The winter 2017 issue of the National Jurist magazine again lists Stetson University College of Law’s moot court among the best 20 programs in the nation during this decade. Stetson is also mentioned in the article, “Best schools for bar exam preparation.”
Stetson advocacy teams prepare in the Florin Roebig Courtroom, one of the law school’s teaching courtrooms.
Stetson’s Moot Court Board is currently ranked no. 3 on the list of the top 16 moot court programs for this school year, 2016-2017, and is ranked sixth among the 20 best moot courts of the decade. Stetson students placed first and a Stetson student won the Best Oralist Award in the Andrews Kurth National Moot Court Championship in 2015, a competition in which only the top 16 moot court programs are invited to compete.
Stetson is among the National Jurist’s list of 40 law schools in the country where students outperform on the bar exam based on their LSAT scores. Stetson offers a Bar Prep Portal for students with access to bar prep resources including the Stetson Bar Boot Camp, practice essays and essay grading program, as well as a weekly blog of tips and strategies for exam day.
“Stetson is dedicated to preparing our students to be the very best advocates they can be and we are proud to be recognized among the top programs in the country,” said Stetson Law Dean Christopher M. Pietruskiewicz. “Advocacy training at Stetson is hands-on, providing students with the courtroom-ready communication skills essential to the practice of law. Our academic success-bar exam resources ensure that our students are ready to face the next milestone as they begin their legal careers.”
National Trial Competition winners (L-R): Daniel Christopher, Haley Coet, Ashleigh Brooks and Carlos Manresa.
Stetson University College of Law was named regional co-champion of the Region 6 rounds of the National Trial Competition on Feb. 3-5 at the Pinellas County Justice Center in Clearwater, Florida.
The Stetson team of Ashleigh Brooks, Daniel Christopher, Carlos Manresa and Haley Coet defeated a team from Cumberland University in the final round of the National Trial Competition. Brooks was also awarded the best advocate award for the semifinal round, identified as the best out of 16 individual advocates.
A team from the University of Alabama School of Law was named Stetson’s regional co-champion.
The mock trial competition, which attracts teams from more than 140 law schools involving more than 1,000 law students each year, was established to encourage law students to develop trial advocacy skills.
The top two teams from each of the 14 regional rounds will advance to compete in the national competition, March 22-26, in Fort Worth, Texas.
A second Stetson team of students Amara Benitez, Jeremiah Fues, Alberto Oquendo-Alvarez and Chantay Perry received individual awards for best opening statement and best direct examination.
Stetson Law alumni Julia Metts J.D. ’04 and Dan Miles J.D. ’15 coached the Stetson teams.
“Stetson’s national reputation for trial advocacy is unmatched,” said Professor of Excellence in Trial Advocacy Charles Rose, director of the advocacy center at Stetson. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to host this competition, and to send our students to the national rounds to test their skills advocating before members of the bench and bar.”
Stetson’s trial advocacy program is ranked no. 1 by U.S. News & World Report.
The Texas Young Lawyers Association and the American College of Trial Lawyers co-sponsor the mock trial competition, and Stetson law school hosted the Region 6 rounds.
Stetson University’s annual National Conference on Law and Higher Education celebrates 38 years in February, honoring two leaders in higher education.
This year’s conference honors William Proctor, Ph.D. with the Facilitator Award, created for educators who embody the values and principles articulated in The Rights and Responsibilities of the Modern University. Professor Amy Gajda will receive the William A. Kaplin Award, named for Professor William A. Kaplin to recognize scholars who have published works on education law embracing the intersection of law and policy.
Wiliam Proctor.
Proctor, who attended Stetson University, was president of Flagler College for 30 years, where he serves as chancellor, and served as a member of the State Board of Education and Florida House of Representatives. He served on the Fifth Appellate District Nominating Commission and on the Seventh Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission, was chair of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida and a Rotary District Governor, served 12 years as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, and for two terms as a member of the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
Amy Gajda.
