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Joy McCann Foundation establishes distinguished professorship for professionalism at Stetson Law

Contact Aaron Reincheld
Communications Specialist
727-562-7381

Gulfport, Fla. – The Joy McCann Foundation donated $500,000 to Stetson University College of Law to endow the William Reece Smith Jr. Distinguished Professorship. The honor celebrates the work of Stetson Law Distinguished Professorial Lecturer and Florida legal legend William Reece Smith Jr.

The distinguished professorship will be awarded to a full-time College of Law faculty member with a demonstrated commitment to both professionalism and the mentoring of students. The gift also provides financial support for special projects the distinguished professor chooses to pursue.

“We focus on making our community a better place to live; one way we do this is through our support of education,” said Joy McCann Daugherty, chair of the foundation. “The high quality of Stetson as an institution is reflected in its faculty. Professor Smith has been a stalwart force in the Tampa legal community for many years, and the McCann Foundation is proud to support Stetson by honoring Reece.”

The professorship requires the honoree to be a leader at Stetson and in the professor’s field of study. The recipient must also be a role model in their community for the profession.

“This distinguished professorship will enable our faculty to develop innovative programs to enhance the teaching of professionalism at the College of Law,” said Stetson Dean Darby Dickerson. “We are privileged to have the name William Reece Smith Jr. permanently linked with such an academically significant program.”

William Reece Smith Jr.’s relationship with the law school dates back to 1954, when he taught as an adjunct professor. He has served as distinguished professorial lecturer since 1991. He has served as the president of the International Bar Association, American Bar Association, American Bar Foundation, American Bar Endowment, National Conference of Bar Presidents, the Florida Bar and Hillsborough County Bar Association. Professor Smith has diligently worked to improve access to legal services to the poor for more than 40 years. He founded Florida Legal Services and served as its first president. The courtroom in Stetson’s Tampa Law Center is named in his honor.

About the Joy McCann Foundation
The Joy McCann Foundation is a private family foundation committed to community enrichment and the development of mentors in the health, science and legal professions. Chaired by Joy McCann Daugherty and Dr. Robert Daugherty, the foundation has made grants totaling nearly $10 million over the past five years to non-profit organizations and educational institutions in Florida.

The foundation has as one of its goals a priority in funding mentoring to develop future leaders in the health, science and legal professions. Programs and awards established by the foundation are intended to identify and honor mentors who serve as role models, encouraging others through their actions, professional work and attitude to become leaders at academic institutions and within professional disciplines.

National Clearinghouse for Science, Technology and the Law at Stetson announces new staff members

Contact Aaron Reincheld
Communications Specialist
727-562-7381

Gulfport, Fla. – The National Clearinghouse for Science, Technology and the Law at Stetson University College of Law has recently added five staff members to aid with its expanding research and outreach efforts.

The Clearinghouse added Gregory Hill, deputy director; Diana Botluk, director of research; Susan Zucker, director of technology and distance education; Catherine Guthrie, law and science fellow; and Lea Gregg, administrative assistant.

“I am thrilled to have these exceptionally qualified, motivated individuals join our existing staff of other talented professionals,” said Carol Henderson, Clearinghouse director. “We look forward to providing even more services to the legal, scientific and law enforcement communities.”

The Clearinghouse was formed in 2003 to educate lawyers, judges and law enforcement personnel about new technology, methods of evaluating scientific evidence and whether such evidence is admissible in court. It is a program of the National Institute of Justice.

About the staff members:

Gregory Hill
Gregory Hill is an associate member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. He is working with the National Forensic Science and Technology Center to develop a DNA Mock Trial for President George W. Bush’s DNA Initiative. Hill previously worked as Tampa police officer, a private attorney and an assistant public defender for two judicial circuits.

Hill was a recipient of the Arthur A. Schomberg Graduate Fellowship and Gilbert D. Moore Fellowship to study law at the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law, where he earned his law degree.

Diana Botluk – Director of Research
Diana Botluk is the author of the “The Legal List: Research on the Internet,” a book published annually by West Group. She was named one of the top eight online legal researchers in T.R. Halvorson’s 1999 book, “Law of the Super Searchers: The Online Secrets of Top Legal Researchers.” Botluk taught legal research at both the University of Maryland and Catholic University of America, where she served as a reference librarian in the Judge Kathryn J. Dufour Law Library for 17 years. She is also a regular contributor to the Web journal LLRX.com and frequently teaches Internet resources seminars. Botluk earned her law degree from Catholic.

