| During Stetson University College of Law’s fall Honors and Awards ceremony, Stephanie A. Vaughan was promoted to a full professor and was recognized for her numerous contributions during a robing presentation. Professor Vaughan has served at Stetson Law for the past 14 years. |  |
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Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]
On Monday evening, Dec. 14, Stetson’s Innocence Project co-coordinators Professor Roberta Flowers and Professor Judith Scully joined Alan Crotzer, a St. Petersburg man exonerated of crimes through the help of the Innocence Project of Florida, for a Social Justice Roundtable about Justice Delayed, But Not Denied. Part-time law student Alizza Punzalan-Hall introduced and moderated the program at The Studio@620 in downtown St. Petersburg.
“The Social Justice Roundtables offer Stetson Law faculty and students a unique and very important opportunity to be actively engaged in a community-wide interdisciplinary dialogue on social justice topics which involve the relationship between law, the role of community organizations, and direct social action initiatives in the greater St. Petersburg area,” said Professor Robert Bickel, who teaches a Civil Rights Seminar at Stetson.
This fall, under the guidance of professors Flowers and Scully, several Stetson University College of Law students began volunteering with attorneys in collaboration with the Innocence Project of Florida.
The Social Justice Roundtable series at The Studio@620 is co-sponsored by Eckerd College; Stetson University College of Law; and the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg.
Learn more about The Studio@620 by visiting http://www.studio620.org/620/. Learn more about the Innocence Project of Florida by visiting http://floridainnocence.org/index.php.
Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]
Student advocates at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Fla., won six competitions this semester, including an international moot court competition.
“This fall, our students have won major competitions in every field of advocacy,” said Professor Charles H. Rose III, the director of Stetson’s Center for Excellence in Advocacy.
Two Stetson teams recently won dual regional championships at the ABA Law Student Division Regional Arbitration Competition held at Georgetown Law in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 22.
Stetson teams also came home as champions from the eighth annual National Civil Trial Competition in California and the inaugural Navy JAG Corps National Moot Court Competition in Florida on Nov. 14.
Earlier this semester, Stetson won the John Marshall Law School International Moot Court Competition in Information Technology and Privacy Law, the Inaugural Veterans Law Appellate Advocacy Competition, and both first and second place in the E. Earl Zehmer Workers’ Compensation Moot Court Competition.
“These students are the living embodiment of Stetson’s commitment to creating ethical, competent and professional advocates,” said Professor Rose. “They represent our continuing commitment to excellence in all phases of teaching the law, skill and art of persuasion.”
Stetson students also won best advocate awards in the first, second, third and semi-final rounds of the 19th Annual Cathy Bennett National Criminal Trial Competition in Portland, Ore., on Nov. 7.
For more information about Stetson Law’s award-winning, top-ranked advocacy program, visit the AdvocacyCenter at http://www.law.stetson.edu/advocacy.
Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]
Stetson Law student Stephen Farkas won the inaugural Civil Liberties Prize for his paper, Bringing Marriage Equality to the United States from Abroad: An Analysis of How Judicial Decisions from Canada Have Helped Achieve Marriage for Some, and Given Hope to Others. The award was presented by The Lambda Legal Society at Stetson University College of Law and the American Civil Liberties Union Pinellas County Chapter on Dec. 3.
“It is wonderful to see the scholarship of Stetson students being recognized in the greater community, and especially important to know that their papers may assist in moving the discussion forward to achieve important civil liberties for all,” said Professor Ellen Podgor, who advises Lambda.
Farkas won $500 and the opportunity to submit his paper for publication in The Torch, the statewide ACLU magazine.
The runners-up for the prize are Stetson Law students Katherine Lambrose for her paper Civil Unions: The Persistence of ‘Separate But Equal’ Doctrine in Gay Politics, and Christa Queen-Sutherland for her paper Genital Mutilation in our own Backyard: The Legal and Medical Ramifications for being Born an Intersexual in a Dualistic (Heterosexual) Society.
Paper topics included gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender legal issues, and preference was given to a focus on civil liberties involving public authorities. Professors Linda Anderson, Bruce Carolan, Ann Piccard and Judith A.M. Scully selected the finalists in this school-wide competition.
Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
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Two teams of student competitors from Stetson University College of Law wrapped up the fall semester as winners, returning as champions from the ABA Law Student Division Regional Arbitration Competition held at Georgetown Law in Washington, D.C.
In the final round of the regional competition on Nov. 22, the Stetson Law team of Jessica Crown, Anne Dryden, Megan Fossen and Nicole Rothstein defeated the University of Texas School of Law team. Not to be outdone by their peers, the Stetson Law team of Patrick Griffin, Nichole Hanscom, Olivene Harris and Kelly Terwilliger defeated the Seton Hall University School of Law team. Both Stetson Law teams will now advance to the ABA LSD National Arbitration Competition, which begins on Jan. 22 at Chapman University School of Law in Orange, Calif.
