News Archives - Page 50 of 138

Campus gathered Monday to reflect on the Orlando tragedy

Stetson University College of Law community members gathered for a moment of reflection about the tragic shooting in Orlando on the Gulfport campus on Monday afternoon. The flag flies at half-staff on Stetson Law’s campus in honor of all affected by this national tragedy.

The flag flies half-mast on the Stetson law school campus to honor those lost in the Orlando tragedy. — The flag flies at half-staff on the Stetson law school campus to honor those lost in the Orlando tragedy.

Counselor Sarah Siegrist with the Eckerd Counseling Center joined the gathering. Counselors are available to members of the Stetson Law community by calling 727-864-8248.

Students may also contact Tammy Briant in the Student Life Office at Stetson Law at [email protected] or at 727-562-7808.

Additional counseling resources are available at the Pinellas County Help Line by calling 2-1-1 or 727-210-4211 or at the Hillsborough County Crisis Hotline by calling 813-234-1234.

The City of Orlando has established a hotline number to call for anyone who believes that friends or family may have been injured in the shooting. The number to call is 407-246-4357.

Orlando Regional Medical Center has set up a meeting area for families who believe they have a loved one being treated at the hospital.

The GLBT Community Center of Central Florida has an active Crisis Hotline at 407-822-5036. They have also started a GoFundMe community fund for the victims of the tragedy at https://www.gofundme.com/29bubytq.

If you wish to donate blood to replenish resources used in response to the shooting in Orlando, visit Oneblood.org to find a place to donate blood near you and schedule an appointment anywhere in Florida.

“Our hearts and thoughts are with the families and loved ones of those that lost family members and friends in the tragedy in Orlando,” said Dean Christopher Pietruszkiewicz.

“As we continue throughout LGBT Pride Month, Lambda Legal Society will not allow this act of terror and hate to disrupt our lives,” said Stetson Law’s Lambda student president Francisco Lopez. “We will show our strength by continuing to stand against discrimination and hate, holding the memories of all those we have lost in our hearts, as we celebrate Pride Month.”

Stetson Law’s Lambda Legal Society plans to participate in the LGBT Pride Night at Tropicana Field on Friday and at the St. Petersburg Pride Parade in two weeks.

“When crisis or tragedy occurs, that is the time when a community works together and shares together because that is who we are and that is what we believe. We share sadness but also should not permit senseless violence to define us. We hold hope for a better future because we have the ability to influence the future. For today, however, it is a time for all of us to stand together,” said Dean Pietruszkiewicz.

For information about events and resources on Stetson’s DeLand campus, please visit www.stetson.edu.

Tropical Storm Update

10:25 a.m., 6/7/16 update:

The College of Law will open today (Tuesday, June 7) at noon. Scheduled classes and activities beginning at noon or later will proceed as scheduled. The Library will also open at noon. For those students participating in external clinics or externships, please consult with your supervisor and Professor Batt for additional guidance.

In the event that weather conditions create individual difficulties for students, please work with your professor and Dean Rozelle. In the event that the weather conditions create individual difficulties for employees, please work with your supervisor and our Office of Human Resources.

Stetson offers Legal Writing Academy in Tampa

Stetson University College of Law is offering a continuing legal education program, Legal Writing Academy, on Aug. 19 from 8:15 a.m.-3:45 p.m. at the Tampa Law Center, 1700 N. Tampa St.

Stetson professor Catherine Cameron taught at the Legal Writing Academy in 2015.

The program for legal practitioners is designed to improve legal writing skills and produce more persuasive legal writers.

Nationally recognized faculty members from Stetson’s Institute for the Advancement of Legal Communication will offer sessions on:

• Winning on the Facts: Applying Effective Storytelling Techniques
• Advancements in Written Persuasion: What You Might Not Know
• Editing Techniques for Maximum Persuasive Impact
• Breakout Groups on Storytelling

The Legal Writing Academy includes breakfast, lunch, interactive instruction, and small group breakout sessions.

An application for 5.0 CLE credits will be submitted to The Florida Bar.

For questions regarding the Legal Writing Academy, contact Stetson’s Office of Professional Education at [email protected].

To register, visit https://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventId=1704451.

Stetson presents Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching Advocacy

Stetson University College of Law presented Joshua Karton, who specializes in teaching how to apply the communication skills of theatre, film and television to the art of trial advocacy, with this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching Advocacy on May 24 on the Gulfport campus. The award recognizes people who have fundamentally changed the way in which the world approaches the teaching of advocacy. Karton pioneered teaching the communication arts to lawyers.

