Jacksonville University Law Review College of Law
About Us
Founded in 2023
The mission of the Jacksonville University Law Review is to uphold and advance the educational mission of both the University and the Jacksonville University College of Law. It strives to maintain the highest standards of analysis and decorum, promoting independent legal thought and respectful discourse.
The Law Review serves as an advocate for quality legal education, encouraging prudence and competency within the legal profession. Additionally, it aims to provide a continuous forum where legal practitioners, educators, and scholars can engage with one another in the pursuit of education, understanding, and excellence.
Editor in Chief: Aleksandr G. Borger
Executive Managing Editor: Thomas O. Ross
Executive Editor: J. Casey Shriver
Articles Editor: Marissa Van Der Zee
Notes and Comments Editor: Anne Parham
Symposium Editor: Ryan M. Milovich
Online Editor: Thomas M. Shoemaker
Senior Editor: Ashton Wood
Junior Members: Mackenzie Anderson, Corie Benton, Sophie Byroade, Taylor Deckard, Torrey Drake, Emily
Frick, Sibylle Kearns, Katherine Klein, Emily Knepler, Sierra Mason, Stevee Mullins,
Richard Rink, Launna Smith
Faculty Advisors: Vanessa Zboreak, Courtney Barclay
Submission Information
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Articles are not precluded based on pre-set length.
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Manuscripts should be formatted in Microsoft Word 2011 or later in .docx format.
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Footnotes should be single spaced and conform to The Bluebook: Uniform Style of Citation.
Issues of the Jacksonville University Law Review
Volume 1, Issue 1
Monitoring Toxic Water is Just a Beginning: "Residents and Visitors Are Advised to Take Precautions" | By Keith W. Rizzardi
Water pollution threatens public health, especially in Florida, where excess nutrients cause reoccurring algal blooms. The United Nations has explicitly recognized a human right to water, and as part of it, a need for water quality monitoring. In the United States, the Clean Water Act, coupled with Environmental Protection Agency guidance, requires water quality monitoring and pollution control measures to protect the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters. Although Florida operates a water quality monitoring regime to implement these concepts, it falls woefully short of achieving clean water. Instead, the state routinely detects excess nutrients, now so severe that Florida launched a system to warn the public of health risks. Peer review critiques, however, reveal inadequacies in the whole system, describing a need for more information, and more resources, to prevent upstream sources. While budgetary data suggests a recent increase in monitoring expenditures, and some new regulatory measures are underway, Florida residents should demand more from their public officials than merely a warning to take precautions against toxic waters. Monitoring is not a solution to toxic water.
Abandoned Agreements | By Vanessa Zboreak
The Mississippi River’s “Cancer Alley” is an 85-mile stretch between Baton Rouge and New Orleans with over 200 petrochemical plants. These facilities emit carcinogens like chloroprene and ethylene oxide, disproportionately impacting predominantly Black communities, such as those in St. John the Baptist and St. James Parishes. Residents face the nation’s highest cancer risks, with local advocacy groups challenging systemic permitting practices and environmental racism under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
The EPA initially responded with an investigation and a proposed consent agreement with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ), aiming to address cumulative health and racial disparities. However, political and legal pushback, including a lawsuit by Louisiana's Attorney General, led the EPA to abandon the agreement to avoid judicial challenges that might weaken Title VI protections nationwide.
This withdrawal undermined civil rights-based environmental justice efforts, signaling a reluctance to confront systemic racial disparities directly. Although the EPA has pursued other regulatory measures, critics argue that these lack the scope to address the cumulative impacts of pollution. The article emphasizes the need for robust, sustained enforcement of civil rights in environmental justice to protect vulnerable communities.
Building Resilience: The Role of Public Private Partnerships in Disaster Management for Vulnerable Communities | By Latisha Nixon-Jones
This essay provides a compelling historical analysis of the legislative developments that have shaped the current framework of disaster management in the United States. By tracing the evolution of these laws, it highlights a crucial shift in disaster responsibility—from centralized government agencies to a shared burden with the communities they aim to protect. In response to this shift, I propose that disaster management agencies adopt a socio-legal framework designed to guide the formation of public- private partnerships (PPPs). Such a framework would offer a structured approach to balancing transparency with the profitability goals that often characterize private involvement in public services. This essay further advocates for equitable policy reforms that ensure government funds are directed toward those most vulnerable in times of crisis, rather than disproportionately benefiting already privileged groups. By integrating equity into the heart of disaster management policy, this work calls for a reimagined, inclusive approach to public-private collaboration that strengthens resilience in marginalized communities and fosters greater trust in disaster recovery efforts.
Biodiversity, Climate Change and the Coastal Zone Management Act | By Eric V. Hull
The Jacksonville University Law Review 2026 Symposium
Pathways to Liberty: Substantive Due Process and Civil Rights Under State Constitutions
CALL FOR PAPERS Jacksonville University College of Law and the Jacksonville Law Review seek article submissions for Jacksonville Law Review’s Symposium, Pathways to Liberty: Substantive Due Process and Civil Rights Under State Constitutions. Papers accepted for the Symposium will be published in the symposium issue of the Jacksonville University Law Review.
The Law Review invites academics, scholars, practitioners, and stakeholders in law and related fields to submit proposals in the form of an abstract. Abstract submissions may focus on any topics examining the role of state constitutional guarantees in shaping and safeguarding substantive due process rights, including but not limited to the vindication of rights relating to free speech, political assembly, religious exercise, privacy, family integrity, bodily autonomy, and freedom of movement.
Articles, as well as case studies and abstracts of research in progress, will be considered for the Symposium Event for presentation purposes. Accepted authors may choose to submit a draft of their full article by the date of symposium for publication in the Symposium issue. For more information, please contact lawreview@jacksonville.edu.
Please note that feedback will be provided promptly, ideally within two weeks to respect both the time of the authors and the symposium going forward.
Submissions & Important Dates:
Please submit materials to lawreview@jacksonville.edu
- Priority Submission Deadline for Abstracts: October 1, 2025
- Submissions will continue to be reviewed on a rolling basis until December 1, 2025
- Symposium Date: February 27, 2026
Accreditation Information
Accreditation is the hallmark of quality and high standards for legal education and admission to the Bar. The Jacksonville University College of Law is provisionally approved by the American Bar Association (Council of the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, 321 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60654, 312-988-6738), and, in accordance with ABA rules, will continue to pursue full accreditation. Law schools that are provisionally accredited are entitled to all the rights of a fully approved law school. Similarly, from an ABA perspective, graduates of provisionally approved law schools are entitled to the same recognition that is accorded graduates of fully approved law schools.
Jacksonville University
General Counsel
2800 University Blvd N, Jacksonville, FL 32211
904-256-7549