“One of the most rewarding aspects of the competition was the judges constantly telling our teams how professional, ethical and prepared they were,” said Professor Kelly Feeley, who coached Stetson’s winning arbitration teams along with Professor Roberta Flowers.
Ten teams competed from American University Washington College of Law, Charleston School of Law, Emory University School of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, Seton Hall University School of Law, Stetson Law, University of Texas at Austin School of Law, and William and Mary Law School.
Stetson Law’s arbitration teams combine students from all three competition teams, including representatives from the Alternative Dispute Resolution Board, Trial Team and Moot Court Board. Students from Stetson Law won six advocacy competitions this semester, including two national competitions the previous week.
For more information about Stetson Law’s award-winning advocacy program, visit the Advocacy Center at http://www.law.stetson.edu/advocacy/.
Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]
Stetson University College of Law placed 69th out of 180 law schools in the Super Lawyers magazine’s first-ever rankings of the nation’s ABA-approved law schools.
The rankings are based on the number of law school graduates who were selected for the 2009 Super Lawyers list.Super Lawyers polls practicing attorneys and conducts research to determine the top lawyers in each state. This is the first ranking system that focuses on the success of law school graduates.
To learn more about the Super Lawyers law school rankings, visit http://www.superlawyers.com/toplists/lawschools/united-states/2010/.
Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]
On Nov. 23, John Rizzo, acting general counsel of the CIA, spoke to Stetson University College of Law Professor Luz Nagle’s seminar students. An article by L.A. Times writer Greg Miller in the June 29 called Rizzo “The most influential career lawyer in CIA history.”
Rizzo, who joined the CIA in 1976 and will retire this December, spoke about his 32-year career in the Office of Legal Counsel at the CIA and his role in shaping national security law and foreign policy, particularly in the period since the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Catherine Peek McEwen was honored with the J. Ben Watkins Award at the Stetson Law Review Banquet on Nov. 20 in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Judge McEwen’s distinguished legal career includes being named the first female judge to serve in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s Tampa Division. A 1982 Stetson Law graduate, Judge McEwen is frequently an advocate for people who cannot afford legal representation. She helped create a video for the Bankruptcy Pro Bono Pro Se Assistance Project with a grant from The Florida Bar Foundation. Working with the project, the bankruptcy court, Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association and Bay Area Legal Services volunteered time to assist people in bankruptcy matters.
The Watkins Award is presented annually in honor of J. Ben Watkins, a 1949 graduate of Stetson Law who still actively practices law and was instrumental in founding the Stetson Law Review. The Stetson Law Review is a premier academic journal published three times per year. Each issue is presented in a symposium format addressing contemporary legal topics.
Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
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On Nov. 18, Stetson University College of Law professor Dr. Timothy Kaye joined a panel of experts at the Studio@620 in downtown St. Petersburg for the first social justice roundtable of the season.
The panel, including Kaye, Eckerd College professor Tony Brunello and Aging Awareness Initiatives founder Elaine Gould, addressed America’s health care system and reform options.
Members of the public were encouraged to participate in the program on “Can This Health System Be Saved?: Law, Culture, Politics and Reform.” The panel addressed differences between health care and law in America and around the world, the political history of health care, and health care for seniors.
University of South Florida professor Ray Arsenault moderated the program, co-sponsored by Eckerd College, Stetson University College of Law, and the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.
Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]
“Everybody’s working together,” Stetson Law Professor Dorothea Beane said, looking around Ms. Kerry Giordano’s sixth grade Ancient Civilizations class on Nov. 12. “We encourage problem-solving as lawyers and as good citizens. Our international human rights law students serve as co-teachers for a day and role models for the future, enjoying every minute,” Professor Beane said.
For an hour and a half Thursday afternoon, a group of students had an opportunity to sit down to talk about how they might help solve some of the world’s problems. Eighteen of Professor Beane’s international human rights law students met with nine Thurgood Marshall middle-schoolers to share ideas about how lawyers can do the important work of helping people around the globe protect themselves from being victims of discrimination. They also discussed the importance of self-determination.
Professor Beane’s law students prepared three different lesson plans and worked with Ms. Giordano’s class as part of an annual teach-in program. “We had the unique opportunity to support the sixth graders’ study of Ancient India with lessons concerning modern human rights issues which affect India and the rest of the world,” Professor Beane shared. The children had an opportunity to put themselves in the roles of international negotiators and mediators, discussing solutions to every day cultural conflicts like religious intolerance, gender discrimination and genocide.
