Stetson University College of Law is seeking attorneys to volunteer civil legal services to military members, veterans and their families as part of its Veterans Pro Bono Initiative Team.
With more than a million veterans, Florida is home to one of the largest populations of veterans in the country. Stetson’s new Veterans Pro Bono Initiative Team will serve Tampa Bay area veterans through its Veterans Law Institute.
“We are looking for volunteer attorneys with a passion to serve the veterans, members of our military and their families,” said Trista Miller, assistant director of clinical education and Veterans Law Institute pro bono supervisor at Stetson.
Volunteer attorneys will receive a weekly email message containing current case digests outlining pro bono opportunities in their geographical and legal practice areas. After selecting a case, attorneys will be provided with client and student volunteer contact information. Volunteers will also gain access to future Stetson CLE workshops focused on veterans law.
Attorneys interested in volunteering may apply with no obligation at stetson.edu/veteransprobono. For more information about volunteering with Stetson’s Veterans Pro Bono Initiative Team, contact [email protected] or call 727-562-7333.
Stetson University College of Law student Kathryn Hamilton said that the idea for Justice Grows germinated in professor Marleen O’Connor’s Food Law & Policy seminar and professor James Fox’s class on poverty law. What started as a research assignment in the classroom in Gulfport, Fla., has blossomed into collaborating with the Florida Farm to School program on a new project that will bring edible gardens to local juvenile residential centers.
Student Kathryn Hamilton.
Hamilton, a student in Stetson’s Social Justice Advocacy Concentration program, said she is finalizing plans for the first garden at a site St. Petersburg, Fla. Ultimately, she said that her goal is to help already established garden programs unite as part of the Florida Farm to School program.
“In 2011, Florida Governor Rick Scott asked juvenile justice centers to improve vocational and educational programs for our youth, and gardens and greenhouses were recommended as low-cost solutions,” Hamilton said. “Youth working on edible garden projects in juvenile residential centers can learn gardening skills and have opportunities to do a service to the community. They also have access to healthy food.”
Hamilton found that many people live in food deserts, areas of town in Florida where it is nearly impossible to access fresh fruits and vegetables unless you own a car. Hamilton’s research shows that about 20% of Florida residents are food insecure, meaning that at some point during one month every year, families aren’t sure how they can pay for their next meal.
“I want the youth in the system to see that they can be responsible for bringing that number down,” said Hamilton. “Edible gardens provide youth with a source of income, one that requires no expertise and hardly any start-up money.”
Hamilton is calling the project Justice Grows because it helps instill leadership and responsibility in young people while addressing issues like hunger, poor health, and lack of access to healthy foods.
“Hunger, poverty and crime are related to our eroding food system,” said Hamilton. “My research revealed that the same families that are not able to find or afford healthy food are often the same families with children entering the juvenile justice system.”
Edible gardens in juvenile residential centers can also provide opportunities for victim restitution and community service, Hamilton explained. The food grown can be donated to food banks and young people can plant gardens in their own neighborhoods. There are already successful edible garden programs in place across the state, said Hamilton.
Hamilton is seeking volunteers willing to work with the project to help build the first site garden in St. Petersburg, and is asking for donations of greenhouse resources and seedlings to the Cypress Creek Juvenile Offender Correctional Center garden in the Lecanto area. She has drafted a proposal for the Department of Juvenile Justice, in charge of the juvenile residential centers. She has also done interview spots with WMNF Tampa and WSRQ Sarasota about her project.
Stetson University College of Law is offering a three-week certificate program in U.S. Legal System and Trial Advocacy Skills for foreign attorneys in July and August.
The program, designed to help enhance attorneys’ professional skills and curriculum vitae, teaches the fundamentals of the U.S. legal system, legal analysis, and trial advocacy, taught by faculty at the top-ranked law school in the U.S. for trial advocacy.
During one week of online coursework and two weeks of instruction at Stetson’s Gulfport campus, participants will learn the fundamentals of U.S. torts, constitutional, criminal and civil law; participate in trial exercises; and network with judges, attorneys and fellow participants from around the world.
The online portion takes place July 21-25 completing online coursework and two weeks from Aug. 4-15 on Stetson’s Gulfport campus. Extracurricular trips include the Pinellas County Correctional Center, Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal, and an optional recreational visit to Walt Disney World in Orlando.
Upon completion of the program, participants receive a Certificate of Participation.
Two students in professor Clark Furlow’s Advanced Corporate Law seminar at Stetson University have recently written papers accepted for publication in respected journals.
