UF Law Recognizes Five Professors with Promotions
Five members of the University of Florida Levin College of Law faculty received promotions for 2026. The new promotions reflect the faculty members’ distinguished work in teaching, research and service. Congratulations to Professors Lidsky, Haley, Kim, Hawkins, and Kolinsky!
Distinguished Professor
Lyrissa Lidsky Promoted to Distinguished Professor
Professor Lyrissa Lidsky is the Raymond & Miriam Ehrlich Eminent Scholar Chair in U.S. Constitutional Law at Florida Law. The focus of her research and teaching is the intersection of Tort Law and the First Amendment, with an emphasis on defamation and free speech issues in social media. Professor Lidsky is co-reporter on the Restatement of Defamation and Privacy. She recently succeeded Judge Robert Sack as the author of Sack on Defamation. She has authored Media Law and First Amendment casebooks, a reference book on press freedom, and dozens of articles, culminating in a recent article in the Virginia Law Review, co-authored with Professor Christina Koningisor, called First Amendment Disequilibrium.
Associate Professor
Thomas Haley Promoted to Associate Professor
Professor Thomas Haley teaches and writes about privacy and data protection, copyright, and other areas where law and technology interact. His work has been published in the Arizona State Law Journal, the Florida Law Review, the North Carolina Law Review, the Indiana Law Journal, and the Washington Law Review. Before joining the University of Florida, Haley was Research Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Virginia, and Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Utah. He previously practiced law at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in New York and Palo Alto, as well as at Valle Makoff in Silicon Valley. He received his undergraduate degree from Pomona College, and his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.
Matthew Kim Promoted to Associate Professor
Professor Matthew Kim teaches and writes in the areas of criminal law, criminal procedure, civil procedure, and empirical research. His work has been published in or is forthcoming in the Ohio State Law Journal, Texas A&M Law Review, Arizona State Law Journal, Florida Law Review, Missouri Law Review, and Tennessee Law Review, among others. Prior to joining the University of Florida, he clerked for two judges in Miami – Judge Barbara Lagoa of the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and Judge Beth Bloom of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Professor Kim received his B.A. and M.A. from Emory University, his M.A. from Yale University, his Ph.D. and M.A. from Harvard University, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Senior Lecturer and Senior Legal Skills Professor
Thomas Hawkins Promoted to Senior Lecturer and
Senior Legal Skills Professor
Professor Thomas Hawkins directs the University of Florida Levin College of Law Environmental and Community Development Clinic. This clinic prepares students for the practice of law through environmental, land use, and transactional law projects serving public-interest-oriented clients such as local and state governments and non-governmental organizations.
Heather Kolinsky Promoted to Senior Lecturer and
Senior Legal Skills Professor
Professor Heather Kolinsky is a Senior Lecturer and Senior Legal Skills Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law where she teaches in the first year Legal Writing program. She also serves as the Director of Legal Writing and Drafting. Prior to joining the University of Florida, Professor Kolinsky was a Professor of Practice at Washington & Lee University School of Law. Professor Kolinsky served as a law clerk to Magistrate Judge Gregory J. Kelly in the United States Middle District Court of Florida from 2018 to 2021. She also practiced appellate law, representing clients in civil and family law appeals in Florida. Professor Kolinsky was recognized as one of Florida Trend’s Florida Legal Elite in appellate practice in 2017 and 2018.