After describing violations of human rights on the other side of the world, the law students asked the middle-schoolers to brainstorm some remedies. The problems the middle-schoolers worked on included issues that the United Nations and international community struggle with every day.
“The teach-in showed me that sixth graders can be very approachable about mature topics, such as genocide, self-determination and discrimination,” said law student Yova Borovska, who participated in the teach-in. “Their ability to discuss those issues in such an intelligent manner gave me hope for the future.”
The children quickly helped chalk in a list of things that could be done to assure that all people were treated as fairly as possible on Ms. Giordano’s blackboard. The class also discussed how economic and social class discrimination exists in our own country. If these violations are still happening in America, we can solve problems here and then send them outside the country, one of the middle-school students suggested.
“The children showed a great deal of understanding about the issues we presented to them,” said law student teach-in participant Shujaat Khan. “I was very impressed with the solutions they came up with during the session.”
Around Ms. Giordano’s classroom, colorful posters designed by the students illustrated serious global problems like people being driven from their homes and losing their lives because of religious persecution. On Nov. 12, the classroom chalkboards were marked with some possible solutions.
“It was very rewarding to see young students interested in learning about human rights and the violations affecting so many people,” said law student Rickisha Singletary of the teach-in experience. “You could tell from their eager faces that we were interacting with an entire room of future advocates, and for that, it was well worth it.”
Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]
Students from Stetson University College of Law came home champions this weekend from two national competitions on the east and west coasts of the United States. Stetson teams won both the eighth annual National Civil Trial Competition in California and the inaugural Navy JAG Corps National Moot Court Competition in Florida.
Stetson’s trial team of Olesea Collins, Derrick Connell, Allana Forte and Katelyn Knaak competed against teams from 15 other law schools around the country to win the National Civil Trial Competition Nov. 14 at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. Connell was named Best Advocate in both the preliminary and final rounds, a first for the competition. Professors Roberta Flowers and Lee Coppock coached the winning team to victory. More than 100 members of the Los Angeles legal community volunteered to judge the competition, including a U.S. magistrate judge and Los Angeles Superior Court judges. The competition was sponsored by the law firm of Greene Broillet & Wheeler.
Students Joseph Etter, Larry Miccolis, Amie Patty and Brice Zoecklein were named the champions of the Navy JAG Corps 2009 National Moot Court Competition at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville on Nov. 14. Twenty-three teams from law schools across the nation competed, including Georgetown, Harvard and Yale. Professor Charles Rose, Faculty Moot Court advisor Professor Stephanie Vaughan and Professor Brooke Bowman helped prepare the winning team, which argued before a group of jurists that included the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, federal district court judges, the Chief Judge of the Department of the Navy, judges from the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals, and judges from the Navy, Army and Marine trial courts. The competition was hosted by Region Legal Service Office Southeast.
“I can now see why Stetson is the Harvard of advocacy in American legal education,” said Professor Michael Rustad, the Hugh C. Culverhouse Visiting Chair at Stetson. “My observations come from judging several different teams in practice rounds this fall. The difference between Stetson and its competitors is due to its special ethos and sense of community. I think a second factor that accounts for the success is the commitment of the faculty and alumni to coaching, judging and mentoring.”
These wins bring Stetson’s Fall 2009 advocacy championship count to five. Earlier this semester, Stetson teams came in first and second place in the E. Earl Zehmer Workers’ Compensation Moot Court Competition; Stetson also won the John Marshall Law School International Moot Court Competition in Information Technology and Privacy Law, and the Veterans Law Appellate Advocacy Competition.
Visit Stetson’s Center for Excellence in Advocacy online to learn more at http://www.law.stetson.edu/advocacy/.
Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]
Stetson Law students won second-place at the 19th Annual Cathy Bennett National Criminal Trial Competition in Portland, Ore., on Nov. 7. A team from the University of Colorado won first-place.
The Stetson team of Onyema M. Anene, Cornelius C. Demps, Adam J. Nate and Pietrina M. Sams argued before criminal defense attorneys from across the country, and local prosecutors and distinguished jurists from the Portland, Ore., area. As finalists, the team assured Stetson Law a spot in next year’s competition.
“Top criminal defense attorneys from across the United States who judged the Stetson students continually remarked about the incredible performance of the Stetson team, and how they had never seen such a high quality of trial advocacy at this competition,” said Professor Ellen Podgor, who coached Stetson’s student team along with Professor Roberta Flowers.
Professor Susan Rozelle, Adjunct Professors Mark Rankin and Susan Demers B.A. ‘71, and Stetson Law graduate Petra Justice J.D. ‘08 also assisted in preparing the team for competition.
The prestigious annual competition is co-sponsored by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Thomas M. Cooley Law School.
To learn more about Stetson’s nationally top-ranked advocacy program, please visit http://www.law.stetson.edu/advocacy.