Clara Arrington, a native of Tampa, has written on the topic of enabling benefit corporations in Florida. Her paper was accepted for publication in the Hillsborough County Bar Association’s monthly magazine, The Lawyer.
Clara Arrington
The paper, “Florida considers enabling benefits corporations,” argues that Florida’s other constituency statute works to support the same goals that benefit corporations support and that a new legal framework is unnecessary.
Benefit corporations balance a stated public benefit, such as the interests of the community in which they operate, with shareholders’ interests. Arrington described how a Florida citrus farmer kept an unprofitable branch of the family business running just to keep his family employed and support the local community. When this practice was challenged by minority shareholders, a Florida court ruled that it was legal under Florida’s constituency.
Arrington said that she is fascinated by the topic of how the law interacts with business. She plans to work in the Tampa Bay region after graduating in May.
Wynn Willard, entering his third year of law school at Stetson and himself a former CEO, wrote about the regulation of executive compensation. His paper and a companion piece were accepted by the Duquesne Business Law Review and the Cornell HR Review, a journal of the Industrial and Labor Relations School.
Wynn Willard
Willard argues that criticism of compensation should first be measured against the value CEOs create for shareholders. He shared the example of Steve Jobs, whose leadership propelled Apple’s shareholder value hundreds of billions of dollars since 2003. In the same time frame, Willard explained that Motorola and Nokia executives achieved minimal and negative returns, respectively, for their shareholders. Willard’s paper cites multiple examples of government regulation of executive compensation producing unintended consequences and great costs. He advocates a cessation of federal regulation in favor of existing state laws and market forces.
Willard worked as a marketing executive at companies including Procter & Gamble, Cadbury Beverages, and Hershey Foods. He served as CEO of Nabisco Canada and New World Pasta Company. He has also taught courses on management at the University of South Florida.
“I have always been interested in law and thought my corporate background could be a good combination with it,” said Willard, who plans to graduate from Stetson in December.
He said that the seminar paper gave him an opportunity to explore a subject with which he has firsthand experience.
“You have to have a passion for what you’re doing,” Willard said.
Stetson University College of Law’s Institute for the Advancement of Legal Communication hosted the Southeast Regional Legal Writing Conference, April 25-26, in Gulfport, Fla. The Conference was organized by Institute faculty Jason Palmer, Lance Long, and Kirsten Davis, Ph.D.
Professor Kirsten Davis, Ph.D., greeting speakers at the Southeast Regional Legal Writing Conference.
The conference for law faculty and others who teach legal research and writing courses offered workshops on preparing students to be “practice-ready” and developing writing and research skills for the 21st century. Discussions highlighted developments in legal pedagogy, advances in advocacy, and theory on teaching the digital Millennial lawyer.
“There’s rapid growth in the critical study of legal communication by those who teach it, ” said Professor Davis, director of the Institute for the Advancement of Legal Communication at Stetson. “The Southeast Conference is known for energizing its participants to continue developing new approaches to teaching legal writing and examining how to improve it.”
Professor Jason Palmer talks at the Panel discussion with Judge Catherine Catlin at the Southeast Regional Legal Writing Conference.Professor Lance Long at the conference.
Vice President and Senior Scholar, Reporting, Writing & Editing Faculty at the Poynter Institute Roy Peter Clark, Ph.D., presented the Saturday keynote presentation.
Clarke Rountree, Ph.D., professor and chair of the communication arts department at the University of Alabama, Huntsville, was this year’s distinguished speaker. He spoke about the connection between rhetorical theory and the language of judicial opinions.
As part of the Southeast Regional Legal Writing Conference, Stetson hosted an ALWD Scholars’ Forum that focused on legal writing scholarship addressing rhetoric, narrative, and storytelling subjects.
The Association of Legal Writing Directors funded the Forum.
Sponsors of this year’s conference included Wolters Kluwer/Aspen, Bloomberg BNA, LexisNexis and Carolina Academic Press.
Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law Bruce Jacob was presented with a traditional Supreme Court white quill at the Bruce R. Jacob Criminal Appellate American Inn of Court meeting on April 22 in Tampa. Florida assistant attorneys general Robert Krauss and Diana Bock presented the quill to Jacob to commemorate his work in arguing cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Bruce Jacob received a Supreme Court quill from Florida Assistant Attorney General Robert Krauss.
Jacob twice presented before the Court. As a young law graduate working in Tallahassee 50 years ago, Jacob was assigned to represent the respondent as an assistant attorney general of Florida in the landmark 1963 case Gideon v. Wainwright. The Court’s decision was the impetus for the establishment of public defender offices throughout the U.S.
