Finalists (L-R): Jahanna Azarian, Vanessa Denk, Keongela Norton and Jade Mattheys. Photo courtesy Professor Kristen Adams.
Stetson University College of Law’s Dispute Resolution Board team of Jahanna Azarian and Vanessa Denk won the regional rounds of the American Bar Association Law Student Division Client Counseling Competition on Feb. 11. The Stetson team of Azarian and Denk heads to the national ABA LSD Client Counseling Competition in Durham, North Carolina, in March.
A second Stetson Dispute Resolution team of Jade Mattheys and Keongela Norton advanced to the final rounds in the regional competition, hosted by Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law in Macon, Georgia. Stetson alumna Emily VanOosting J.D. ’12 coached the team.
“These competitions give our students the opportunity to hone their practical lawyering skills in a way that uniquely prepares them to be confident attorneys from their very first days in practice,” said Stetson University College of Law Professor and Dispute Resolution Board Director Kristen Adams.
Stetson’s Dispute Resolution Board teams recently advanced to the national rounds in all three dispute resolution competitions sponsored by the American Bar Association Law Student Division: in arbitration, negotiation, and client counseling.
To learn more about the Center for Excellence in Advocacy at Stetson, advocacy boards at Stetson, and the top-ranked program in trial advocacy in the country, visit www.stetson.edu/law/advocacy.
Stetson University College of Law professors, alumni, and a college overseer were honored as “Hidden Figures” among more than 30 legal leaders in Tampa Bay by the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida on Feb. 8.
Professor Dorothea Beane.
Professor of Law Dorothea Beane was honored as the first tenured minority professor and Professor of Law Luz Nagle was honored as the first tenured Hispanic professor at Stetson University College of Law during the special program in Tampa celebrating pioneering firsts.
Ruthann Robson, a Stetson Hall of Fame inductee and visiting professor and alumna, was honored as one of the first female judicial law clerks in the Tampa Federal Courthouse.
Professor Law Luz Nagle.
Stetson Law alumni honored among Tampa Bay firsts included Emmy Acton, the first female Hillsborough County judge; Pam Bondi, honored as the first female attorney general of Florida; Judge Susan Bucklew, honored as the first female county judge in Hillsborough County; Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich, the first woman jurist in Tampa Bay, elected to the Sixth Judicial Circuit; Judge Mac McCoy, the first openly gay person to be sworn in as a federal judge in the Middle District of Florida; Judge Catherine McEwen, the first female appointed U.S. bankruptcy judge in the Tampa division of the Middle District of Florida; and Marsha Rydberg, the first female president of the Hillsborough County Bar Association.
Justice Peggy Quince, an overseer at Stetson Law, was honored for being the first African-American woman to lead a branch of government, serving as chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court.
Stetson University College of Law will present the Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching Advocacy to Mark Caldwell during its Educating Advocates: Teaching Advocacy Skills Conference on the Gulfport campus, May 21-23.
Mark Caldwell.
The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes those who have fundamentally changed the way in which the world approaches the teaching of advocacy.
Mark Caldwell is curriculum project manager for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. He has been recognized for his work as a teacher, program designer and administrator, receiving NITA’s Robert Oliphant Award for Service in 2001, the Hon. Prentice Marshall Award for Excellence in the Creation of Education Techniques in 2009, the University of Denver’s Institute for Advance Legal Studies Educator of the Year Award in1999, and recognition from the Colorado Asian American Bar Association and the American Bar Association Section of Family Law. Caldwell designed the NITA Building Trial Skills: Rocky Mountain program which won the Association for Continuing Legal Education award in 2014.
“Mark is a beloved figure at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, and has touched the lives of countless lawyers who strive to achieve justice for clients across the globe,” said Charles H. Rose III, the director of the Center for Excellence in Advocacy at Stetson. “He is a teacher’s teacher and we are so excited to welcome him into the Stetson family, as recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award. Mark is the type of lawyer and teacher who brings out the best in all of us.”
