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.
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.
The University of Nairobi won the Spirit of Stetson Award.
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.
Stetson University College of Law LL.M. in Elder Law alumna Catherine Seal was sworn in as the new president of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys during the annual NAELA conference, April 7-9 in Denver, Colorado.
Catherine Seal.
Seal LL.M.’08 will become president of NAELA on June 1. NAELA is a professional association of attorneys dedicated to improving the quality of legal services provided to an aging population. Seal, who received the first LL.M. in Elder Law awarded by Stetson University, is the past-president of the Colorado Chapter of NAELA and is one of only a handful of attorneys in Colorado designated as a certified elder law attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation.
H. Todd Whatley.
H. Todd Whatley LL.M.’09 will become president of NELF in June. Whatley has led the Elder Law Practice of H. Todd Whatley since 1999, which serves elders throughout the state of Arkansas. Whatley is one of only three certified elder law attorneys in Arkansas.
Whatley’s term as president of NELF will be followed by another Stetson alumnus, Amos Goodall LL.M ’09, who will become president-elect in June. Goodall has served on the NAELA board of directors, is a certified elder law attorney, a fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and a member of the Special Needs Alliance.
Stetson’s LL.M. in Elder Law program, directed by Professor of Law Roberta Flowers, offers attorneys online curriculum to advance their legal education in the growing field of elder law.
“Catherine, Todd and Amos will lead NAELA and NELF with distinction,” said Professor Flowers. “We are very proud that our alumni continue to distinguish themselves nationally as leaders in the area of elder law. But most importantly we know that they serve their clients effectively and compassionately using the skills and training they received in our LL.M. program.”
H. Amos Goodall.
Professor Flowers co-directs Stetson’s Center for Excellence in Elder Law with Professor Rebecca Morgan, a recent recipient of the NELF Award for Excellence in Elder Law.
Stetson University College of Law students won the 31st Annual Dean Jerome Prince Memorial Evidence Moot Court Competition on April 2 at Brooklyn Law School in New York.
(L-R): Brittany Cover, Jeremy Rill and Kristina Hartman.
The Stetson team of Brittany Cover, Kristina Hartman and Jeremy Rill won rounds against teams from the University of Florida, Wayne State, Michigan State, Louisiana State, Georgetown and the University of Tennessee.
Stetson’s team also won the award for the Best Brief, and Rill was named Best Oralist in the final round. Thirty-six teams participated in the competition.
The competition provides law students from across the nation the opportunity to write and argue evidentiary issues at the intersections of technology, constitutional law and the Federal Rules of Evidence.
“Once again our students have proved that they have developed the practical skills they will need to be attorneys,” said Professor of Legal Skills and Associate Director of the Center for Excellence in Advocacy Brooke Bowman, moot court advisor at Stetson. “We are proud of our students and Stetson’s continued dedication to preparing our students to be top-notch advocates.”
Professors Bowman and Roberta Flowers coached the team.
Washington Post reporter and editor Robert Barnes delivered the Nichols Foundation Prominent Speaker Lecture at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Florida, on April 1. He spoke to an audience of more than 100 law students, professors and staff at Stetson on the topic of “The Politicalization of the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Barnes has reported for the Post since 1987, covering beats ranging from national politics to the Supreme Court.
Robert Barnes spoke at Stetson on April 1. Photo by SeanCarlo Lopez.
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Director of the Veterans Law Institute Michael P. Allen introduced Barnes.
Barnes’ talk focused on the impact of the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia and Washington politics regarding the recent nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The addition of a new justice creates an entirely new body,” said Barnes. “The same can be said of the loss.”
Barnes discussed the makeup of the Court after the death of Justice Scalia and the possibility of dramatic impacts to the Court in the cases that it accepts and hears as well as shifts in the Court’s style and jurisprudence.
Barnes has been a Washington Post reporter and editor since 1987. He has covered political reporting since 2005 and the Supreme Court since November 2006. Barnes joined the Post to cover politics and has served in a variety of roles including national political editor, deputy national editor in charge of domestic coverage including the Supreme Court, and metropolitan editor.
“It’s good to be back in my home state, especially Pinellas County where I met my wife at the Clearwater Sun,” said Barnes.