In 1969, Jacob was appointed by the Supreme Court to handle a federal prisoner’s case before the Court and he won the case for the petitioner in Kaufman v. United States.
A white quill is traditionally placed on the counsel table at the U.S. Supreme Court for attorneys presenting before the Court. The attorneys are permitted to take the quill home after the argument.
Jacob never brought a white quill home from the Supreme Court.
“Either I didn’t realize that I was allowed to take one, or I was so nervous I forgot,” Jacob said.
Law students Lindsey Plyler Blankenbaker, Matt Newton and Heather Woods were selected to participate in the Stetson Showcase on April 15 at Stetson University in DeLand. It was the first time Stetson Law students were asked to participate in the daylong event for undergraduates, showcasing Stetson’s best and brightest students presenting on a broad range of topics.
(L-R): Dr. Tim Kaye, Dr. Kirsten Davis, Heather Woods, Lindsey Plyler Blankenbaker, Matt Newton, and Provost Beth Paul.
Each law student had an opportunity to share the findings of their seminar papers, presenting on topics ranging from issues impacting transgender students and First Amendment rights, to the erosion of the right to trial by jury, to the application of the Aristotelian Classical Method.
Woods, a member of Stetson’s Honors Program, said it was a great experience to present her paper and a great honor to present to students, faculty members and the university provost.
Professor Kirsten Davis, Ph.D., and Professor Tim Kaye, Ph.D., traveled to Stetson University with the students.
“We are hoping to bring more law students next time,” said Dr. Kaye.
Stetson Showcase is a celebration of achievement whose aim is to foster an appreciation for academic excellence at Stetson University. Student presenters share their research through presentations, portfolios, posters, readings, music and theater performances, art shows, and multimedia work. They present their programs in professional settings for audiences that include judges, faculty, fellow students and interested members of the community.
When part-time Stetson Law student Ethan Arthur began researching an independent study project on ways to end the ivory market and slaughter of African elephants, he had no idea that the project would take him to Arlington, Va.
African Bush Elephant. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
As part of his project in Professor Lance Long’s Environmental Advocacy course at Stetson, Arthur was asked to collaborate with a government agency on finding a solution to an environmental crisis.
Arthur spent his spring break presenting his solution to African elephant slaughter and ivory trade at an Advisory Council on Wildlife Trafficking meeting. He presented his proposal to the Council during the public comments portion of the March 20 meeting.
“The U.S. is considering more stringent regulation of its own ivory trade and many people took advantage of the public comment portion of the Council meeting to voice their opinions,” said Arthur.
According to an April 7 article in the New York Daily News, 96 African elephants are killed by poachers every day for their tusks, resulting in the slaughter of approximately 35,000 elephants per year. The African elephant will face extinction in a decade if the slaughter is not curbed, according to the article.
“While most people at the Council meeting seemed to agree that stemming the demand for illicit ivory is vital, there is still some disagreement about the best way to accomplish this goal,” said Arthur.
Stopping the legal trade within China could curb the demand for ivory that elephant poachers are working to supply, Arthur explained. He described a way to classify animals under cultural property law to persuade China to stop its legal ivory market.
Details of Arthur’s proposal on how to stop elephant poaching in Africa will be published in the next issue of the Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy at the end of the spring semester.
Stetson University College of Law students celebrated Earth Day on April 21 on the Gulfport campus with an environmentally-focused art show, music, healthy snacks and informational booths on sustainable living. The Stetson student Environmental Law Society, Student Wellness Society and Food Law Society sponsored the event.
Students at Stetson Law in Gulfport celebrate Earth Day.
Student Katie Cleveland worked with student organizations to coordinate the event.
Stetson’s Earth Day event for students provided information on local organic farms and healthy eating, alternative transportation and sustainable food production.
The event featured a sports and recreational area to encourage exercise and bicycle checkups to promote alternative transportation.
A free public art show, Sustainable Farming: Art for Advocacy, featured work by local artists and students at the Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School. The theme of the show was the destructive environmental impact of industrial farming.
“We hope that the art show engages people in a fun way to learn more about the negative impacts of industrial farming,” said Stetson Law student Jessica Prats, who spearheaded the art show with Stetson’s Environmental Law Society.
Prats is a student in Stetson Law professor Lance Long’s Environmental Advocacy class. Students in the class were challenged to choose an environmental issue and develop a plan to raise public awareness about the issue.