Stetson University is home to the nationally no. 1 ranked trial advocacy program, according to U.S. News & World Report.
The annual Educating Advocates conference on Stetson University’s Gulfport campus, draws law professors, lawyers and legal practitioners from across the U.S. to learn the Stetson method of advocacy, develop teaching skills, learn new techniques and network with some of the most recognized names in advocacy teaching.
The Edward D. Ohlbaum Award honors an individual whose life and practice display sterling character and unquestioned integrity, coupled with ongoing dedication to the highest standards of the legal profession and the rule of law. The award is designed to recognize a trial team coach and program director who exemplifies the late Professor Ohlbaum’s commitment to doing things with a high degree of professionalism, integrity and competency.
Pahlke is a shareholder in the law firm of Walkup, Melodia, Kelly and Schoenberger and a lecturer in trial advocacy at the University of California-Berkeley Law School where he coaches multiple trial teams. Pahlke has provided ongoing legal education, including developing and co-chairing programs produced in conjunction with Berkeley Law, with a special focus on providing training to young attorneys. Spencer was selected as a Super Lawyer from 2013-2017, as a Rising Star in 2011 and in 2012. In 2014-2017, he was listed by Best Lawyers.
“I have been fortunate enough to watch Spencer develop as a member of the trial advocacy teaching community, and he is the real deal,” said Professor Charles H. Rose III, director of the Center for Excellence in Advocacy at Stetson University College of Law. “Teams coached by Spencer are on point, capable and persuasive. He has made the trial advocacy program at Berkeley relevant. We cannot wait to see what he does next.”
The annual Educating Advocates conference, May 21-23 on Stetson University’s Gulfport campus, draws law professors, lawyers and legal practitioners from across the U.S. to learn the Stetson method of advocacy, develop teaching skills, learn new techniques and network with some of the most recognized names in advocacy teaching.
Stetson will begin offering a one-year Master of Jurisprudence in International and Comparative Business Law, a part time two-year Master of Jurisprudence in Healthcare Compliance, and a part time two-year Master of Jurisprudence in Aging, Law and Policy. Partial scholarships are available for qualified students and the GRE or GMAT test is not required with appropriate work experience. The deadline for domestic applications is July 1 and international applicants in need of a student visa should apply by April 1.
“Stetson Law’s Master of Jurisprudence programs give students the necessary edge for career enhancement and advancement,” said JR Swanegan, Assistant Dean of International and Graduate Programs. “The multidisciplinary nature of the programs, combined with teaching from academic and professional content area experts, will give an unmatched depth of understanding that will benefit students in their career as they progress through the curriculum.”
The one-year residency M.Jur. in International and Comparative Business Law, designed for business professionals, will prepare students with a greater understanding of the legal system and how it impacts the successful operation of a business across borders. Areas of study include legal compliance and contract law. A part time option is available for those that qualify.
The two-year online M.Jur. in Healthcare Compliance, designed for healthcare professionals, teaches concepts including healthcare laws and regulatory compliance issues related to healthcare practice, administration and clinical record. Areas of study include risk management, regulatory science, and healthcare law and compliance.
The two-year online M.Jur. in Aging, Law and Policy was created for non-lawyers including nurses, social workers, and human services professionals seeking an advanced understanding of elder law policies and ethics. Course instructors are legal experts in the field of aging law and policy. Areas of study include disability law, gerontology, guardianship, taxes and estate planning, and ethics in elder law.
The M.Jur. program does not qualify graduates to take the bar examination to practice as attorneys.
Higher education leaders were presented with this year’s Kaplin and Facilitator Awards during Stetson University’s 39th National Conference on Law and Higher Education, Feb. 1-3, in Clearwater Beach, Florida.
E. Gordon Gee.
West Virginia University President E. Gordon Gee received the William A. Kaplin Award on Feb. 3. The award, named for Professor William A. Kaplin, recognizes outstanding scholars who have published works addressing the intersection of higher education law and policy. Gee chairs the 2017-18 Big 12 Board of Directors Executive Committee and has served as university president at several prestigious public and private institutions during the past three decades. He presented a keynote luncheon on Feb. 3 on higher education law and policy issues on college campuses.
Annie E. Clark.
End Rape on Campus Executive Director Annie E. Clark received the Facilitator Award on Feb. 2. The Facilitator Award was created for educators who embody the values and principles articulated by professors Peter Lake and Robert Bickel in their book, “The Rights and Responsibilities of the Modern University.” The Facilitator Model urges educators to be proactive about safety and risk-management and to develop organization environments that are reasonably safe, educationally relevant, and developmentally sound. Clark is a former administrator at the University of Oregon who presented her work on interpersonal violence prevention to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and helped write the bi-partisan Campus Safety and Accountability Act. Featured in the award-winning documentary, “The Hunting Ground,” Clark is co-author of the book, “We Believe You,” a collection of 36 stories of campus sexual assault.
This year’s National Conference on Law and Higher Education also featured a session with Liz McMillen, editor of the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Professor of Law Luz Nagle is being honored on Feb. 8 as the first tenured Hispanic law professor at Stetson University College of Law by the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida during a special luncheon in Tampa celebrating pioneering firsts.
Professor Nagle received tenure in 2004 at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport.
Professor Nagle is an expert in international law, international criminal law, transborder crime, and national security law. She is an internationally sought expert in the fight against human trafficking and modern day slavery. She has been a lecturer and visiting professor on four continents, training students, lawyers and professors. Professor Nagle’s career prior to teaching included serving as a judge in Medellin, Colombia, a law clerk to the Supreme Court of Virginia, and pursuing software pirates as a member of Microsoft Corporation’s Latin America Copyright Enforcement Practice.
Professor Luz Nagle with husband Jerry at the robing ceremony in 2004.
As a professor of law at Stetson University, Nagle has met with visitors from around the world as part of the State Department’s Distinguished Foreign Visitors Program. Active in several learned legal societies, she has held important appointments in the International Bar Association and the American Bar Association, serving on the ABA’s Criminal Justice Council, and on the IBA Human Rights Institute Council, as well as working on several ABA and IBA legal task forces.
Professor Nagle is an El Centro Fellow of the Small Wars Foundation and an External Researcher in the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College. She has participated in rule of law, judicial reform, and hemispheric security projects sponsored by the U.S. Departments of Defense, Justice, State and USAID throughout Latin America. She has trained Argentine judges and Colombian criminal law professors in accusatory criminal justice reform, addressed the deployment of land mines by illegal armed groups in Andean states with the U.S. Army’s Foreign Military Studies Office, and worked with the Staff Judge Advocate’s Office of the U.S. Southern Command on the application of international humanitarian law and humanitarian operations in conflict zones. She has been a State Department-sponsored presenter in Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, and in Mexico, where she was a visiting lecturer on international humanitarian law and national security. Professor Nagle’s scholarship, which has appeared in three languages on four continents, addresses many topics of international law, international criminal law, judicial reform, and regional security.
In November of 2017, the Hispanic Bar Association honored Stetson Law Professor Luz Nagle with the E. J. Salcines “Spirit of Tampa” Award, celebrating members of the community who mentor, guide and pave the way for young Hispanics in the Tampa Bay area.
On Feb. 8, Professor of Law Dorothea Beane will be honored at a special luncheon in Tampa by the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida as a “First” in Tampa Bay for her distinguished career as a trailblazer.
Professor Beane is the first minority professor awarded tenure at Stetson University College of Law and the recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award. Professor Dorothea Beane was honored for being a pioneering educator at Stetson Law along with Professor of Law Luz Nagle and Professor of Law Emeritus Ruth Fleet Thurman. Professor Beane serves as co-director of the Institute for Caribbean Law & Policy at Stetson. She joined the College of Law faculty in 1990, where she teaches Federal Pre-Trial Practice, Civil Procedure, International Human Rights Law and the Law of International Tribunals. She also overseers Stetson’s federal, state and municipal law externships.
Professor Beane was founder and director of Stetson University College of Law’s Summer Abroad Program in The Hague, Netherlands, and has written and lectured widely on the role of international tribunals.
Professor Beane is a member of the New Jersey Bar Association, Federal Bar Association, American Bar Association, American Society of International Law, and has served on the executive committee of the International Human Rights Law Section of the Association of American Law Schools since 2003. She is an associate in the American College of Legal Medicine and academic master of the Sarasota County American Inns of Court.
Professor Beane served as a member of Merit Selection Panel for United States Magistrate, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida from 1993-94; non-governmental observer, and past vice president of the International Law Section of the National Bar Association; attendee and reporter on United Nations Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court in Rome, Italy, in 1998; attendee of the Preparatory Commission Meetings on the International Criminal Court at the United Nations, in New York, from 1997-2000; attendee at the Election of Judges for the International Criminal Court at the United Nations in New York in 2003; executive board member of the American-Caribbean Law Initiative; and as a hearing officer for the City of St. Petersburg, Florida from 1999-present.
Professor Beane with Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, who served as an American arbitrator on the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal seated in The Hague.
Professor Dorothea Beane began her career as trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. and worked briefly for the law firm of Robinson & Geraldo, P.A. She was appointed assistant U.S. attorney from the Middle District of Florida in 1983, serving as senior civil litigating attorney from 1985-90. Professor Beane practiced in the areas of personal injury, medical malpractice, bankruptcy law, regulatory enforcement and environmental law. In 1986, she received the Attorney General’s Special Achievement Award for Sustained Superior Performance of Duty.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with Professor Dorothea Beane.
Stetson University College of Law is home to a legacy of leading women. The first woman in Florida to attend law school and earn a law degree was Mary Stewart Howarth Hewitt, who received her LL.B. from Stetson and passed the bar in 1908. Between 1900-1930, Stetson was the only law school in Florida to admit and graduate women attorneys. Stetson Law graduate Edith Meserve of the class of 1922 was the first woman elected judge in Florida. Law alumna Charlotte Inez Farrington (Volger) of the class of 1927 was a charter member of NOW who was among 100,000 who marched on Washington, D.C., in 1976 in support of the Equal Rights Amendment.
Professor Elizabeth M. Leeman was the first female professor, joining the College of Law faculty in 1970. Professor Luz Nagle joined the law faculty in 1998, and became the first Hispanic professor to gain tenure and a full professorship. In 1999, Professor Roberta Flowers became the first director of the Center for Excellence in Advocacy at Stetson. In 1994, Lizabeth Moody was named the first woman law dean at Stetson. She built the law library, dedicated in 1998 by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The Black Law Students Association at Stetson was founded in 1979-80 by Amelia G. Govan and Malcolm J.L. Harper, who both became judges after graduating from Stetson Law.
Federal Public Defender Donna Lee Elm received the Wm. Reece Smith, Jr., Public Service Award during the annual Inns of Court Banquet on Jan. 24 in St. Petersburg.
(L-R): Stetson Law Dean Christopher Pietruszkiewicz with Donna Elm.
Adam J. Foss, founder and president of Prosecutor Impact, provided the keynote address.
Elm is the Federal Defender for the Middle District of Florida. She has taken two cases to the U.S. Supreme Court, Curtis Johnson in 2011, and John Yates in 2014. Elm has served as an adjunct law professor at Arizona State University and Stetson University. Early in her career, after working in civil private practice, she joined the Maricopa County Public Defender’s Office where she became Chief Trial Deputy. After 12 years of state criminal defense practice, she became Assistant Public Defender in the Phoenix Federal Defender Office. In 2008, she was appointed Federal Defender in the Middle District of Florida. Elm served as chair of the Arizona Bar’s Criminal Law Committee and the Arizona Supreme Court appointed her as a trial level hearing officer for attorney discipline cases for seven years. She was appointed commissioner of the Maricopa County Trial Commission. Active in the criminal defense bar, she served as its president in 2004. After moving to Florida for a federal appointment, she was asked to serve on the Joint Electronic and Technology Working group that produced the ESI Protocol, a guide for electronic discovery in federal criminal cases. Elm also served on the national Federal Defender IT planning group for six years, chairing the group for three years. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court recently appointed Elm to its Criminal Rules Committee. She also served on the Steering Committee of the Clemency Project 2014.
