Category Archives: U.Miami

We Have Great Students

Posted on March 6, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

One of my absolute favorite things about being a law professor is helping students who are writing articles for publication. I don’t mean student notes — working with students writing notes can be fun, but isn’t always, both because the form is very Procrustean and because some of the people who write notes here are just doing it to make Law Review, and don’t intend to make the extra effort needed to have their work published. I mean the students who write a full-scale article. Doing a publishable article is scads more work than doing a regular paper, and usually involves several additional drafts. Most students just don’t have the time or interest. But I get a few who do, maybe one or two a year, and working with them is a particular joy.

Thus, I’m especially pleased to announce that Christine M. Humphrey, a December 2003 graduate of UM Law, has just published her article The Food and Drug Administration’s Import Alerts Appear to be “Misbranded”, 58 Food & Drug L.J. 595 (2003). The FDLI does not put full-text online, but you can expect an online abstracts for 58:4 Real Soon Now, and Ms. Humphrey informs me that her firm will be hosting the text soon (I’ll update this item when it does). Meanwhile, if you have access to Westlaw, you can view the full Westlaw version. Ms. Humphrey did the work on the article while a student here — and a lot of work it was, too as I think she did more than half a dozen drafts for me, at least two after she’d already received her final grade. (The Buckley Amendment does not Allow me to Announce her grAde.)

Although the subject is a little specialized, the article is important. It argues, I think very persuasively, that the FDA is illegally circumventing the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) to issue “Import Alerts” — decisions that effectively bar the importation of whole classes of products but that the agency says are merely “guidance” documents. The article juggles the intricacies of the FDA regulations and the complex underlying APA rules and shows how they are in tension. The issue is sure to be litigated soon unless the FDA cleans up its act.

Posted in Administrative Law, U.Miami | 1 Comment

Daniel Murray

Posted on March 1, 2004 by Michael Froomkin
Dean Lynch sent out this message to the U.Miami Law community today:

Our colleague and friend Daniel Murray passed away late Saturday night. Daniel joined the faculty in 1957 and taught and wrote primarily in the commercial law and international sales fields until he retired in 1996. He was recognized as the outstanding teacher of the year several times, the Inter-American Law Review awarded Daniel the Lawyer of the Americas Award in 1987, he served for many years as the faculty advisor to the University of Miami Law Review and he was a prolific scholar. Our students often affectionately referred to him as “Shotgun Murray” because of his rapid fire delivery of his commercial law lectures. We all will miss Daniel

There will be a funeral Mass at San Augustine Catholic Church and Campus Ministry (located at the intersection of San Amaro and Miller Drive) on Thursday, March 4th at 1:00 p.m. Immediately following this memorial service, there will be a reception at the School of Law. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made to the Daniel E. Murray Law Review Scholarship Fund at the Law School.

Dan Murray was part of a somewhat vanishing breed of law professor—one whose scholarly career was not much theory-driven, but was mostly about being a master technician. He wanted better and clearer rules, and he wanted to explain the impact of the rules we had. I've always thought that even (especially?) very intellectual and theory-oriented law faculties such as ours should make a bigger place for, and value more highly, the kind of scholarship Dan produced.

By the time I got here, Dan was in the endgame of his career, but he was still writing articles with titles like “Liability of the State and Its Employees in the Mishandling of Security Interests Under Commercial Codes and Motor Vehicle Laws,” “The Extension of Damage and Time Limitations of the Hague, Warsaw and Lausanne Conventions to Agents and Independent Contractors of Shiplines and Airlines,” and “Substitutes for Letters of Credit Sales: A Seller's Lot Is Not a Happy One.” And even after he retired, he kept coming in and keeping up until his health made that too difficult.

We crossed paths for the last time only two weeks ago, at the doctor's office, and he looked frail. “I'm feeling old” he said, but he made a joke of it.

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We’re Hosting the First Presidential Debate!

Posted on November 6, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

“The first debate will take place Sept. 30, 2004 at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla.” says this article.

Now, how do I get a ticket?

Actually, this isn't as great news as it could be, since rumor has it that U.M. will have to fork out serious cash as host institution….

More about the debate organizers.

Posted in Politics: US, U.Miami | Comments Off on We’re Hosting the First Presidential Debate!

John Hart Ely

Posted on October 27, 2003 by Michael Froomkin
John Hart Ely, Constitutional law giant, and for nine years an important part of the law school's intellectual community, died this weekend. The New York Times has a full obituary, which recites his honors and achievements, but it fails to capture the human side of the man I knew.

When he settled here permanently after a one-year visit that was a sort of mutual love-fest, he took up the corner office four doors away from me—so I saw him often. From the start, John made it clear that he had not come to Florida to scuba dive and retire, but to carry on his distinguished career in a congenial setting. And he did. In addition to his writing and teaching, he played an active part in faculty seminars, and often chaired our speaker series.

It took me a while to learn that interpersonally he was somewhat shy; what seemed at first to be gruffness was a form of uncertainty about people, although not about ideas. He often seemed least uncomfortable with people younger than him, and dispensed advice when pushed, but always self-deprecatingly.

His death was not sudden, but the end of months of fighting a tenacious and visibly losing fight against cancer. Until nearly the end, he came into the office as often as he could manage, and remained unfailingly, painfully, brave in the face of disaster.

He was an evangelical vegetarian, and a big fan of music, especially jazz, and of all things underwater. But mostly, he was a beacon of decency and clear thinking. I'll miss him. We all will.

Continue reading →

Posted in U.Miami | 1 Comment

The Greatest UCC Cartoons in the History of the World

Posted on October 20, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

Cool dudeMy colleague William H. Widen is not your typical law professor. For one thing he practiced commercial and corporate law at Cravath, Swaine & Moore from 1984 to 2001, spending more than a decade of that time as a partner. Most law professors have some practice experience, but few have as much as that. For another thing, he has a wicked taste in movies, and wild taste in aphorisms (is it true that “business law is about as complicated as Donkey Kong”?). And did I mention he's pretty slick at programming interesting web sites on the Uniform Commercial Code? Including one that invites students to play a game he designed called Ultimate Commercial Code! [Admittedly there he has the advantage of being married to serious techie.] And, to top it off, he's fascinated by the Uniform Commercial Code, a subject most law professors do not necessarily find scintillating. In fact, he's so fascinated that it's almost contagious.

Then there are his cartoons, “Tales From The Code.” I think it's safe to call these the Greatest UCC Cartoons in the History of the World, if only because they are probably the only Uniform Commercial Code cartoons in the history of the world. But if there was another UCC cartoon or two, these are funnier. Start with Episode One. Beware, though. You might learn something.

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U.Miami Plans to Raise $1 Billion

Posted on October 17, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

It's official. U.M. President Donna Shalala has unveiled the great fundraising campaign for the University of Miami, code-named Momentum. And the goal is not small—a cool $1 billion by mid-2007, although I think this sum includes donations to things like scholarships as well as gifts to capital.

Actually, like most university capital campaigns, it began before it began, and we now have more than half donated or pledged.

Unfortunately for me, it looks as if the medical school will not just get the lion's share, but a couple dozen other shares too. The law school's share in all this is, well, quite small in the grand scheme of things, and less than double what is to be earmarked for ROTC.

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