(L-R): Joshua Karton with Professor Charles Rose during the Educating Advocates: Teaching Advocacy Skills Conference. — (L-R): Joshua Karton with Professor of Excellence in Trial Advocacy Charles Rose during the Educating Advocates: Teaching Advocacy Skills Conference.

(L-R): Professor Liz Lippy, retired Justice David A. Erickson the recipient of last year's Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching in Advocacy, and Professor Charles Rose. — (L-R): Professor Liz Lippy, retired Justice David A. Erickson the recipient of last year’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching in Advocacy, and Professor Charles Rose.

American University Washington College of Law Professor Elizabeth L. Lippy received Stetson’s Edward D. Ohlbaum Award, which 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.

Both awards were presented in conjunction with Stetson’s Educating Advocates Teaching Advocacy Skills Conference on May 23-26.

The annual Educating Advocates conference invites professors, lawyers and legal practitioners from across the country to spend two and one-half intensive days learning the Stetson method of advocacy, developing their teaching skills, and networking with renowned advocacy instructors.

The theme of this year’s conference was “Teaching Skills: Building the 21st Century Law School-One Student, One Skill, One Moment at a Time,” and included a special Teacher Advocacy Training Session. Stetson’s renowned trial advocacy program consistently ranks at the top among law schools around the country in the U.S. News & World Report.

Stetson offers webinar on balancing Title IX with academic freedom

Stetson University College of Law is offering a webinar for higher education professionals on balancing Title IX compliance with academic freedom on June 13 from 2-3 p.m. Webinar attendees will take away practical tips to create a safe and enriching learning environment through Title IX compliance and response systems while protecting and promoting academic freedom.

Professor Peter Lake frequently presents on higher education law and policy issues.

Stetson’s Charles A. Dana Chair and Director of the Center for Excellence in Higher Education Law & Policy Peter F. Lake will present on topics including:

evaluating Title IX policies and procedures with respect to First Amendment requirements;
making specific improvements on instructional design and delivery;
understanding the interrelation of OCR’s Title IX Guidance with the 2003 guidance on hate speech;
effective training initiatives for Title IX investigators and others on “hostile environment”;
and improving communication with faculty about new and emerging Title IX mandates.

Professor Lake is an internationally-recognized expert on higher education law and policy and the co-author of The Rights and Responsibilities of the Modern University: The Rise of the Facilitator University.

The webinar cost is $299. To register, visit https://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventId=1844854.

For more information, call 727-562-7392 or email [email protected].

Stetson offers special sea turtle course for graduate students this summer

Stetson University College of Law has been awarded a grant by the Sea Turtle Grants Program to offer a special course on Sea Turtle Law and Policy this summer on its Gulfport, Florida, campus for law students and graduate students who are pursuing degrees in marine science, environmental science, or environmental policy.

Hawksbill Turtle. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

The one-credit, three-day course, “Topics in Biodiversity Law: Sea Turtles,” is being offered through Stetson’s Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy on Aug. 26–28.

The special course will educate law and other graduate students about threats to sea turtles and the local, state, national, and international legal and policy framework to protect them. A guided visit to Fort De Soto Park will be part of the course.

Scholarships funded by the Sea Turtle Grants Program are available to cover the cost of the course for five law students and five environmental graduate students.

Learn more about registering for the course and applying for scholarships by visiting the Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy’s website: https://www.stetson.edu/law/biodiversity/.

The scholarships are funded by the grant awarded from the Sea Turtle Grants Program. The Sea Turtle Grants Program is funded from proceeds from the sale of the Florida Sea Turtle License Plate. Learn more at www.helpingseaturtles.org.

Eckerd students can earn direct admission to Stetson law school, scholarships

Starting in the fall, high-performing Eckerd College students, including students and graduates of Eckerd’s Program for Experienced Learners, can earn direct admission to Stetson law school.

Eckerd College's Fox Quad. — Eckerd College’s Fox Quad.

The partnership with Stetson University will also offer $15,000 or more in scholarship opportunities to accepted Eckerd College students based on qualifications and credentials.

Through the new program, eligible Eckerd College students who have completed coursework requirements for their bachelor’s degrees and have competitive grades and scores on the Law School Admissions Test may apply and be accepted to law school at Stetson University in their senior year.

