched an accompanying website (www.CoastalLawMagazine.com), providing the Coastal Law community the opportunity to read, share, and link their favorite stories online.

CoastalLawMagazine.com will refresh content with each new issue, and will include online extras not found in the print version.

Renee J. Maxey and her husband, Eric, welcome Alexander Andrew Maxey on January 26, 2010 at 1:31 pm. Alexander was 7 pounds 6 ounces and 20 inches long. Renee is an associate at Holland & Knight in Jacksonville, Florida, in the areas of commercial litigation and transportation law.

Other features of the site will include: ability to search and link content, share stories via various social media sites, subscribe to news postings in your RSS reader and interact with each issue.

In addition to Coastal Law Magazine’s official site, archived issues are also available at Issuu (http://issuu.com/coastallaw) -- a site that displays the magazine issues in a digital format on your screen or mobile device.

ENGAGEMENTS 2005

Michael Orr and Eileen LaCivita, Class of 2007, are engaged to be married. Michael operates The Law Office of Michael Fox Orr, and Eileen is an associate at Tritt | Henderson. Both firms are in Jacksonville, Florida.

Leland Taylor, Class of 2005, and Kim Anderson are engaged to be married. Leland was elected to the Alumni Association Board of Directors. He is also the 20th Circuit representative on the State of Florida Young Lawyers Division Board of Governors. Leland operates a real estate firm in Ft. Myers, Florida.

Coastal Law Magazine, now in its fifth issue, publishes twice a year and is the official magazine for the school and its alumni and friends. The Florida Coastal School of Law Office of Institutional Advancement publishes the magazine.

Any questions or comments regarding the new site should be sent to the school’s Web Communications Assistant, Alan Smodic, at asmodic@fcsl.edu.

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

31

snapshots C O A S TA L L A W P H O T O R O U N D U P

ALUMNI DAY 2010

Professor Jim Cataland

Deltra Long ‘99 and Mamie Davis ’00

Alexandra Ritucci ’09, Francine Cianflone ’09, and Sal Palmeri ’08 (L to R) Julie Frusciente ’09 and husband Timothy Frusciente

Quentin Till, 2nd Circuit Public Defender Nancy Daniels, and Hank Coxe (L to R) Amber Williams ’10 and Professor Sarah Sullivan 32

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

Alumni socials and school events

Washington, D.C. chapter social

Alexis Hailpern and Whitney Wright at the 2010 Commencement in May

Sarah Spear ’06 and Peter Goplerud at the Washington, D.C. social

Coastal Law students at the Kozyak Minority Mentoring Foundation 7th Annual Picnic

Bob Spohrer, Chris Basler, Joe Kennett, and Brooke Fuller at the 2010 Spohrer Dodd Trial Advocacy Scholarship Competition Gulf Coast chapter social

Simon Serrano ‘09 and Bjorn Anderson ‘09 at the Washington, D.C. social

South Carolina chapter social Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

33

q&a A C O N V E R S AT I O N W I T H C O A S TA L L A W ’ S A L A N S M O D I C

Meet Alan Smodic, Coastal Law’s Web Communications Specialist.

Curious about the title? In short, Alan is responsible for expanding and monitoring the school’s online reach and presence. He does this by using various web technologies designed to integrate the school’s brand standards and expand current marketing strategies to a greater audience online. But like the web in general, his position requires a significant amount of versatility. Between creating and distributing online content, he creates ads, designs images and websites, and edits copy.

What is your background?

I am originally from Masontown, Pennsylvania, a small town located next to the West Virginia border. After finishing my degree at the University of Pittsburgh, I moved to Bluffton, South Carolina where I worked as a news reporter and web administrator for two years prior to beginning with Coastal Law. While my schooling is in English, writing and journalism, my passion is in technology and web communications. I created my first website in high school and possess experience in design, online media, marketing and web development.

Why do you think Coastal Law decided to create this position?