A native of Pensacola, Florida, before joining the Washington Post, Barnes worked for the now-defunct Clearwater Sun, the Associated Press and the St. Petersburg Times (now renamed the Tampa Bay Times). Barnes gave up plans for law school for a life in newspapers after discovering journalism at the University of Florida.
The Nichols Foundation Prominent Speaker Series was established in 1995 to enrich academic life at Stetson. The series’ namesake is Perry Nichols, among the nation’s most successful trial lawyers and past president of both the American Trial Lawyers Association and International Trial Lawyers Association. Previous lecturers include prominent business leaders, government officials, legal scholars and practitioners.
Stetson University College of Law’s Vis International Arbitration Moot team won multiple awards at the 23rd Annual Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna, Austria, March 18-24. Stetson’s team of Sadiya Hashem, Leon Innerkofler, Taylor Ryan, Brien Squires, Kaelyn Steinkraus and student coach and team member Jonathan Diamond received two Honorable Mention Awards, one for the Respondent’s Memorandum and one for the Best Oralist.
Stetson’s Vis team (L-R): Taylor Ryan, Brien Squires, Leon Innerkofler, Alex Zesch, Associate Dean Stephanie Vaughan, Jonathan Diamond, Kaelyn Steinkraus, Sadiya Hashem.
Ryan placed in the top 50 of nearly two thousand oralists. Stetson was among only six of 49 student teams from the U.S. who advanced to the top 32 teams in the worldwide competition. There were a total of 311 teams competing from 47 countries.
“Our student Vis team demonstrated in Vienna that they are prepared to advocate on the world stage,” said Dean and Professor of Law Christopher Pietruszkiewicz. “Our student and faculty accomplishments in the areas of advocacy, research and writing are remarkable around the world.”
Stetson’s award-winning Vis team in Vienna (L-R): Leon Innerkofler, Jonathan Diamond, Sadiya Hashem, Kaelyn Steinkraus, Taylor Ryan and Brien Squires.
“This accomplishment is truly astounding,” said Associate Dean for Student Engagement and Professor of Legal Skills Stephanie Vaughan. “Stetson’s oral advocacy skills have always been considered among the very top in our country, but we are delighted to show the other universities around the world, represented in Vienna, that our students are just as outstanding in complex research and written expression.”
Vaughan and Stetson Vis alumnus Alex Zesch J.D. ’13 traveled to coach the team in Vienna. Professor Joseph Morrissey also coached the team.
Stetson also won an Honorable Mention Award for Best Oralist in last year’s competition.
Stetson College of Law Dean and Professor of Law Christopher Pietruszkiewicz introduced last year’s Hall of Fame inductees.
Stetson University College of Law is accepting nominations for its Hall of Fame, which recognizes individuals who have reached the pinnacle of their professions and have affected a profound, positive influence on the law school.
The prestigious event is held annually in the fall. The 2015 inductees were Fred Dudley ’68, an acclaimed lawyer who served 16 years in the Florida Legislature, and Fred Schaub ’84, the felony division director at the State Attorney’s Office in Florida’s 6th Judicial Circuit.
For biographies and videos about past winners, please see Stetson’s Hall of Fame website.
To submit a nomination, please use the Hall of Fame Nomination form and return the completed form by May 16 to Mike Casey in the Office of Development & Alumni Relations at Stetson University College of Law, 1401 61st St. S., Gulfport, FL 33707.
Stetson University College of Law professor and Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy director Royal C. Gardner spoke at the United Nations in New York on March 21 on the importance of wetlands as ecosystems supporting global populations. Professor Gardner is chair of the Scientific and Technical Review Panel of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands for 2016-2018 and is an internationally recognized expert on wetland law and policy.
Professor Gardner described the importance of mangroves in the wetland ecosystem.
“Mangroves are incredibly important for people: they provide nursery areas for commercial fisheries species, maintain water quality by filtering pollutants, protect coastal areas against erosion and storms, and sequester approximately 1,000 tons of carbon per hectare,” said Professor Gardner.
Professor Gardner also spoke at a meeting of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation at the United Nations in New York on Nov. 20, 2015.