Gajda is an internationally recognized expert in media law, privacy law and higher education law and the author of several books including The First Amendment Bubble: How Privacy and Paparazzi Threaten a Free Press and The Trials of Academe, and co-author of Mass Media Law and The Law and Higher Education. She has published invited opinion pieces in the New York Times, Slate, the New York Daily News and other publications. Gajda frequently comments on media law, privacy and press rights in print and broadcast media around the world. She practiced law before she began a teaching career in both the law school and journalism school at the University of Illinois. She has chaired the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Defamation and Privacy and its Section on Mass Communication, and led the Law and Policy Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
This year’s national conference, themed on “Accountability and Regulation of American Colleges and Universities in Times of Legal, Social and Political Upheaval,” takes place Feb. 9-13, at the Hilton in Orlando, Florida. To learn more, visit https://www.stetson.edu/law/conferences/highered/home/. Watch a video introduction from conference chair Professor of Law Peter Lake, director of the Center for Excellence in Higher Education Law and Policy.
Stetson University College of Law has won the Chester Bedell Trial Competition for the 22nd time in 34 years. Stetson sent two teams to the premier state competition, who both advanced to compete against each other in the final round. Twenty teams of students from 10 law schools across the state of Florida competed.
(L-R) Laura Rose, Courtney Olivier, Carolina Suazo, Kaitlyn Dugas, Skylar Stewart, Judge Davis, Colby Connell, Erika McArdle, Ethan Dunn, Alexis Petrosino and Joseph Sise. Photo courtesy Professor Charles Rose.
The Stetson team of Colby Connell, Kaitlyn Dugas, Joseph Sise and Skylar Stewart beat the Stetson team of Ethan Dunn, Courtney Olivier, Alexis Petrosino and Carolina Suazo in the final round of competition on Jan. 28 in Jacksonville, Florida. Petrosino was named Best Advocate.
“The Bedell Trial Competition requires superior substantive knowledge, flawless presentation skills, and the utmost professional demeanor,” said Professor of Excellence in Trial Advocacy Charles Rose, who directs Stetson’s advocacy center.
Both Stetson teams received multiple perfect scores from the competition judges for advocacy and professionalism in the preliminary rounds.
“For us in the Center for Excellence in Advocacy, a victory validates how each and every one of us here at Stetson prepares our students to become members of the profession,” said Professor Rose. “Stetson has one of the best simulated experiential learning platforms to be found in the trial advocacy world, and our students, because of the hard work of our faculty and coaches, are masters in this arena.”
Stetson’s teams were coached by the Assistant Director of the Center for Excellence in Advocacy Erika McArdle J.D. ’12, and Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Laura Rose J.D. ’12.
The Chester Bedell Trial Competition is sponsored by the Trial Lawyers Section of the Florida Bar.
Stetson teams have won five international competitions, 68 national championships, 75 regional championships, 44 state championships, 55 brief awards, 141 best oralist/best advocate awards and five professionalism awards since 1980. Visit www.stetson.edu/advocacy to learn more about advocacy at Stetson.
Several Stetson Law alumnae were honored at the Supreme Court of Florida on Jan. 19 by the Florida Bar for their work on behalf of poor and indigent clients.
Florida Bar President William J. Schifino Jr. presented the 2017 Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Awards during a special ceremony to recognize and raise awareness about lawyers who are committed to public service and to encourage lawyers to volunteer free legal services.
Law alumna Adriana Dinis J.D. ’08 and longtime Stetson adjunct professor Kathlyn Mackovjak of the Immigration Law Group of Florida, based in St. Petersburg, received a law firm commendation for their pro bono work. Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Jorge Lafarge presented the commendation. Last year, the Immigration Law Group of Florida was honored by the Sixth Judicial Circuit for Outstanding Pro Bono Service by a Law Firm.
Law alumna Jennifer Edwards J.D./M.B.A. ’14 received the 2017 Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division Pro Bono Service Award. She was honored for her work as a guardian ad litem and court-appointed advocate for children in Pinellas County.
Law alumna Lynn Katz Hanshaw J.D. ’99 was honored with the Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award for her work in the Sixth Judicial Circuit. Hanshaw was a single mother of three who supported her family while completing her education. As a student at Stetson law school, she received the Willam F. Blews Pro Bono Service Award. After graduating from Stetson, Hanshaw worked with Gulfcoast Legal Services, and then went into private practice, where she continues to volunteer to assist the Community Law Program, LawFest, the Pinellas-Hillsborough fair-housing consortium, the Hillsborough County Bar Association’s Ask-A-Lawyer program and others.
Law alumna Christina Nieto Seifert J.D. ’94 was honored with a Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award for her work in the Third Judicial Circuit. Seifert is the principle in her own law firm in Lake City and volunteers for Three Rivers Legal Services, regularly conducting the pro se divorce clinic. Her pro bono clients are often victims of domestic violence.