Susan Zucker – Director of Technology and Distance Education
Dr. Susan Zucker has 10 years’ experience directing educational programs. Her areas of expertise includes instructional technology integration; Web course development and online applications; curriculum design and delivery; and faculty and staff development. She teaches Web-based distance delivery graduate courses for the University of South Florida’s College of Education. She has served as director of instructional services at USF, assistant professor of medical education in USF’s College of Medicine, and assistant director of the Holland & Knight Education Institute of Holland & Knight LLP. She has edited training material for the Center for Disease Control, published articles, and made numerous presentations to national audiences. She earned a doctorate in instructional technology with a cognate in medical informatics from USF. She also earned a master’s degree in education from USF.

Catherine Guthrie – Law and Science Fellow
Catherine Guthrie is a cum laude graduate from Stetson University College of Law, where she earned six Book Awards and served as a research assistant. Upon graduation, she received the Florida Bar Labor and Employment Law Section Dean W. Gary Vause Award and the William F. Blews Pro Bono Service Award.

Lea Gregg – Administrative Assistant
Lea Gregg most recently worked with Citizens Electric Corporation researching government grants. She has provided administrative support services for the University of Tampa in several departments, working collaboratively in special projects including the Better World Campaign and United Nations Foundation “Nations United, United Nations” Town Hall meetings. She also worked with California Assemblyman George Runner.

Career fair to showcase Florida’s business schools’ best

Contact Aaron Reincheld
Communications Specialist
727-562-7381

Gulfport, Fla. – At the statewide career fair on March 11, national and regional companies and corporations have an opportunity to meeting top graduate business students from 11 universities and colleges, including students enrolled in Stetson University’s J.D./M.B.A. dual-degree program.

The Florida M.B.A. and Graduate Business Consortium is sponsoring the 5th Annual Statewide Career Fair and is inviting local, regional and national companies and organizations to participate. The event is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Bonaventure Resort and Spa in Ft. Lauderdale.

The Stetson students attending are pursing both an M.B.A. degree from Stetson’s School of Business Administration and a J.D. degree from Stetson’s College of Law. Graduates of this program can use their J.D. degree to provide legal context for their managerial activities and the M.B.A. degree to sharpen their administrative and managerial decision-making skills. Stetson’s dual-degree program is the largest of its kind in the nation.

Each participating school is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International, which ensures that graduates possess the most up-to-date knowledge and skills available. The career fair will bring together a diverse population of students, including 23 percent minorities and 17 percent international students. There also will be students with a variety of professional backgrounds.

“Each year, hundreds of graduate students from around the state attend the career fair, giving companies the opportunity to recruit some of the state’s best and brightest students,” said Cathy Fitch, Stetson’s director of career services. “It’s a worthwhile venture and a real win-win for all those involved.”

Companies and organizations that have participated in previous career fairs include AT&T, Central Intelligence Agency, Coca-Cola, Eli Lilly & Company, Raymond James Financial Services, Office Depot, Walt Disney World and many more.

The fee for businesses that register between Feb. 11 and March 10 is $350. The fee allows two company representatives to participate in the fair. Additional representatives may attend for $30 each. Interested companies may register online by accessing the Web site at www.flmbaconsortium.org

For more information, please contact Cathy Fitch at (727) 562-7815.

Stetson Law team wins regional leg of National Trial Competition

Contact Aaron Reincheld
Communications Specialist
727-562-7381

Gulfport, Fla. – A Stetson University College of Law trial team won the Southeast Regional Competition of the National Trial Competition Feb. 11-13 in Jacksonville. With the win, Stetson advances to the national finals in San Antonio, Texas, at the end of March as the top-ranked team from the region.

The winning team consisted of Gabrielle Osborne and Dante Weston and witness members Kate Alexander and Mike Kest. Stetson Professor Pamela Bell coached the team.

“The team exhibited exemplary conduct both inside and outside the courtroom,” Bell said. “With each trial in the competition, the team improved and adapted. In the finals, the team rose to the occasion and carried on the Stetson tradition of excellence. I am very proud of them.”

Sixteen teams from Florida and Georgia competed in the event. Stetson defeated Georgia State University in the finals.

Stetson Law presents international dialogue on restoring Iraqi marshlands

Contact Frank Klim
Executive Director of Communications
727-562-7889

Gulfport, Fla. – Stetson University College of Law recently conducted a conference with an Iraqi environmentalist on the efforts to restore Iraqi marshlands destroyed by the Saddam Hussein-led government. The conference is available on Stetson’s Web site at
http://gpiis03.law.stetson.edu/media/on-demand/alwash.asx. The conference also celebrated World Wetlands Day, which commemorates the anniversary of the signing of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance.