Stetson University College of Law has selected Joshua Karton for this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching Advocacy and American University Washington College of Law Professor Elizabeth L. Lippy for the Edward D. Ohlbaum Award. Both awards will be presented during the Educating Advocates Teaching Advocacy Skills Conference at Stetson law school in May.
The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes people who have fundamentally changed the way in which the world approaches the teaching of advocacy.
Joshua Karton, president of Communication Arts for the Professional, specializes in teaching how to apply the communication skills of theatre/film/television to the art of trial advocacy. Trained as an actor, Karton’s writing and acting credits range from Forever Fernwood to Beverly Hills 90210 and he has taught at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre and at the University of Southern California’s School of Theatre. He has served on the faculties and developed curriculum for the American Association of Justice’s Ultimate Course, the Gerry Spence Trial Lawyer’s College, the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, the JAG Corps, American Bar Association, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, numerous law schools and criminal defense associations. A 35-year veteran in the field of communication arts, Karton prepared the winning oral argument to the U.S. Supreme Court in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.
Joshua Karton.
“Karton has pioneered teaching communication arts to lawyers, and his work with plaintiff lawyers, criminal defense attorneys and military attorneys is a testament to his dedication and abilities,” said Stetson University Professor of Excellence in Trial Advocacy Charles Rose. “Karton is the quintessential teacher of advocacy and Stetson is excited to honor him this year.”
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.
Professor Elizabeth Lippy began as the assistant director of the trial advocacy program at the American University Washington College of Law in 2010. She also maintains a private practice as a founding member of the law firm of Fairlie & Lippy, P.C. where she focuses her practice on criminal defense and civil litigation. Professor Lippy attended Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law where she had the honor of working under the tutelage of Eddie Ohlbaum as a competitor on his national trial teams. She coached for Temple’s nationally renowned mock trial teams since graduating from there in 2003 and was also a guest lecturer for the LL.M. in Advocacy at Temple. Professor Lippy currently teaches many different courses at the American University Washington College of Law, working tirelessly with all of the mock trial teams. Lippy is also an instructor for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA) and has published a case file through NITA entitled Evans v. Washington State.
Professor Elizabeth Lippy.
“Professor Lippy’s acceptance of this award pays forward the promise to the legal profession that Professor Ohlbaum identified and nourished in her years ago as a young advocate,” said Professor Rose.
Previous recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award include Terry MacCarthy, Thomas Mauet, Warren Wolfson, Barbara Bergman, James Seckinger, Edward Ohlbaum, Susan Poehls, Bill Eleazer, and Judge David Erickson. Last year’s inaugural recipient of the Edward D. Ohlbaum Professionalism Award was professor Adam Shlahet.
The annual Educating Advocates conference May 23-26 this year on Stetson University’s Gulfport, Florida, campus. Professors, lawyers and legal practitioners from across the country are invited 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 is “Teaching Skills: Building the 21st Century Law School-One Student, One Skill, One Moment at a Time,” and includes a special Teacher Advocacy Training Session on May 26.
Stetson University College of Law’s trial team members were named champions and won three awards at national competitions this past weekend in California and Illinois.
(L-R): Nathan Bruemmer, Dan Kavanaugh, Silvia Amador and Kishantevia Carson.
Stetson’s trial team of Silvia Amador, Nathan Bruemmer, Kishantevia Carson and Dan Kavanaugh won the National Ethics Trial Competition at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California, March 17-19. The team also won the Most Professional Team Award and Kavanaugh won the Best Advocate, Final Round Award. Coaches Judge David Demers and adjunct professor Susan Demers coached the Stetson team with Brandon Blake JD ’13.
Another Stetson trial team of Alexa Cline, Courtney Olivier, Chantay Perry and Alexis Petrosino advanced to the semifinals and won three individual awards at the American Bar Association National Criminal Justice Trial Competition on March 17-19 in Chicago, Illinois. Petrosino won the Best Opening Statement Award and the Best Direct Examination Award and Olivier won the Best Closing Argument Award at the ABA competition. The competition is co-sponsored by the Criminal Justice Section of the American Bar Association and The John Marshall Law School. Laura Rose JD ’12 and Adam Nate JD ’09 co-coached the team.
