FAMU Law students place first and second in Environmental Law Writing Competition

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) College of Law third-year students Amy Judkins and Felicia Thomas earned first and second respectively in the annual Dean Frank Maloney Environmental Law Writing Competition, sponsored by the Environmental and Land Use Law Section (ELULS) of the Florida Bar. This year’s results mark the first time that FAMU students have claimed the top two spots in this competition in the same year.

For three consecutive years, FAMU students have claimed at least one of the top three spots in the competition open to all law students in Florida. FAMU students earned first and third place recognition in 2013, and claimed second place in 2014. The submissions for this competition must address topics on environmental or land use law issues of concern to Florida.

Judkins winning paper is titled, “Taking it to the Bank: Creating a New Constitutional Standard and Using Blue Carbon Banking to Compensate the Miccosukee Tribe for the Federal ‘Taking’ of Their Tribal Lands.” She prepared this paper in Professor Randall Abate’s Climate Change Law and Indigenous Peoples Seminar (Fall 2014). Judkins is entering her second year of service as a NOAA-ECSC Fellow in Ocean and Coastal Law and Policy at the College of Law.

Thomas’ second place paper is titled, “Of Life and Limb: The Failure of Florida’s Water Quality Criteria to Test for Vibrio Vulnificus in Coastal Waters and the Need for Enhanced Criteria, Regulation, and Notification to Protect Public Health.” She prepared this paper in Abate’s Climate Change Impacts on Ocean and Coastal Law Seminar (Spring 2015). Thomas is the Executive Editor of the Florida A&M Law Review.

Judkins and Thomas were invited to represent the College of Law at the ELULS Annual Meeting in Boca Raton on June 25, where they were honored with cash awards and certificates for their outstanding papers.

Caption: Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) College of Law third year law students Amy Judkins (left) and Felicia Thomas earned first and second place respectively in the annual Dean Frank Maloney Environmental Law Writing Competition, sponsored by the Environmental and Land Use Law Section (ELULS) of the Florida Bar.