Azzam Alwash, director of the Eden Again Project, spoke from Iraq to a group at Stetson’s Gulfport campus. The Eden Again Project is working to restore the Mesopotamian marshlands, which lie in southern Iraq largely between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The World Wildlife Fund lists the marshlands in the Global 200, which ranks the Earth’s most biologically outstanding habitats.

“This is an environmental tragedy on par with the deforestation of the Amazon,” said Royal C. Gardner, Stetson vice dean and vice chair of the United States National Ramsar Committee and the American Bar Association’s Committee on Water Quality and Wetlands. “We hope this presentation informs people about the environmental and humanitarian atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein and the efforts to reverse them.”

The discussion was an effort to bring more attention this environmental tragedy.

“It was great to be able to hear live from someone in Iraq about the marshland’s current situation,” Gardner said. “I hope this presentation has better informed the community about the plight about the Marsh Arabs and the efforts to restore the Mesopotamian marshlands.”

In the early 1990s, the Iraqi government embarked on a large-scale drainage project, largely in retaliation for the Shia uprising in southern Iraq. The result was the desiccation of the marshlands and the destruction of the culture of the Marsh Arabs. The UN Environment Programme has described the draining as a “major and thoughtless environmental disaster.”

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.

Forensic medical expert to speak at Stetson Law

Contact Aaron Reincheld
Communications Specialist
727-562-7381

Gulfport, Fla. – The National Clearinghouse for Science, Technology and the Law at Stetson University College of Law is sponsoring a lecture and presentation by forensic expert Dr. Cyril H. Wecht at noon Feb. 11, in the Great Hall of Stetson’s Gulfport campus. The presentation, “Forensic medicine odyssey: From the Kennedy assassination to the Scott Peterson case,” is free and open to the public.

Dr. Wecht’s books include “Cause of Death,” “Grave Secrets,” “Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey?” and “Mortal Evidence.” He has also authored more than 475 professional publications. He has appeared as a guest on numerous national television and radio shows discussing various medicolegal and forensic scientific subjects, including medical malpractice; alcohol and drug abuse; and prominent legal cases assassinations.

Certified by the American Board of Pathology in anatomic, clinical and forensic pathology, Dr. Wecht is a fellow of the College of American Pathologists, American Society of Clinical Pathologists and National Association of Medical Examiners. He is a clinical professor at the University of Pittsburgh Schools of Medicine, Dental Medicine and Public Health; an adjunct professor at Duquesne University Schools of Law, Pharmacy and Health Sciences; a distinguished professor at Carlow College; and chairman of the advisory board of the Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law at Duquesne University School of Law.

He has served as president of the American College of Legal Medicine and the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and as chairman of the boards of trustees of the American Board of Legal Medicine and the American College of Legal Medicine Foundation.

For more information, contact the National Clearinghouse for Science, Technology and the Law at (727) 562-7316.

International business expert on panel to resolve trade dispute

Contact Aaron Reincheld
Communications Specialist
727-562-7381

Gulfport, Fla. – Stetson University College of Law Professor Peter Fitzgerald has been appointed to a North American Free Trade Agreement bi-national panel that will help solve a trade dispute between the United States and Mexico.

Fitzgerald is one of two Americans on a five-judge panel considering a Mexican challenge to the U.S. Commerce Department’s continued anti-dumping duties on Mexican goods for the oil industry. Anti-dumping duties are special taxes on imports sold below cost.

“Pricing imports below cost – dumping – is regarded as an unfair trade practice because it potentially harms the ability of domestic producers in the U.S. to compete with the importers in the marketplace,” Fitzgerald said. “The government therefore imposes these special import duties to bring the cost of the foreign goods to a U.S. purchaser up to a normal market price.”

Stetson students Stanley K. Kinnett and Casey G. Reeder will serve as Professor Fitzgerald’s assistants with the case.

Panels of this type provide a substitute for review by national courts of trade disputes involving anti-dumping or countervailing duties. The United States has been involved in more than 60 such cases since NAFTA was created in 1994.

Fitzgerald was appointed to the position by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Secretariado del TLCAN Sección Mexicana. This is his second appointment to a NAFTA Chapter 19 bi-national panel. In 2002, he was part of a panel that dealt with a Canadian challenge to anti-dumping duties imposed on American household appliances imported into Canada.

Among his other honors and recognitions, Fitzgerald served as a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar and visiting research fellow at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland last year.

More information on Professor Fitzgerald can be found  here.

Judge Stringer Youth Pre-Law Conference scheduled at Stetson University College of Law

Contact Frank Klim
Executive Director of Communications
727-562-7889

Gulfport, Fla. – The Judge Thomas Stringer Youth Pre-Law Conference will honor the achievements of the first black graduate of Stetson University College of Law and encourage minority students to pursue higher education and the legal profession. The program is set to begin at 10 a.m. Feb. 4 in the Carey and Florin Courtroom of Stetson’s Gulfport campus.