Stetson’s trial advocacy program is nationally ranked No.1 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Since 1980, Stetson’s advocacy teams have won five international competitions, 65 national championships, and more than 100 awards for best brief, best advocate and most professional.
U.S. News & World Report has ranked Stetson University College of Law No. 1 in Trial Advocacy for the 18th time. Stetson ranked third in the nation for Legal Writing in the U.S. News 2017 “Best Grad Schools” issue.
Stetson Law’s beautiful Gulfport campus.
“Stetson’s commitment to excellence in advocacy is exemplified by our graduates,” said Stetson University President Wendy B. Libby, Ph.D. “When Stetson Law graduates walk into a courtroom they are prepared with significant advocacy and communication skills needed to represent their clients professionally and persuasively.”
“Stetson Law’s nationally recognized programs in advocacy and legal writing set our students, our graduates and our faculty apart,” said Dean and Professor of Law Christopher Pietruszkiewicz. “I am proud that our program is recognized for preparing students with the critical communication skills to be effective advocates on behalf of their clients and strong voices in helping our communities.”
Stetson has been recognized as the top law school in the nation for Trial Advocacy 18 times since 1995 and has ranked among the top six legal writing programs since the inception of the Legal Writing rankings.
“We strive every day to produce advocates worthy of the trust their clients place in them,” said Charles H. Rose III, Professor of Excellence in Trial Advocacy and Director of the Center for Excellence in Advocacy at Stetson. “The importance of advocacy permeates the legal education experience at Stetson, creating advocates who represent others competently, compassionately and professionally – true Stetson Lawyers.”
“Legal Writing is a distinctive in Stetson’s legal communication curriculum and an important research focus for Institute faculty,” said Kirsten K. Davis, Ph.D., Stetson’s director of the Institute for the Advancement of Legal Communication. “Our mission is to be innovative teachers, productive scholars, and national leaders in legal writing. We are honored to receive our peers’ recognition for this work.”
Retired Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Roderick L. Ireland.
Roderick L. Ireland, the first African-American chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, will deliver Stetson law school’s commencement address at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 14, on Stetson’s Gulfport campus, 1401 61st St. S.
A total of 273 Stetson law school students will celebrate commencement, among them, 70 part-time J.D. students, seven J.D./M.B.A. students, one J.D./M.P.H. student, two J.D./MINTEC students, one J.D./Grado student, 12 LL.M. in Advocacy, four LL.M. in Elder Law and 10 LL.M. in International Law students.
Roderick L. Ireland is a Distinguished Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the College of Social Sciences and Humanities at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to joining the full-time faculty at Northeastern where he taught as adjunct faculty since 1978, Ireland had been a judge for 37 years, serving in the Boston Juvenile Court from 1977 to 1990, the Massachusetts Appeals Court from 1990 to 1997, and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 1997 to 2014.
When he was appointed an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court in 1997, Ireland became the first African-American to sit on that bench in its over 300-year history. In 2010, Ireland became the Court’s first African-American chief justice.
Chief Justice Ireland received his B.A. from Lincoln University, J.D. from Columbia University Law School, LL.M. from Harvard University Law School, and Ph.D. in Law, Policy and Society from Northeastern University. He began his legal career in 1969 as a Neighborhood Legal Services attorney in Harlem, and then worked as a public defender in Boston with the Roxbury Defenders Committee from 1971 to 1973, becoming its executive director after serving as chief attorney and deputy director. From 1975 to 1977, he served as assistant secretary and chief legal counsel for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Administration and Finance.
As one of the four justices who voted in favor of same-sex marriage in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health (2003), the nation’s very first case in which a state supreme court declared same-sex marriage constitutional, Ireland has spoken frequently on the subject and has written about this experience in a law review article entitled, “In Goodridge’s Wake: Reflections on the Political, Public and Personal Repercussions of the Massachusetts Same-Sex Marriage Cases.” He is also the author of a two-volume treatise on Massachusetts Juvenile Law published by Thomson/Reuters in its Massachusetts Practice Series (1st ed.1993, 2nd ed. 2006).
Chief Justice Ireland has been widely recognized for his community contributions and professional achievements, and has received numerous honors and awards.
