Stetson, U.S. Attorney's Office host Caribbean Law Clinic

On Nov. 13, Stetson University College of Law welcomed law students and faculty from the Bahamas, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and U.S. law schools to campus for the American and Caribbean Law Initiative’s Caribbean Law Clinic.

The American and Caribbean Law Initiative's Caribbean Law Clinic brought students and faculty from the U.S. and Caribbean to Stetson. — The American and Caribbean Law Initiative’s Caribbean Law Clinic brought students and faculty from the U.S. and Caribbean to Stetson.

Clinic participants collaborated on researching and presenting solutions to legal problems during a four-day program on Stetson’s Gulfport, Fla., campus.

The ACLI Caribbean Law Clinic met at Stetson Law in Guflport, Fla. — The ACLI Caribbean Law Clinic met at Stetson Law in Gulfport, Fla.

(L-R): Professor Darryl Wilson, Professor Dorothea Beane, Todd Grandy, Josie Thomas and Yvette Rhodes. — (L-R): Professor Darryl Wilson, Professor Dorothea Beane, Todd Grandy, Josie Thomas and Yvette Rhodes of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

This year’s Caribbean Law Clinic was co-hosted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Stetson University College of Law. Members of the U.S. Attorney’s Office attended the program.

The clinic addressed legal problems in a collaborative, non-competitive approach, with students from U.S. and Caribbean law schools working together towards solutions.

“My experience at the ACLI has been really rewarding,” said Akeyra Saunders of the Eugene Dupuch Law School in The Bahamas. “You get to practice your advocacy skills in front of judges and panelists, you get to receive positive feedback on the pros and cons of what not to do when you’re making your oral presentations. The comradery has been warming and welcoming. It’s been a wonderful experience.”

Professors Dorothea Beane and Darryl Wilson, co-directors of the Institute for Caribbean Law and Policy at Stetson, introduced the program, which wrapped up with a student/faculty outing on Nov. 15.

Professor Beane has mentored countless students and alumni focusing on human rights work in the Caribbean. She and Professor Wilson joined a faculty consortium to help draft the U.S. Virgin Islands constitution in 2008. Professor Beane also helped create Stetson’s study abroad program at The Hague and she and Professor Wilson work with Stetson’s winter break Cayman Islands program.

Next year’s Caribbean Law Clinic will take place at the Truman Bodden School of Law in the Cayman Islands.