Stetson Law school's Crummer Courtyard. — Stetson Law school’s Crummer Courtyard.

“This new direct admission agreement between Stetson University’s College of Law and Eckerd will offer wonderful opportunities for Eckerd College graduates. We look forward to a growing and flourishing relationship with Stetson Law,” said Suzan Harrison, Eckerd College’s Dean of Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs.

“This new partnership makes it possible for Eckerd College students who are passionate about advocacy to seamlessly transition into law school,” said Dean and Professor of Law Christopher Pietruszkiewicz.

“Student advocates can make a natural transition from Eckerd to Stetson law school,” said Dean Pietruszkiewicz. “Eckerd’s academic strengths in the natural sciences dovetail into Stetson’s international leadership in environmental law.”

A private, coeducational college of liberal arts and sciences related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church (USA), Eckerd College has a diverse student body with 1,800 students from 48 states and 40 countries and is one of only 40 schools listed in Loren Pope’s Colleges That Change Lives. In 2003, Eckerd became one of the youngest colleges to receive a Phi Beta Kappa chapter.

Home to the Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy, Stetson regularly hosts the finals of the International Environmental Moot Court Competition and the International Wildlife Law Conference that unites student advocates from around the world and features speakers from across the planet, as well as the Foreman Biodiversity Lecture Series that brings key environmental advocates to the law school campus.

Stetson law school is ranked No. 1 in Trial Advocacy and No. 3 in Legal Writing in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Stetson offers certificates of concentration for J.D. students in the areas of advocacy, elder law, environmental law, international law and social justice advocacy.

Read more about the new program in the Tampa Bay Times.

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Media Contacts:

Brandi Palmer

Stetson Communications Office

(727) 562-7381

Robbyn M. Hopewell

Eckerd Media Relations

(727) 864-7978

Have you ever been inside a crime lab? Stetson and University of Tennessee offer free webinar training May 25

Have you ever been inside a crime laboratory? You now have the opportunity, thanks to a partnership between Stetson University College of Law’s National Clearinghouse for Science, Technology and the Law and the Law Enforcement Innovation Center at the University of Tennessee’s Institute for Public Service.

“Crime Lab Essentials,” the second free webinar in the Capital Litigation Initiative: Crime Scene to Courtroom Forensics Training series funded by the US Department of Justice, will take you inside the state-of-the-art Metro Nashville Police Department Crime Laboratory.

The webinar developed for prosecutors and defense attorneys working on capital cases will be available from 12- 2 p.m. on Wednesday, May 25.

Visit https://stetsonuniversitycollegeo.regfox.com/crime-scene-webinar-2-bja to register.

The “Crime Lab Essentials” webinar features a tour of the crime lab conducted by forensic scientists that covers five forensic disciplines: latent prints, firearms, forensic biology (DNA), drug identification and toxicology. After describing a mock crime, forensic scientists from the crime laboratory will demonstrate a behind-the-scenes, step-by-step look at laboratory analysis and report writing.

Webinar panelists include Director of Stetson’s National Clearinghouse for Science, Technology and the Law, Professor Carol Henderson; Director of the Metro Nashville Police Department Crime Laboratory Ann Talbot; and attorney Christine Funk.

The “Crime Lab Essentials” webinar training will also discuss quality assurance, laboratory errors, chain of custody and evidence security.

The webinar is part of an eight-part series that educates lawyers about using forensic science in death penalty cases, from evaluating the crime scene to defending or prosecuting death penalty cases in court.

Attendees who complete the series will be eligible for free CLE credits.

For more information, contact Stetson’s Office of Professional Education at 727-562-7898 or email [email protected].

Best for career opportunities: Stetson’s LL.M.

The International Jurist magazine article, “The Best LL.M. programs,” by Sherry Karabin, lists Stetson’s LL.M. program among the top nine law school programs in the country for career opportunities. The article focused on international students coming to the U.S. for an LL.M. degree.

Last year's LL.M. in International Law graduates gather for a photo during commencement in May. — Last year’s LL.M. in International Law graduates gather with international programs staff for a photo during commencement in May.

Stetson University’s law school in Gulfport, Florida, is also listed among the best places for foreign attorneys from South America, offering a location with fellow students and a large community from the region.

JR Swanegan, Stetson’s director of international programs, described career development seminars and workshops that focus on networking and interviewing skills, and a career development team on the law school campus that helps students with “honing their resumes and cover letters in ways that attract international and U.S. employers.”