(L-R): Adam J. Foss with Stetson Law Dean Christopher Pietruszkiewicz.
Foss is the former Assistant District Attorney in the Juvenile Division of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in Boston, Massachusetts, and a fierce advocate for criminal justice reform and the importance of the role of the prosecutor in ending mass incarceration. During his nine years as a prosecutor, Foss collaborated with the courts and the community to develop programming with a positive impact, including the Roxbury CHOICE program, the SCDAO Reading Program for elementary students, and he helped found the first juvenile diversion program in Suffolk County to keep young people out of the school to prison pipeline. The Mandela Foundation recognized Foss as a 2017 Nelson Mandela Changemaker of the Year and Fast Company named him one of the Most Creative People in Business of 2017. The NAACP presented Foss with the 2017 Roy Wilkins Next Generation Leader Award and the Root named Foss one of the 100 most influential black Americans in 2016. In 2015, Foss was voted one of the country’s 40 most up-and-coming lawyers by the National Law Journal and in 2013, the Massachusetts Bar Association voted him Prosecutor of the Year. Foss is a visiting senior fellow at Harvard Law School, a fellow at the Open Society Foundation Leadership in Government initiative, and a director’s fellow in the MIT Media Lab. Foss’s 2016 TED talk exceeded two million views. Suffolk Law School named Foss the Graduate of the Last Decade.
The late Wm. Reece Smith, Jr., the award’s namesake, was a champion for justice and a nationally recognized leader in the legal aid movement. He dedicated more than 60 years to the legal profession, working to increase the legal services available to people who cannot afford them. Smith was president of the International Bar, American Bar, Florida Bar and Hillsborough County Bar Associations. A member of the Stetson University College of Law Hall of Fame, Smith joined the Stetson University College of Law faculty in 1954, and was named a distinguished professorial lecturer in 1991. He served as a member of the Carlton Fields law firm since 1953.
The Inns of Court has its roots in England, where barristers trained at various Inns of Court in London were required to live in the Inn and immerse themselves in the law by maintaining close contact with experienced lawyers.
Stetson University College of Law Professor Judith Scully, co-founder of the Innocence Initiative at Stetson, is moderating the Fred G. Minnis Sr. Bar Association community forum on “Reclaiming Our Youth: Creating Solutions for Juvenile Justice,” on Jan. 18 at the Dr. Carter G. Woodson Museum, 2240 9th Ave. S., St. Petersburg.
Professor Judith Scully.
The forum from 6:30-8:30 p.m. is open to the public.
Panelists include State Attorney Bernie McCabe, Public Defender Bob Dillinger, Pinellas County School Board Chair Rene Flowers, Department of Juvenile Justice Pasco/Pinellas Chief Probation Officer Melissa Fuller, St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway, Pinellas Board of County Commissioners Chair Kenneth T. Welch, and Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri.
“This forum will provide community members with the opportunity to learn about legislative and potential constitutional changes to Florida law that will impact young people at risk of being captured by the criminal punishment system,” said Professor Scully. “We will also discuss programs and resources available to children in the system. Community members will also have an opportunity to engage in dialogue with our distinguished panelists about how to better utilize state resources to positively impact the children of Pinellas County.”
The forum is supported by a service award from the MLK Day of Service Project.
Stetson University College of Law is again partnering with the Community Law Program and the St. Petersburg Bar Foundation to prepare free simple wills and advance directives for low income veterans and their spouses aged 60 or older through the sixth annual Wills for Warriors Program in February.
