Jo Ann Palchak J.D. ’05 was honored with the J. Ben Watkins Award for excellence in the legal profession at the Stetson Law Review banquet on Nov. 19 in Gulfport. The J. Ben Watkins Award honors individuals who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and accomplishment in the legal community. Palchak is a criminal defense attorney in Tampa who specializes in representing individuals and companies in criminal… » Read more

Stetson’s Lambda Legal Society hosted a discussion and candlelight vigil on Monday evening, Nov. 21, on Stetson’s Gulfport campus to discuss the challenges faced by the transgender community and to honor the lives of transgender people who have been violently killed. A candlelight vigil on Stetson’s Gulfport campus honored Transgender Day of Remembrance. Photo by Alan Brock. Nathan Bruemmer, president of Lambda, and student Alaina Wilson presented to students,… » Read more

A panel of international law experts discussed the global refugee crisis and human trafficking with a delegation of international journalists Monday morning in the Mann Lounge at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport on Nov. 14. The delegation of approximately 50 international journalists from the Middle East visited Stetson for the special presentation as part of the Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists, sponsored… » Read more

Stetson University College of Law unveiled a display of photographs honoring veterans in the Stetson family in the Mann Lounge during a Veterans Day lunch celebrated on Nov. 10 in Gulfport. The Student Veterans Organization and Stetson Chapter of the American Bar Association-Law Student Division co-sponsored the event, which included a talk and Q&A with Retired Colonel DJ Reyes about the Hillsborough County Veteran Treatment… » Read more

Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, who died Nov. 7, 2016, made a memorable visit to the Stetson University College of Law campus in 2007. She served as the William Reece Smith Jr. Distinguished Lecturer at Stetson’s Annual Inns of Court Banquet on Jan. 25, 2007, where invited dignitaries, federal, circuit and county judges, area attorneys, Inn members and Stetson students had a rare opportunity… » Read more

Jeanne Christie, executive director of the Association of State Wetland Managers, presented Are We There Yet? Trends in Protecting Wetlands and Biodiversity – A State-side View as part of Stetson University College of Law’s Foreman Biodiversity Lecture series on the Gulfport campus. “The U.S. is the most ecologically diverse country in the world,” said Christie. “We have more kinds of forests, and deserts and wetlands… » Read more

Stetson University College of Law invites future law students to visit its Gulfport campus, take a simulated class, meet with faculty and students, and learn more about the admissions and financial aid application process during its Law School Information Day from 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. on Nov. 12. Future law students may attend workshops and information sessions hosted by professors and admissions staff, tour the Gulfport… » Read more

Stetson’s Innocence Initiative hosted journalist Keith Long presenting on the role of juries in the digital and televised trial era. Long,  who wrote What if the Casey Anthony jury hadn’t been sequestered?, discussed the O.J. Simpson and Casey Anthony jury acquittals. He described how his interest in the Casey Anthony case began when he watched coverage of the trial, focused heavily on Anthony’s character. “From… » Read more

Alan Gura, lead plaintiff’s counsel in the landmark 2008 Supreme Court decision District of Columbia v. Heller, spoke on Oct. 27 at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport. Gura spoke about how subsequent case law has evolved from the Heller decision, in which the Court examined the meaning of the Second Amendment. In Heller, the Supreme Court heard Second Amendment challenges to Washington, D.C.’s… » Read more

The Stetson Chapter of the Young Lawyers Division Law Student Division and Florida Association of Women Lawyers at Stetson co-sponsored a networking event on Oct. 27 at the Boca Bay Grille in downtown Gulfport. More than 25 attorneys and 40 students attended “The Winning Edge Professionalism Panel & Networking Event.” The event featured a panel moderated by Associate Dean Stephanie Vaughan that included Judge Claudia… » Read more

Stetson University College of Law’s Gulfport campus hosted a public noontime program on Oct. 27 about a first-of-its-kind ordinance to abolish superPACs and limit foreign corporate money in St. Petersburg, Florida, elections. The one-hour program, “Taking on Citizens United: Short-and-Long-Term Strategies to Restore our Democracy,” featured a panel of national campaign finance reformers and city officials including Federal Election Commissioner Ellen Weintraub, St. Petersburg City… » Read more

The Innocence Initiative at Stetson brought guest speaker Jason Strong to campus Wednesday night, Oct. 12, to talk with law students about his 15-year struggle to prove his innocence in a crime he did not commit. Strong was the victim of false confessions and improper forensic science and convicted of killing a developmentally disabled woman, a crime he did not commit. Fifteen years after being… » Read more