Law alumna Michele S. Stephan J.D. ’96 was honored with the Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award for her work in the 12th Judicial Circuit. She attended Stetson law school on a Public Service Fellowship from the Florida Bar Foundation, where she developed a program to provide legal services to the poor and volunteered at legal clinics. She received the Pro Bono Service Award from Stetson. Today, Stephan serves in solo practice offering unbundled legal services to pro se litigants who cannot afford a lawyer. She works at Legal Aid of Manasota and serves the homeless at Resurrection House day shelter. Stephan earned the 2015 Distinguished Community Service Award from the Sarasota County Bar Association and the Service to the Community Award by Legal Aid of Manasota in 2011, 2014 and 2015.
Law alumna Katherine Earle Yanes J.D. ’97 was honored with the Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award for her work in the 13th Judicial Circuit. She volunteered hundreds of hours to the Clemency Project 2014, represents clients on a pro bono basis through Crossroads for Florida Kids and works with the Innocence Initiative at Stetson. The Hillsborough County Bar Association awarded Yanes its Marcelino “Bubba” Huerta III Award for Professionalism and Pro Bono Service.
In the past 12 months, Florida lawyers have volunteered approximately 1.7 million hours of pro bono services to people in need and nearly $5.4 million to legal aid organizations.
Jennifer Edwards. Photo courtesy Florida Bar News.Lynn Katz Hanshaw. Photo courtesy Florida Bar News.Christina Nieto Seifert. Photo courtesy Florida Bar News.Michele Stephan. Photo Courtesy Florida Bar News.Katherine Earle Yanes. Photo Courtesy Florida Bar News.
Stetson University College of Law presented this year’s prestigious William Reece Smith Jr. Public Service Award to both Pamela Wiener Dubrule and Kathleen S. McLeroy during the annual Inns of Court Banquet and William Reece Smith Jr. Distinguished Lecture in St. Petersburg on Jan. 18.
Pamela Dubrule.
Dubrule has dedicated decades to providing public service to low-income individuals. She committed her career to public service, working for more than 30 years at Gulfcoast Legal Services, where she is the public benefits attorney. Dubrule works primarily with homeless or disabled clients and has served for several years with the Pinellas County Coalition for the Homeless. She was also a volunteer at WMNF community radio in Tampa for 20 years.
McLeroy, a Carlton Fields shareholder who chairs pro bono initiatives at her firm, is a leader in bridging the justice gap by providing legal services to people with limited income. She has led numerous non-profits dedicated to improving access to justice, serving as president of and a member of the board of Bay Area Legal Services for 15 years, was appointed to the Commission on Access to Civil Justice and leads numerous Florida Bar committees.
Kathleen McLeroy.
Judith Browne Dianis presented the William Reece Smith Jr. Distinguished Lecture at the event. Named one of the “Thirty Women to Watch” by Essence Magazine, Dianis is the executive director of the Advancement Project, which works to end harsh discipline that ostracizes and criminalizes children of color. Working closely with grassroots organizations, Advancement Project’s work has significantly decreased student suspensions and arrests across the country and has recently joined forces with the Journey for Justice Alliance to challenge the growing trend of public school closures and privatization in communities of color.
Judith Browne Dianis.
The lecture is made possible by a generous gift from the Joy McCann Foundation. Stetson established the William Reece Smith Jr. Public Service Award in 1990 to honor outstanding contributions to public service, the justice system and the community.
Stetson University College of Law’s Black Law Students Association students, alumni, faculty and staff gathered to march in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade, one of the nation’s largest, in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Jan. 16. Stetson’s BLSA students also volunteered for the MLK Dream Big Family Fun Festival in Tropicana Field in downtown St. Petersburg.
Approximately a hundred marching bands from across the southeastern U.S. participated.
Advantage Village Academy hosted the event.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is an American federal holiday marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. that is observed on the third Monday of January each year, around King’s birthday, January 15. The City of St. Petersburg has hosted a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade for more than three decades.
Stetson’s BLSA group walked in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade. Photo by Cymoril White.Stetson students, alumni, faculty and staff marched in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade. Photo by Cymoril White.
In 2007, the U.S. Senate designated Jan. 11 as National Human Trafficking Awareness Day in the hopes of raising awareness to combat human trafficking.
Jessica Falkner J.D. ’14 is working as a legal fellow with the International Justice Mission in Kampala, Uganda, Africa, to help victims of the growing epidemic of land grabbing and other gender based crimes.
