Stetson University College of Law Receives Major Gift from Attorneys’ Title Insurance Fund, Inc.

Contact Aaron Reincheld
Communications Specialist
727-562-7381

Gulfport, Fla. – Stetson University College of Law has received a gift of $250,000 from Attorneys’ Title Insurance Fund, Inc. (The Fund). The gift establishes the Attorneys’ Title Insurance Fund Professorship, which will support the research and teaching of a full-time Stetson Law professor in the area of real estate law. Professor James J. Brown is the first recipient of this honor. The endowment is one of five – totaling $1 million – that The Fund, the nation’s first Bar-related title insurance underwriter, is establishing at Florida-based law schools.

“Stetson is proud to partner with The Fund to further a legal topic so important to Florida attorneys and to honor Professor Brown and his work,” said Stetson Dean Darby Dickerson.

“As Florida’s first law school, Stetson has a long history of educating real estate attorneys. With this gift, we are carrying out The Fund’s mission to preserve and facilitate the practice of real estate law,” said Charles J. Kovaleski, president of The Fund. “Real estate drives Florida’s economy. This endowment represents reinvestment in the legal foundation on which that critical piece of Florida’s economy stands.”

Professor Brown, a law professor of 35 years, is a 26-year member of the Florida Bar and its Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section. He has been an active legal scholar, author, lecturer, teacher and consultant on property, real estate, land use planning, environment, local government and alternative dispute resolution. He was the editor of the original two-volume treatise, Florida Environmental and Land Use Law for more than 10 years. He has served in many legal organizations, including the Florida Governor’s Advisory Committee on Secret Land Trusts.

This gift is the latest in The Fund’s commitment to enhancing the practice of real estate law. For four decades, The Fund has provided preeminent law schools with annual funds to promote real property education. Beyond the more than $16,000 in curriculum grants that The Fund has provided to Stetson over the past 19 years, The Fund conducts an annual law student awards competition that is open to law students across the state.

In addition to The Fund’s expansive continuing education program for real estate attorneys, the company conducts a title examination workshop for students at law schools across Florida. The workshop provides students with the methods to help them accurately examine titles in an orderly and effective manner. It also helps them easily identify problems to look for when issuing title insurance as a real estate attorney.

About Attorneys’ Title Insurance Fund, Inc. (The Fund)
Attorneys’ Title Insurance Fund, Inc., Florida’s leading title insurance underwriter and title information provider, is in business to preserve and facilitate the real estate practices of its members and their protection of the public. As the nation’s first Bar-related ® title insurance underwriter, The Fund has been providing extensive support for the real estate practices of Florida attorneys since 1948.

The Fund is an industry leader in service, being the first to offer a title information Quality & Service Guarantee. The Fund offers quality, competitive and innovative products, services and education, including Florida’s most comprehensive, on-line title information system and DoubleTime ®, a revolutionary real estate closing software package. For more information, visit http://www.thefund.com.

About Stetson University College of Law
Stetson University College of Law is Florida’s first law school. It has educated lawyers for more than a century and offers continuing legal education programs for regional, national and international audiences. Stetson is consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top law schools in the United States for advocacy training and is the headquarters for the National Conference of Law Reviews. For more information visit
http://www.law.stetson.edu.