Walk-in appointments are not available. Veterans or their spouses must schedule individual appointments in advance by calling 727-562-7577. The deadline to schedule an appointment is Feb. 16.
The Wills for Warriors program is designed to assist veterans and their spouses aged 60 or older who have low incomes and limited assets. Individuals owning real estate outside the state of Florida are not eligible to participate.
Stetson students and volunteer attorneys from the Community Law Program will assist Stetson’s Center for Excellence in Elder Law with this program.
Three Stetson University College of law alumni, Dan B. Hendrickson J.D. ’87, Jo Ann Palchak J.D. ’05 and Erica K. Smith J.D. ’07, will receive the Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Awards at a Supreme Court of Florida ceremony on Jan. 25.
“I have to acknowledge my professors who instilled the spirit of pro bono in me at Stetson University College of Law,” said Palchak. “Professor of Law Luz Nagle and Professor of Law Dorothea Beane regularly encouraged us to help the indigent and marginalized in society. Associate Dean Stephanie Vaughan summoned the advocate in me. Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law Bruce Jacob took a page out of his personal history and the history of the legal profession to underscore the right to counsel in legal proceedings. It is an honor to be given this award and there is much yet to do.”
Hendrickson, of the 2nd Judicial Circuit, spent his life in public service, first as an aide in a state hospital and then organizing community services in Appalachia. He began his long career as a public defender in 1989 mostly representing Baker Act and other mental health clients, before retiring in 2014. Hendrickson donates at least 1,000 hours a year in pro bono services, devoting his time to numerous veterans projects since retirement. In 2015, he created the Tallahassee Veterans Legal Collaborative and helped create the legal services program for the North Florida Homeless Veterans Stand Down, coordinating the program for the past five years.
Palchak, of the 13th Judicial Circuit, has donated approximately 5,500 hours of pro bono service in almost 12 years of practice. While she was still a law student at Stetson, she donated pro bono service to the immigration office of Gulf Coast Legal Services. As an attorney in private practice, Palchak has contributed approximately 200 hours of pro bono service every year, sometimes exceeding 1,000 hours. Palchak worked on an Innocence Project case for more than eight years; served as Attorney ad Litem to children through Crossroads for Florida Kids and direct appointment; joined other lawyers in bringing a federal lawsuit to ensure the rights of migrant workers; and represented a federal inmate who was being denied AIDS medication. She regularly donates her time advocating for children, the victims of domestic violence and the homeless.
Smith, of the 6th Judicial Circuit, volunteers with the Community Law Program in St. Petersburg, and as a Guardian ad Litem. Diagnosed with a brain tumor in college, Smith was an honors program student at Stetson who was forced to drop out of law school for a year because of illness. After graduating from law school, Smith became a Guardian ad Litem to two teen mothers, and served as a visiting Guardian ad Litem, making monthly visits to 12 children and volunteering to take one case involving five children. Smith has been involved in approximately 20 cases involving children in the dependency court system who were abused, abandoned or neglected.
The awards were established in 1981 to encourage lawyers to volunteer free legal services to the poor by recognizing those who make public service commitments and to raise public awareness of the substantial volunteer services provided by Florida lawyers who cannot afford legal fees. Florida Bar President Michael J. Higer will present the 2018 awards, recognizing pro bono service in each of Florida’s 20 judicial circuits as well as service by one Florida Bar member practicing outside the state of Florida.
The Hallisky & Davis law firm, co-founded by alumna Deborah M. Hallisky B.A. ’75, M.B.A. ’78, J.D. ’97, will receive the 2018 Law Firm Commendation at the annual Pro Bono Awards ceremony. The commendation honors significant contributions in the delivery of legal services to individuals or groups on a pro bono basis. Chief Justice Jorge Labarga will present the commendation on Jan. 25 at the Supreme Court of Florida.
Read more about these awards from the Florida Bar.
Dan B. Hendrickson.Jo Ann Palchak.Erica K. Smith.Deborah Hallisky.
