Levin College of Law
Welcome to UF LAW

Ryan Scott

Fellow in Practice

Expertise

Constitutional Law  • Criminal Law  • Criminal Procedure  • Property Law  • 

About

Professor Ryan Scott is a scholar of criminal law, constitutional law, property law, and treasure law. His current research focuses on the complex constitutional issues with the judicial contempt power as well as constitutional and property law issues surrounding shipwrecks. His most recent article,  Contempt: The Original Judicial Cheat Code, was published in the Penn State Dickinson Law Review in October 2024.

In addition to his substantive legal research, Professor Scott also conducts research in law school pedagogy and psychometrics. In this way he attempts to bring the scientific process into his understanding of the law and teaching. In the past he has been involved with numerous collaborative scientific research projects in Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science Engineering, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and Audiology.

Prior to UF Law, Professor Scott was an Adjunct Professor for Santa Fe College and a law enforcement officer for a city police department, county sheriff’s office, and the U.S. Marshal’s service. During that time, he spent many years teaching new law enforcement officers Florida criminal law, use of force, criminal investigations, police IT/communications systems, and the field training of officers. In his free time, Professor Scott is an accomplished scuba diver and private pilot.

Education
J.D., University of Florida Levin College of Law

Courses
Florida Criminal Law and Procedure

Publications

  • Contempt: The Original Judicial Cheat Code, 129 Dickinson L. Rev. 181 (2024). [SSRN]
  • Amicus Brief in Support of Appellant, Global Marine Exploration, Inc. v. Republic of France, No. 24-10148 (11th Cir. Apr. 9, 2024) (provided an analysis framework to harmonize application of three major federal laws: the Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1987, the Sunken Military Craft Act, and the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act).
  • Motion to Unseal Order of Release, In re Maurice M., No. 88-704202 (Md. Cir. Ct. Baltimore Mar. 22, 2024) (petitioning to unseal court records relating to the release of Jacqueline Bouknight, who had been held for contempt of court for seven years and whose case reached the U.S. Supreme Court as Baltimore City Dep’t of Soc. Servs. v. Bouknight, 493 U.S. 549 (1990)).
  • National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA) & Center for Disease Control – National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (CDC – NIOSH) – Presentation as the 2017 Safe-in-Sound Award Recipient.
  • Lobarinas, E. Scott, R.L., & Spankovich, C & LePrell, C. Differential effects of suppressors on hazardous sound pressure levels generated by AR-15 rifles : Considerations for recreational shooters, law enforcement, and the military. (International Journal of Audiology, Vol. 55, Issue 1 – 2016).
  • “Law Enforcement Firearms Training – a devastating path to Noise-Induced Hearing Loss”. R. L. Scott. Ongoing presentations to law enforcement agencies nationwide. (2016-present).
  • Scott, R.L. 2014. P25 Implementation – Modern Changes in North Florida’s Public Safety Radio System. APCO – Public Safety Communications 80: 22-27.
  • “Impulse noise exposures with firearms users” Lobarinas, E. Scott, R.L., & LePrell, C. National Hearing Conservation Association (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018), American Academy of Audiology (2014).

University of Florida Levin College of Law
309 Village Drive
PO Box 117620
Gainesville, FL 32611
(352) 273-0804
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The Florida Constitutional Law Endowment in memory of Justice Ben F. Overton was created by Judge Karen Miller in 2013. This fund supports lectures and presentations by Justices of the Florida Supreme Court at the Fredric G. Levin College of Law.

HISTORY

Justice Overton, who earned his B.S. in 1951 and his Juris Doctor in 1952 from the University of Florida, was the first merit appointment to the Florida Supreme Court. Throughout his career he was active in legal education and served as an Adjunct Professor at the Levin College of Law through December 2012, the month of his death. Although he resided at Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, a continuing care retirement community developed in cooperation with UF, he also considered the Florida Supreme Court “home.” Among the high points of his later years was hosting Justices of the Florida Supreme Court in Gainesville and taking his class to Tallahassee to hear oral arguments at the Florida Supreme Court.
Judge Miller, who earned her B.S. cum laude from New York University in 1974 and her Juris Doctor from New York Law School in 1977, served as Chief Administrative Law Judge of the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, New York City’s business regulatory agency, before she retired to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida. Having accompanied Justice Overton on his excursions to Tallahassee and joined him in welcoming guests to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, she created the endowment in memory of Justice Overton to ensure that the Levin College of Law continues to have the funding necessary to continue and enhance the interaction between its students and the Florida Supreme Court.

 

Judge Miller remembered the event that motivated the endowment.

 

Prior to a dinner at the home of Dean Robert Jerry and Lisa Jerry shortly after Justice Overton’s death, Justice Barbara Pariente and I were discussing a suitable memorial. Justice Pariente, who had been Justice Overton’s colleague on the Florida Supreme Court and who understood the importance to him of the interaction between his students and the Court, suggested the outline of what has become the Overton lectures. Dean Jerry, who has since retired, as has Dean Emeritus Jon Mills, who assumed responsibility for implementing the Overton lectures, were very supportive from the beginning. Since Dean Mills’ retirement, Professor Timothy McClendon, who assisted both Justice Overton and Dean Mills teaching Florida Constitutional Law and who co-authored the recent Florida Constitutional Law casebook, has continued the Overton lectures with the support of Interim Dean Merritt McAlister and CGR director, Professor Danaya Wright.

Justice Overton was a devoted jurist, educator, and ethical leader of the Florida legal profession. The Overton Lecture Series brings Florida Supreme Court Justices to the University of Florida, Levin College of Law, and serves to introduce students to the inner workings of the Court. CGR and the students of the College of Law extend our deepest gratitude to Judge Karen Miller for making the Overton Lectures possible in perpetuity.

You can watch an interview for the Florida Historical Society by Mary Adkins, professor emeritus of the UF Levin College of Law, with Justice Overton here.

Justice Overton was also interviewed for the Samuel Proctor Oral History Project and a transcript of his interview is available at the Smathers Library, and here.
Justice Overton sat on the Constitution Revision Commission of 1977-78 that proposed a right to privacy in the Florida Constitution. Although it failed as part of the Constitution Revision Commission recommendations, it passed in 1980 when proposed by the legislature. The bill was co-sponsored by our very own Jon Mills. The privacy provision prevailed by greater than 60%. Justice Overton then wrote a concurrence in a critical reproductive rights case in 1989 affirming that the privacy provision of the Florida Constitution included the right to obtain an abortion. That decision was overruled in Planned Parenthood of SW and Central Florida v. Florida. You can read about the role of Justice Overton, Jon Mills – director emeritus of CGR, and the history of the 1989 case here.