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 annual event is held each October. The 2013 inductees were Professor Paul Barnard ’58, James W. Martin BS ’71, JD ’74 and Judge Raphael Steinhardt ’63.
For biographies and videos about past winners, please see Stetson’s Hall of Fame website.
To submit a nomination, please use theHall of Fame Nomination form 2014 and send by May 2 to Patricia Toups in the Office of Development and Alumni Relations at Stetson University College of Law, 1401 61st St. S., Gulfport, FL 33707. E-mails are also accepted at [email protected].
Stetson University College of Law students received awards for excellence in written and oral advocacy at the Willem C. Vis (East) International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Hong Kong on April 6.
(L-R): Professor Joseph Morrissey, Jeremy Bailie, Alisa French, Carmen Herrera Valverde, Yesica Liposky, Rachel Lopez Sanchez, Paul Crochet and Professor Stephanie Vaughan. Not pictured: Davis Watson III. Photo courtesy Michael and Mariane Crochet.
The team, including Stetson Law students Jeremy Bailie, Paul Crochet, Alisa French, Carmen Herrera Valverde, Yesica Liposky, Raquel Sanchez Lopez and Davis Watson III, received honorable mention awards for both the Claimant’s Memorandum and the Respondent’s Memorandum at the international advocacy competition. Crochet also earned an honorable mention award for individual best oralist.
Stetson and Harvard were the only teams out of 22 American teams to receive accolades for both written submissions.
“With over 700 students participating, this is an incredible feat,” said Stetson Law Professor Joseph Morrissey, who co-coached the team with Professor Stephanie Vaughan. Vaughan is also associate director of the Center for Excellence in Advocacy at Stetson.
This year, Stetson’s Vis East team also included two J.D./Grado exchange students.
“They were incredible ambassadors for Stetson and a wonderful example of the international nature of our team and our law school,” said Professor Morrissey.
The Vis Moot was started in 1994 by the United Nations Commission on Trade Law (UNCITRAL) to foster the study of international commercial law and arbitration for resolution of international business disputes.
This year, for the first time, a team from Kabul, Afghanistan, competed, having been sponsored by the U.S. government under an initiative to bring developing countries into this global dispute resolution training program.
Stetson’s Center for Excellence in International Law is home to the Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy, the Institute for Caribbean Law and Policy, and hosts international advocacy competitions and offers study abroad opportunities around the world.
The Law and Rhetoric Colloquium group gathered April 11 and 12.
Professor of Law Kirsten K. Davis, Ph.D., the director of Stetson’s new Institute for the Advancement of Legal Communication, was co-organizer of the event along with University of Alabama Communication Studies Professor Dr. Clark Rountree.
The colloquium followed a public address by well-known contemporary language and interpretation scholar Stanley Fish. Following Fish’s address, which examined the rhetoric of the majority and dissenting opinions in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case on the Second Amendment, D.C. v. Heller, colloquium participants spent a day with Fish discussing competing views of law and rhetoric.
“Stanley Fish is one of the most recognizable public intellectuals of our time,” said Dr. Davis, who teaches and writes about legal rhetoric. “It was quite an honor to talk with him about the way the language of law operates to persuade. Bringing those kinds of insights about language and persuasion to legal education is central to the mission of Stetson’s new Institute for the Advancement of Legal Communication.”
In addition to teaching courses on legal writing at Stetson, Davis teaches courses addressing law and rhetoric, legal ethics, and the First Amendment. She is the author of several law review articles applying rhetorical theory to legal texts and practices. Her most recent article, “’The Reports of My Death are Greatly Exaggerated’: Reading and Writing Objective Legal Memoranda in a Mobile Computing Age,” is published in the Oregon Law Review and uses rhetorical theory to consider the rhetoric of advice-giving and legal writing in a high-tech age.
Photo caption: Colloquium participants (seated L-R): Dr. Katie Langford, Texas Tech University, Department of Communication Studies; Dr. Clark Rountree, University of Alabama Huntsville, Department of Communication Arts; Dr. John Lyne, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Communication; (standing L-R): Professor Linda Berger, University of Nevada Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law; Dr. Omar Swartz, University of Colorado Denver, Department of Communication; Dr. Kirsten Davis, Stetson Law; Dr. Jeff Todd, Florida Coastal Law School; Professor Joe Sery, University of San Francisco, Communication Studies; Dr. Katie Rose Guest Pryal, University of North Carolina School of Law; Dean Jay Mootz, University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law; and Professor Colin Starger, University of Baltimore Law School.