Stetson has teamed with local high schools for the conference to mark National Minority Law Student Recruitment Month.

“Stetson University College of Law is committed to increasing opportunity for students of all backgrounds to pursue the dream of a legal education. We are working hard to increase the number of people from underrepresented minority groups in its student body,” said Assistant Dean of Admissions Pamela Coleman. “We want to send a strong message that they are encouraged to attend law school.”

During the conference, Stetson deans, professors and students will tell visitors about the experience of entering law school. There will be a mock trial led by Stetson’s nationally ranked trial team.

Judge Thomas E. Stringer Sr. will speak to the students. Stringer graduated from Stetson in 1974. After graduation, Stringer served in private practice, the Hillsborough County Court and the 13th Judicial Circuit Court. Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Judge Stringer to Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal in 1999.

The day is sponsored by the Admissions Office, the Stetson chapters of the Black Law Students Association, Hispanic Bar Association and American Bar Association. National Minority Law Recruitment Month is funded with a grant from the Law School Admission Council to raise awareness of minority recruiting issues facing law schools.

Free seminars to help protect Miami-area elder consumers from scams and fraud

Contact Aaron Reincheld
Communications Specialist
727-562-7381

Gulfport, Fla. – Stetson University College of Law’s Elder Consumer Protection Program will warn Miami-area elderly citizens about the dangers of identity theft and home services fraud at two free consumer protection presentations in January.

Stetson Elder Consumer Protection Fellow Bronwyn Stanford will speak Jan. 18 at 10 a.m. at Boynton Beach Senior Center and on Jan. 19 at noon at Ruth Rales Senior Center in Miami.

The seminars are part of Stetson’s statewide Elder Consumer Protection Program, which is headed by Stetson’s Elder Law Chair Rebecca Morgan. The program began with a successful seminar series around the Tampa Bay area and will continue around the state in the coming months with sessions on different types of fraud.

“Over and over we hear stories about unscrupulous individuals posing as legitimate service repair providers who then take a large amount of money for no work or shoddy work,” Morgan said. “It is important for seniors to know how to find a legitimate service repair company and how to protect themselves from these service scams.”

Stanford, a former prosecutor, will present warnings on services fraud, which includes lawn care, air conditioning repairs, appliance repairs or any home service that a person may need.

Funding for these programs was provided in part by the Administration on Aging, and the presentations are part of Stetson’s work under a federal grant to educate the elderly on consumer fraud prevention. Stetson, a national leader in the field of elder law, has partnered with the Florida Attorney General’s Office, AARP and the legal community to increase public awareness of consumer fraud against senior citizens.

To suggest a location or for information on scheduling additional consumer protection seminars, please call 727-562-7800 ext. 7235.

Stetson Law program to warn about dangers of home services fraud

Contact Aaron Reincheld
Communications Specialist
727-562-7381

Gulfport, Fla. – Stetson University College of Law’s Elder Consumer Protection Program will warn area elderly citizens about the dangers home services fraud and other scams at a free consumer protection forum Jan. 20 at Stetson’s Gulfport campus.

The session is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. in the Great Hall and will include representatives of the U.S. Postal Service, the St. Petersburg Times and Stetson Law. The forum is part of Stetson’s statewide Elder Consumer Protection Program, which is headed by Stetson’s Elder Law Chair Rebecca Morgan. The program will travel around the state in the coming months with sessions on different types of fraud.

“Everyone has needed a repair person at one time or another,” Morgan said. “There are some unscrupulous individuals who will pass themselves off as legitimate when in fact they will take your money without doing the work or do substandard work. It is important to know a few simple steps to take to protect yourself from such scams.”

Stetson’s Elder Consumer Protection Fellow Bronwyn Stanford, a former prosecutor, will lead the event with warnings on services fraud, which includes lawn care, air conditioning repairs, appliance repairs or any home service that a person may need. Representatives of the Florida Department of Financial Services and Seniors vs. Crime will also speak. The presenters also will speak on mail fraud and what to do to if a person falls victim to these types of scams.

Funding for the program was provided in part by the Administration on Aging, and the presentations are part of Stetson’s work under a federal grant to educate the elderly on consumer fraud prevention. Stetson, a national leader in the field of elder law, has partnered with the Florida Attorney General’s Office, AARP and the legal community to increase public awareness of consumer fraud against senior citizens.

For more information call Stetson’s Consumer Protection Program at 727-562-7800 ext. 7235.