I believe Coastal created this position because the web continues to grow each day. More specifically, it’s becoming the primary way people reach out to one another, find information, conduct business and just spend their time. To take advantage of this medium effectively, the same emphasis that print media and prior strategies have received in the past needed to be placed upon it.

What do you enjoy most about the job?

What I enjoy most about the job is the opportunity to do exactly the type of work for which I have a strong passion, while getting to spend each day with an incredible group of people in our department. It is rare to find yourself in such a good situation and it’s something I do not take for granted.

What do you do in your spare time?

When not at work, you can usually find me in my home office doing much of the same stuff – building websites, thinking of crazy projects to start, blogging and playing with social media.

If I’m not doing that, I’m probably watching a Pittsburgh sports

34

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

team win another championship, playing NHL 11 on PS3 or running with my dog, Butterscotch, at any local park.

What’s next for Coastal?

Everyone here at the school is already doing so many great things to advance the Coastal Law name, so it’s on our department to make that known. Whether it’s by our increased efforts in social media, development of an in-house blogging network or mobile applications, the ultimate goal is to find new and creative ways to speak of our successes and improve upon our shortcomings.

I wouldn’t want to reveal all my secrets and plans, but the online space provides us the opportunity to do things we haven’t done before, and it’s in our best interest to take full advantage of the medium. I think, in the future, as we continue to integrate our communications projects, you’ll begin to see many more added benefits to everyone involved with the school — faculty, staff, students, prospective students, alumni and the general public.

It’s really a concerted effort to provide outreach for everyone who seeks it.

FYI: Since joining the team in March 2010, Coastal Law’s official Facebook page (www.Facebook.com/CoastalLaw) has gained more than 500 followers and is beginning to serve as a main conversation piece between the school and its many audiences.

alumni.fcsl.edu Post Job Referrals

Explore Career Services

Submit Class Notes

Update Contact Information

Register For Events

Get Connected With

connect A new online community available exclusively to alumni.

COASTAL LAW MAGAZINE 35 WINTER 2010

Look Up Classmates

“I practice in New York state and I had a client who needed representation for a foreclosure in Miami. I spread the word on Coastal Connect and within hours, I received several responses. Coastal Connect helped me better serve my client by finding counsel that I could count on.”

Elena Razis ‘99 | Razis & Ross, PC | Astoria, NY

Coastal Connect allows you to contact and stay connected with your alma mater and each other. When you log in, you’ll be able to: + search for and contact your friends and classmates; + post client/case referrals; and + join practice area and other special networking groups.

For security purposes, all alumni must register in Coastal Connect, even if you registered in the previous alumni online community.

To get started, go to alumni.fcsl.edu and click on “Register” located on the top center of your screen. Then, follow these three easy steps: 1

Enter your last name and class year. Hit SUBMIT.

2

Select your name from the list shown. Hit NEXT.

3

Enter the last four digits of your Social Security Number. Hit VERIFY.

You will then be prompted to create a username and password to use upon future visits.

If you have any problems logging in or any questions regarding the community, please email us at fcslalumni@fcsl.edu or call us at 904-256-1212.

Coastal Law Magazine | Winter 2011

35

8787 Baypine Road­­ Jacksonville, Florida 32256 www.fcsl.edu

Passion.

Florida Coastal School of Law is pleased to announce the establishment of The Florida Coastal School of Law Foundation. Dedicated to our students, both present and future, and the people whom they will serve in communities worldwide, The Coastal Law Foundation is committed to furthering opportunities for students to enter the legal profession, and to pursue their passion for public service.

Through the generosity of our alumni, friends, and members of the legal and corporate community, The Coastal Law Foundation’s purpose is to raise, manage, and invest funds for charitable and educational programs designed to have an impact on the lives of others, and further the highest ideals of a noble profession.

Marty H. Barnes, Class of 2008, Portsmouth, Virginia

LAW

F L O R I D A

COASTAL

SCHOOL OF

F O U N D AT I O N

8787 Baypine Road Jacksonville,Florida 32256 904.256.1212 foundation@fcsl.edu www.fcsl.edu/foundation