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|  | Professor David Spence presents our Fall 2019 Environmental Distinguished Lecture
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Last week, University of Texas Professor David Spence presented the Fall 2019 Environmental Distinguished Lecture at FSU Law. His timely presentation, Complexity and the Energy Transition in the Age of Fracture, explored how progressing on climate mitigation will require not only resolve, but also difficult tradeoffs and value choices. The lecture is available for viewing on our website. Spence is the Baker Botts Chair in Law at the University of Texas School of Law and Professor of Business, Government & Society at the McCombs School of Business. His scholarship addresses the environmental and economic regulation of the oil and gas industry and the electric utility industry. Each semester, our Journal of Land Use & Environmental Law brings one of the nation's foremost scholars in environmental law to campus as part of the distinguished lecture series. Following their presentations, related scholarly papers by lecturers are published in the journal. We are delighted to have hosted Professor Spence and the many other nationally renowned scholars who have visited FSU Law in the past as distinguished lecturers.
- Dean Erin O'Connor
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FSU Human Trafficking Exploitation Law Project Students Successfully Advocate for Florida School Requirement
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|  | FSU Law 2L Mylena Chin-See presenting to the State Board of Education in September 2019.
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This semester, students participating in the FSU Human Trafficking Exploitation Law Project (HELP) advocated for a proposed Florida Department of Education (DOE) rule that requires all school districts in Florida to teach human trafficking prevention from elementary school through high school. Law students researched the state laws of California, Virginia and North Carolina pertaining to implementing preventative measure in schools and drafted comments to the DOE rule to make it a robust, meaningful requirement for Florida school districts.
In September 2019, the students presented in favor of their comments in person at the State Board of Education meeting in Jacksonville, where the board adopted their comments verbatim and passed the rule. The new rule went into effect on November 6, 2019. By December 1 of each year, school districts must post their implementation plans. By July 1, each school district must submit an annual report verifying compliance.
“This is a major accomplishment in the prevention of trafficking of children in Florida,” said Paolo Annino, director of the FSU Public Interest Law Center. “We are hoping that the new rule will teach K-12 students how to protect themselves from traffickers and will make children who are victims of trafficking feel safe to seek help from school personnel.”
FSU Law students participating in the project are 2L Mylena Chin-See, 3L Daniela Donoso and 2L Marissa Vairo. The FSU Human Trafficking Exploitation Law Project has two objectives: to represent individual children who are victims of human trafficking and to advocate for law reform. The ultimate goal of the project is to prevent vulnerable children from being trafficked.
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Alum Profile: Robin Hassler Thompson (’84)
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Robin Hassler Thompson is executive director of Survive and Thrive Advocacy Center, a non-profit agency she helped to found in the Tallahassee area to assist survivors of human trafficking. She also is a consultant, regularly working on human trafficking and violence against women issues through her firm, Robin H. Thompson and Associates. Thompson provides education, outreach and strategic assistance to key professionals in the justice system, social services and healthcare, as well as to community leaders and policy makers from the local to international levels. She has devoted her entire career to advancing justice and equality. Her previous experience includes serving as a staff director in the Florida House of Representatives and as executive director of the Florida Task Force on Domestic and Sexual Violence under Governor Lawton Chiles, assisting the FSU Center for the Advancement of Human Rights’ Human Trafficking Project, chairing the Leon County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, and serving on the National Advisory Council on Violence Against Women and on the Florida Supreme Court Commission on Access to Civil Justice. In June 2018, Thompson received the Rosemary Barkett Outstanding Achievement Award from the Florida Association for Women Lawyers.
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“I truly love collaborating with others–connecting around issues and projects where we can create and inspire improvements in people’s lives and to the world around us. Working together is vital–now more than ever.”
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Student Profile: 3L Erica Gloyd
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Desired Practice Location: Florida Panhandle or Tampa Bay area; open to anywhere
Expected Graduation: May 2020
Field of Law Sought: General civil litigation, environmental and land use law
Erica Gloyd is originally from Tallahassee. She earned bachelor’s degrees in economics and finance at the University of South Florida. When she graduates from FSU Law in May 2020, she will also earn the Environmental Law Certificate. Currently, Gloyd is clerking at the Law Office of Brian C. Keri, a general civil litigation firm with a wide variety of cases, including employment law and personal injury. She assists in civil trial preparations, completes deposition summaries, drafts legal motions and conducts legal research. Gloyd is also a teaching assistant for the Introduction to Legal Studies and Research course, part of the FSU Juris Master Program. Last summer, Gloyd clerked at the U.S. Department of the Interior in the Office of the Solicitor, Indian Trust Litigation Office in Washington, D.C. She assisted the department’s attorneys in defending litigation brought by Indian tribes and individuals for breach of trust in relation to management of trust funds and tribal lands. Gloyd conducted legal research on substantive and procedural issues, reviewed arguments and drafted documents. During the spring semester of her 2L year, Gloyd interned at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, where she worked closely with attorneys on drafting legal documents, assisting in rulemaking proceedings, reviewing complaints for legal sufficiency and conducting legal research on a wide variety of topics, including the legal challenges of legalizing industrial hemp in Florida. During the summer after her 1L year, Gloyd externed at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, where she gained exposure to the Office of the General Counsel’s diverse practice areas, including administrative, appellate, environmental and legislative. Gloyd is a senior staff editor for the Florida State University Law Review. She is also a student ambassador for the FSU Law Admissions Office and a member of the Student Bar Association, the Environmental Law Society and the Business Law Society. Gloyd is a member of the FSU Business Review and served as article and notes editor for volume 18 and is executive editor for volume 19. She is a member of the Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law, serving as article and notes editor for volume 34 and executive editor for volume 35. She also earned the Book Award for the Energy Law and Policy course. If you are interested in hiring Gloyd after graduation, visit her LinkedIn profile.
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“I am so happy I made the decision to return to Tallahassee to attend FSU Law. Between the educational and professional opportunities provided and the collegial environment amongst the faculty and students, I truly believe it has prepared me to be the best attorney I can be!”
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