Jessica Falkner J.D. ’14 is working with the International Justice Mission.
“Land grabbing occurs in developing areas when a husband or father dies and people within the community force the widow and children off their land,” Falkner explained.
The family members of the deceased, typically women and children, are often forced violently off their land and into homelessness, falling prey to exploitation and poverty which hurts communities and hinders economic development.
“Violence against the poor, whether it has arisen in a post-conflict vacuum or is more commonly the result of everyday violence, is the ultimate exploitation of vulnerability,” said Falkner.
Falkner explained that with two billion people living on two dollars a day and 115 million widows living in extreme poverty with a half billion children depending on them, there is a responsibility that comes with knowing the prevalence of violence against the poor.
“If we can’t protect the most vulnerable among us, both domestically and in an increasingly shrinking global community, we pay the irreparable consequences of indifference,“ said Falkner.
The Elon University undergraduate came to law school at Stetson with a desire to pursue public interest law with an international focus. She was compelled to work on global issues related to poverty.
International Justice Mission founder Gary Haugen with Jessica Falkner.
At Stetson, Falkner found the strong international programs, quality of the faculty, and collaborative environment appealing.
“I knew Stetson was the right choice. It was a natural fit for me,” said Falkner.
“I was able to study public interest law in an international context through study abroad in Argentina and the Cayman Islands,” she said.
Looking back at her law school years, Falkner said she focused on the experiential education law school had to offer. In law school at Stetson, Falkner participated in a homeless advocacy internship through Equal Justice Works and legal aid pro bono work through Gulfcoast Legal Services that reinforced her interest in social justice. She took courses in public interest, human trafficking, international law and civil rights.
While at Stetson, Falkner was a student representative to the Tampa Bay Foreign Relations Committee. She spoke at the Immigration and Human Rights Symposium at Elon College of Law on the impact of a new family code in Morocco on women’s rights in the Middle East.
As a first-year law student at Stetson, Falkner lost her mother. It was at the reception following the her mother’s memorial that a family friend mentioned the International Justice Mission to Falkner for the first time.
After graduating with her law degree from Stetson, Falkner reached a crossroads where she was considering a traditional legal path or a different path more aligned with her interests in public service. She explained that she was volunteering, working with the International Federation of Human Rights, Pisgah Legal Services, and Mana Food Bank where she helped with legal translation, domestic violence intake and fundraising. She recalled the conversation years prior about the International Justice Mission.
Falkner with International Justice Mission staff.
“After learning more about the organization, I fell in love,” Falkner explained.
A former prosecutor for the Department of Justice, Gary Haugen, was moved to found the International Justice Mission after working as the officer in charge of the UN Tribunal on Rwanda investigations.
“He went on to form the organization with the mission of attacking everyday violence in the developing world,” Falkner explained.
The International Justice Mission is an organization with the goal of advocating and providing services for those who have been enslaved, imprisoned, beaten, sexually assaulted or deprived of their land.
“In order to carry out this goal, it is important to understand that four-billion people live outside the protection of the law,” Falkner said.
The International Justice Mission addresses everyday violence by rebuilding the rule of law in areas where it has been destroyed and replaced by the privatization of the law by security companies and alternative dispute resolution systems that exclude the poor, Falkner said.
Falkner interviewed for a competitive Field Office Legal Fellowship with the International Justice Mission that has ultimately taken her to Uganda. As a legal fellow, she is carrying out the preliminary intake for a case involving the assault of more than 100 displaced orphans from a local orphanage. This has included writing the Potential Offenses Memo describing why the legal department should take on the orphans’ case and what investigators need to focus on in their preliminary investigation. Additionally, Falkner researched Ugandan corporate law to decide if the International Justice Mission can represent an indigent orphanage and legally take on the case. Among other duties, she also interviews victims and local community leaders for impact statements for sentencing recommendations sent to the courts.
Jessica Falkner.
“It is clear that there is a lot to be done, and I am excited to see how my work unfolds during my time here in Uganda,” said Falkner.
No stranger to field work in foreign countries, as a young adult, Falkner was a rural community health volunteer with the Peace Corps stationed in southern Morocco for two years, where she worked in a small village a few hours north of the Western Sahara. She was an elected representative to the Peace Corps Morocco HIV/AIDS committee, where she developed curriculum and trained volunteers. She also helped improve health in the village by working with local leaders to tackle the need for a new sanitation system.
“We improved the existing system of a cart and donkey that collected trash occasionally through a grant process. The grant led to a more sophisticated system with a garbage truck, trashcans, and a landfill,” said Falkner. “The village pledged to pay for the sanitation workers’ salary and uniforms, and with the help of the grant money we were able to pull together the resources and training needed to create a modern sanitation system for the village’s garbage.”
Falkner’s interest in social justice began early.
“Growing up, compassion was a big part of my upbringing, “ said Falkner.
In high school, she explained that she volunteered with an organization called Wheeler Mission that provided the foundation for her interest in service work.
“Through these experiences and some time spent in underdeveloped areas, my heart for social justice began to really grow,” said Falkner. “This growing passion is also why I wanted to go to law school. I saw the law as a solution to some of the issues clogging social justice.”
The Stetson University Symphonic Band will perform a featured concert at the Florida Music Education Association Professional Development Conference in Tampa on Thursday night, Jan. 12.
The Stetson Symphonic Band.
Conducted by Douglas L. Phillips, the Symphonic Band will perform at 7 p.m. in the Tampa Convention Center, Ballroom A, at 333 S. Franklin St.
The concert is free and open to the public.
The program will feature works by Strauss, Holst, Sousa, Bernstein, Lauridsen and Nelson.
The Stetson Band will present the same program on Tuesday, Jan. 10, at 7 p.m. at West Orange High School in Winter Garden. The Band is pleased to share Tuesday night’s concert with their gracious hosts, the West Orange High School Wind Symphony and conductor Kenneth Boyd.
Professor Royal Gardner, director of Stetson’s Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy, presented at the conference in India. Photo courtesy Shamita Kumar.
Stetson University Visiting Assistant Professor of Law Carla L. Reyes had the opportunity to speak in Mexico and Africa in December on topics related to cutting-edge technologies like Bitcoin. Professor Reyes participated in discussions about how these technologies can be used to promote economic, social and cultural rights, and how they might reshape the law.
Reyes was asked to speak at the United Nations Internet Governance Forum in Mexico on Dec. 8 and at the Kenya Blockchain Workshop in Nairobi, Kenya, on Dec. 15-16, on how blockchain technologies like Bitcoin can be used to promote equality.
“Blockchain is, at its core, a tool that allows people to organize in a distributed way, and this enables new distributed forms of governance,” said Reyes. “Communities may be able to use this technology to develop less hierarchical, more transparent, and more need-attuned government models that build greater respect for human rights and local cultural values.”
In Mexico, Reyes spoke on how blockchain technologies can advance human and economic rights, led a workshop on governance issues related to the technology, and participated in a panel discussion.
Visiting Professor Carla Reyes.
In Kenya, she will participate in a policy roundtable and speak on a panel about the development of law around emerging blockchain technologies.
Professor Reyes’ latest speaking opportunities are a part of her ongoing collaboration with the Coalition of Automated Legal Applications, which serves as the Dynamic Coalition on Blockchain Technologies at the United Nations Internet Governance Forum.
Proponents of Bitcoin like Perianne Boring writing in Forbes assert that “Bitcoin eliminates the need for banking intermediaries, significantly lowering transaction costs and could liberate poverty stricken economies around the globe by providing access to capital to the one-third of humanity that is excluded from the financial world.”
The fall 2016 Best Value Law Schools issue of preLawmagazine lists Stetson University College of Law’s Moot Court Board among the best in the nation. Stetson’s Board is ranked third in the list of the top 16 moot court programs of 2015-2016 and is ranked sixth among the 20 best moot courts of the decade. The preLaw magazine analyzed seven years of scores and rankings provided by the University of Houston Law Center for the article.
Every year, the top 16 moot courts are invited to participate in the Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Championship, hosted by the University of Houston Law Center. In 2015, Stetson won the National Championship, and team member Melaina Tryon won the Best Oralist Award. Because of the Board’s no. 3 ranking in 2015-2016, a Stetson team was invited to participate in the National Championship Jan. 25-28, 2017 in Houston, Texas. Only the law schools with the best moot court programs are invited to compete.
“Participating in moot court provides students with an opportunity to further develop and practice the fundamental lawyering skills of communication-both written and oral, a foundation that is essential to the practice of law,” said Stetson Professor of Legal Skills and Moot Court Advisor Brooke Bowman.