Stetson is home to the LL.M. in International Law, as well as LL.M. programs in elder law and advocacy that offer classes online.

Stetson’s May graduating class includes 12 LL.M. in Advocacy, four LL.M. in Elder Law and 10 LL.M. in International Law students.

To learn more about the LL.M. programs offered at Stetson University, visit https://www.stetson.edu/llm.

Stetson among nation’s most diverse law schools, according to preLaw

Stetson law school ranks No. 20 among the nation’s most diverse law schools, according to the spring 2016 issue of preLaw.

(L-R): Students and Darnesha Carter practice for a moot court competition. — (L-R): Stetson law school students Evan Dix and May Valedictorian Darnesha Carter practice for a moot court competition.

The article, “The most diverse law schools,” by Rebecca Larsen, examines the definition of diversity and what makes a diverse law school. A study referenced in the article by Texas A&M University School of Law’s director of program development Jack Manhire lists Stetson among the top 20 law schools by the country’s diversity. Manhire looked at how well student bodies represent the target population of law school applicants, using data from the American Bar Association and U.S. Census Bureau for his study.

Stetson law is home to diverse student organizations, interscholastic activities and competitions. Among the 2015 entering J.D. class at Stetson are 27.7 percent minority and 54.6 percent female students. Students range in age from 20-57 and represent 25 states and 83 colleges and universities. More than half of all new J.D. students in the class receive scholarships.

Culverhouse legacy of giving benefits Stetson law school students

When Joy McCann Culverhouse died on April 26 in Tampa, she left a legacy that will benefit Stetson University College of Law students for years to come.

(L-R): The late Joy McCann Culverhouse with Wm. Reece Smith Jr. at the dedication of the Wm. Reece Smith Jr. Courtroom at the Tampa Law Center in 2004.

A gift from Culverhouse through the Joy McCann Foundation funds the annual Inns of Court Banquet and William Reece Smith Jr. Distinguished Lecture for students. The Inns of Court program, which has its roots in the English mentoring program for barristers, presents students at Stetson law school with an opportunity to interact with prominent lawyers on current topics in the law and ethics.

“While the entire Stetson community mourns the passing of Mrs. Culverhouse, we also celebrate the permanent legacy that her philanthropic generosity has provided for past, present and future generations of Stetson students,” said Assistant Dean for Alumni & Development Kevin Hughes. “Gifts from Mrs. Culverhouse and the Joy McCann Foundation have had a demonstrable impact in enhancing the quality of a Stetson law education.”

Giving from the Joy McCann Foundation has supported a variety of key initiatives at Stetson law school. A gift from the Foundation in 2004 established the William Reece Smith Jr. Distinguished Professorship Endowment, currently held by Professor Judith Scully, co-director of Stetson’s Social Justice Advocacy Certificate of Concentration program. The Foundation has also provided support of the Stetson Law General Scholarship Fund and programs for the Center for Excellence in Elder Law.

Students from the Philippines win International Environmental Moot Court Competition at Stetson Law

The winning International Environmental Moot Court Team is from the University of San Carlos in the Philippines.

A team of students from the University of San Carlos, Cebu, in the Philippines, won the 20th Annual International Environmental Moot Court Competition on April 16 at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Florida. For two decades, students from across the globe have honed their skills as environmental advocates in the annual competition. The runner-up was the University of the Philippines College of Law.

This year, students presented arguments on whether an ambassador should be prosecuted for illegal ivory smuggling and whether the confiscated ivory should be returned to the country of origin as cultural property.

Regional competitions were held in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. Teams of students from Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Ireland, Kenya, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, and the United States participated in the international finals this year at Stetson law school.

Students from the University of Nairobi won the Spirit of Stetson Award. The team from the University of San Carlos also won Best Memorial, with National Law University, Jodhpur, India winning the second-best memorial. Mark Lawrence Badayos of the University of San Carlos was named Best Oralist in the final round.

Final round judges were Wil Burns, founder and editor-in-chief emeritus of the Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy, Elizabeth Gitari of Kenyan non-governmental organization WildlifeDirect, and Marceil Yeater, the former chief, legal affairs and trade policy, Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

This year’s final round of the competition was held in conjunction with the International Wildlife Law Conference at Stetson law school. Attendees from around the world addressed topics including hunting, fishing, and other impacts on wildlife, as well as connections and collaborations across multilateral environmental agreements.

View the photos from the event here: