In response to President Trump’s executive order targeting the Clean Water Rule, seven scientific organizations have issued a joint letter in support of protecting the nation’s aquatic resources. The letter endorsed a brief filed in the Sixth Circuit in January by Stetson law professor Royal Gardner and Foreman Biodiversity Fellow Erin Okuno on behalf of water and wetland scientists in support of the Clean Water Rule.
Stetson law school’s Gulfport campus.
“The Clean Water Rule reflects scientific reality. We need to protect streams and wetlands to protect larger, navigable waters,” said Professor Gardner, director of the Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy at Stetson University.
Stetson University’s Dr. Kirsten Work and Dr. Benjamin Tanner were among the scientists for whom the brief was filed. Professor Steph Tai of the University of Wisconsin was a co-author of the brief.
In their letter, the Society of Wetland Scientists, Ecological Society of America, American Institute of Biological Scientists, American Fisheries Society, Society for Ecological Restoration, Society for Freshwater Science and Phycological Society of America emphasized the brief’s “use of sound science to explain the urgent need for the Clean Water Rule.”
Stetson’s Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy is the winner of the American Bar Association 2016 Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy Award. The Institute serves as an interdisciplinary focal point for education, research and service activities related to global, regional and local biodiversity issues.
Sutter has directed the University of Akron School of Law mock trial program since 1990. He served as a board member for the prestigious, invitation-only Tournament of Champions for 25 years, a competition that serves as a cornerstone for the development of the best trial simulation experiences around the country. Under his leadership, the University of Akron School of Law won four national championships and more than 20 regional championships. Sutter is a managing shareholder at his own law firm, Sutter O’Connell, where he has distinguished himself as one of the nation’s top civil trial lawyers.
The Cornerstone Award recognizes exceptional members of the advocacy teaching community who work tirelessly to create learning opportunities across the profession. The recipients of the Cornerstone Award are recognized for their unwavering commitment to protecting the right to trial by jury, development of training opportunities for trial lawyers, and support of the profession in both word and deed.
“Lawrence ‘Larry’ Sutter has been a tireless champion of the right to trial by jury for decades,” said Stetson University Professor of Excellence in Trial Advocacy Charles H. Rose III. “His service as a trial lawyer and as an educator of future trial lawyers lifts up the profession.”
The recipient of the Cornerstone Award will be selected every year by the chair of the regional EATS planning committee. The first regional EATS conference was held at Pace University in 2015, the second regional EATS conference was held at Loyola Law School Los Angeles in 2016, and future regional conferences are scheduled. The regional conferences were created with the goal of bringing the lessons learned at the annual national EATS conference to local communities to create a new cornerstone for advancing the law, skill and art of trial advocacy.
Brandon Breslow J.D. ’16, recently published an article in The Federal Lawyer, the official publication of the Federal Bar Association,that was cited by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in the case of John R. Turner v. U.S.
(L-R): Brandon Breslow and Stetson Law Dean Christopher Pietruszkiewicz at the May 2016 Honors and Awards ceremony at Stetson.
Breslow began working on the pivotal article, “Signs of Life in the Supreme Court’s Uncharted Territory: Why the Right to Effective Assistance of Counsel Should Attach to Pre-Indictment Plea Bargaining,” while he was still a student in Professor of Law Ellen S. Podgor’s class in the Honors Program at Stetson law school.
As a law student, Breslow was a member of Stetson’s Trial Team, interned with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and worked as a law clerk at Kynes, Markman & Felman, P.A.
His work as a student was focused on criminal justice and looking beyond what the law is to suggest what the law should be.
As a law clerk, Breslow researched Sixth Amendment ineffective assistance of counsel claims at the plea bargaining stage and the Supreme Court’s Bright-Line Rule. His research led him to develop the underlying theme of his paper.
Since graduating and passing the Florida Bar last September, Breslow works with mentors Katherine Earle Yanes J.D. ’97 and James Felman as an associate attorney for Kynes, Markman & Felman, P.A. in Tampa, focused on trial, appellate, and post-conviction proceedings in federal and state courts.
“They both encourage me not only to become a better attorney for the benefit of our clients, but also for the benefit of the community and the legal profession,” Breslow said of his mentors.
Stetson University College of Law’s Veterans Law Institute celebrated the launch of a new medical-legal partnership on Feb. 15 with the Bay Pines Veterans Administration Healthcare System, Bay Area Legal Services and Gulfcoast Legal Services to help veterans. The program officially launched Feb. 1, with hundreds of veterans already signed up for assistance.
Stetson Law Dean Christopher Pietruszkiewicz signed a new medical-legal partnership to help veterans on Feb. 15 at the VA at Bay Pines.
Qualifying low-income veterans in the area will have greater access to free civil legal services through the new partnership. Veterans can secure legal assistance for non-criminal offenses in a range of areas, from veterans benefits and Social Security disability benefits to family law matters, guardianship, and landlord-tenant disputes.
Stetson Law students work with VA social workers and legal aid attorneys Cherilyn Hansen J.D. ’16 and Julie Ann Embler J.D. ’14 to assist veterans with their civil legal needs twice weekly in an office at the VA Medical Center in Bay Pines. Hansen is an Equal Justice Works Fellow at Gulfcoast Legal Services who helps veterans with their VA disability benefits. Embler provides civil legal services to veterans through Bay Area Legal Services.
“This is really an historic day for Stetson and for our law students,” Stetson Law Dean Christopher Pietruszkiewicz remarked at the event.
“The law clinic that we’re able to have here because of the community support is going to expand in the future and really meet the needs of veterans and their families,” Suzanne M. Klinker, director of the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System, said of the new program.
The service to veterans is available every Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. in the main medical center building 100, Room 1E-241 at the C.W. Bill Young VA Medical Center, 10000 Bay Pines Blvd., Bay Pines (Click here to access a campus map and driving directions)
“This partnership is a win-win for all involved,” said Trista Miller J.D. ’11, staff attorney with the Veterans Advocacy Clinic and Veteran’s Law Institute Pro Bono Initiative supervisor at Stetson who helped spearhead the new program. “The veterans have greater access to affordable legal services, law students are provided a rich environment to put their legal learning in to practice, and the capacity of our legal aid partners is expanded.”
On Feb. 4, members of Stetson’s Black Law Students Association attended the 13th Annual Minority Mentoring Picnic in Hialeah, Florida. Ten Stetson students attended this year’s annual networking event, coordinated by the Kozyak Minority Mentoring Foundation.
Students and family gather at the Minority Mentoring Picnic. Photo courtesy Brielle Tucker.
Upon arrival, law students were greeted with a sticker that read “I Need a Mentor” while judges and attorneys were given stickers that read “I Need a Mentee” in hopes that lasting connections would be made. The picnic was well attended by judges, attorneys and other law students from every law school in Florida. Stetson Law alumnus Brian Tannebaum J.D. ’94 spoke with current Stetson students about life after Stetson and shared his memories from his law school years.
(L-R): Career Development’s Kamilah Clark, Assita Toure, Alexis Turner-Garris, Keongela Norton. Photo by Brielle Tucker.(L-R): Brian Tannebaum J.D. ’94 with BLSA president Kaarl Brandon. Photo by Brielle Tucker.
There was an opportunity to hear advice from the Florida Bar on completing the bar application as well as prepping for the bar exam.
Cuisine included barbecue, Caribbean, Mexican, American and vegetarian options. Popcorn, dessert and ice-cream stations were also available. The family-friendly event also featured a “Kids Zone” with rock-climbing, face painting and ring toss games.
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.
