Deputy Consul General of Argentina Gustavo Martínez Pandiani spoke with Stetson Law students on Sept. 4 about “Global Citizenship and Public Diplomacy.”
Argentinean diplomat Gustavo Martínez Pandiani speaks with Stetson Law students Sept.4.
Martínez Pandiani explained his view that the rule of law and democratic participation provide the foundation of global citizenship. He explored how international diplomacy has evolved from the traditional secret diplomacy of the 18th century, to the public diplomacy of the 20th century, to become mass media diplomacy today in the 21st century.
“It’s a new world for diplomats,” said Martínez Pandiani. “We need to understand the world of the media—images and sound bites.”
Martínez Pandiani also discussed the need among citizens to recognize different cultural values. He answered questions from students about diplomatic immunity and global citizenship.
“Global citizenship today is a combination of universalism and diversity,” said Martínez Pandiani. “Only through global democracy will we achieve global citizenship.”
“The presentation on global citizenship was an incredible opportunity for the Stetson community to hear from an international expert what it really means to be a citizen of the world,” said Professor Ann Piccard, who attended the talk. “Mr. Martínez Pandiani gave the students the benefit of his career’s worth of experience as a diplomat, and he presented a compelling argument for the importance of recognizing that everyone, everywhere, is entitled to be treated with dignity – this is a basic principle of international human rights law and he was able to make it very real and personal for those of us who were fortunate enough to hear him speak.”
Martínez Pandiani presented the idea that since the mid-20th century, nations have begun to compete for power with NGOs and international organizations.
“You need to prepare for the world,” Martínez Pandiani told the crowded room of law students. “The world is in your hands.”
Martínez Pandiani is a career diplomat, and the author of numerous books on political marketing, campaigning and media strategies.
Stetson University’s Tampa Law Center was the site of a Tampa town hall meeting on Aug. 15 to discuss the impact of the Republican National Convention on residents and businesses.
Stetson Law Dean Christopher Pietruszkiewicz with Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn.
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn told residents that the convention will provide Tampa with positive international exposure and business opportunities but it will also challenge residents with road closings and changes to garbage collection and bus schedules.
Additional information about Tampa’s guide to city services during the RNC can be found online at www.tampagov.net/rnc.
The June 2012 Special Commemorative Edition of Champion magazine includes an interview with and article by Stetson Law professor Bruce Jacob, who presented the historic Gideon v. Wainwright case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Read the article, “Remembering Gideon’s Lawyers,” by Bruce R. Jacob. The text of the interview with Jacob follows, with special permission from the NACDL.
Bruce Jacob, who represented Florida before the U.S. Supreme Court in Gideon v. Wainwright, has handled countless pro bono cases during his career. In addition to writing a profile of Clarence Gideon’s lawyers, he agreed to answer a few questions about the case and about the state of indigent defense.
The Champion: When you argued Gideon v. Wainwright in the Supreme Court, did it appear to be a legendary case — one that people would be talking about 50 years later?
Bruce Jacob (BJ): Those of us in the Criminal Appeals Division of the Florida Attorney General’s Office knew that Gideon would be a legendary case, a great case. It involved critical issues in addition to the main question of whether there should be an automatic right to counsel in every noncapital felony case. For example, should such a decision be based on the Due Process Clause or the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?
Would the concept and meaning of the Due Process Clause have to be changed in order for the Court to reach such a result? Should the decision extend to misdemeanors? Should it be retroactive?
The Champion: How do you view your role in Gideon?
BJ: It has always been my view that although a criminal defense attorney should be a zealous advocate for the client, within the bounds of ethical constraints, a prosecutor’s position is different. He or she represents all of the people of the state, and this includes defendants in criminal cases. A prosecutor should be extremely fair to defendants, appellants, and petitioners. In Gideon, my job was to try to provide the Court with what it needed, in the way of information and argument, to enable it to make the best decision for our legal system. I was not just a pure advocate trying to win a case.
Professor Bruce Jacob’s work on Gideon v. Wainwright is featured in the June 2012 Champion.
The Champion: What was the atmosphere like that day at the Supreme Court?
BJ: The atmosphere in the Court on the day of argument in Gideon was extremely intense. Based on the transcript, there were 92 questions or interruptions of me during my argument, and most came during the first half hour. A justice would ask a question and, before I could complete an answer, a second justice would ask a question or make a comment. Then, as I was trying to complete my answer to the first question and prepare to answer the second question, a third member of the Court would break in and ask a question.
The Champion: You’ve handled pro bono cases since Gideon?
BJ: After the Gideon decision, in 1963, the Florida Legislature enacted a statewide public defender law that, among other things, allowed a private lawyer (which I was at the time) to sign up with the trial court to become an unpaid, volunteer public defender. On the day that law took effect I signed up, and during the next couple of years the court appointed me to several cases. In 1965-68, while teaching at Emory Law School, I started the Legal Assistance for Inmates Program for inmates of the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta. I was the supervisor and 53 students volunteered to help. During the first two weeks 750 inmates made requests for legal help, and most involved post conviction questions. I taught two clinical courses at Ohio State College of Law, where we represented indigents on a pro bono basis. Since going into law school administration and traditional classroom teaching, I have continued to handle pro bono cases of all kinds. I receive many requests from inmates. I review the trial transcript and other papers and advise on whether the inmate has a meritorious case. Often I tell the inmate that the case does not have merit. There are times when I prepare a petition for the inmate to file. Sometimes I merely send the inmate the results of my research, and other times I become counsel of record. I try to get students involved as much as possible in this work.
The Champion: Has the challenging economic climate made today’s law students less interested in public interest jobs?
BJ: Students today do not have as many choices as they had in the past. Some go straight into public service work. Others go into another area with the idea that eventually they may be able to move into public interest law.
Professor Bruce Jacob conducted a panel discussing Gideon v. Wainwright on the Stetson Law campus in Gulfport.
The Champion: Are we close to fulfilling the promise of Gideon?
BJ: The answer is a definite “no.” Read the Constitution Project’s 2009 Justice Denied report. Public defenders often have caseloads so large that it is impossible for them to provide effective representation. In some ways the present situation is worse than it was around the time of Gideon. Before Gideon, courts reviewing what had occurred at the trial level asked whether the defendant had received a “fair trial” and were generous in overturning convictions and sentences in cases in which it was not clear whether the defendant had been treated fairly. I wrote an article in the MercerLaw Review in 1965 in which I found that during a previous one year period, Georgia appellate courts had reversed convictions in something like 43 percent of cases coming before them. That figure, I am sure, would be unheard of today in any jurisdiction. Appellate courts now are much less likely to overturn convictions and sentences, and I believe there are two reasons for this. First, criminal procedure was simpler in those days. Today it is extremely complex, and the complexity always seems to favor the government, not the defendant. Secondly, courts on review seem to take the position today that since every defendant has been represented by counsel at the trial level, they can assume that each defendant has received a fair trial. Of course, we know that this is not always true.
Dean Christopher Pietruszkiewicz greeted Stetson University College of Law students this morning in Gulfport with a cup of coffee as they returned to campus for the first week of fall classes. Students enjoyed coffee with the dean as they headed to class.
Dean Christopher Pietruszkiewicz greets students during the first week of classes at Stetson Law in Gulfport.
Dean Pietruszkiewicz joined Stetson Law in June after serving as vice chancellor for business and financial affairs and as the J.Y. Sanders Professor of Law at Louisiana State University-LSU Law Center.
Dean Pietruszkiewicz holds national leadership positions in legal education. He is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Law School Admission Council and chair of its Investment Committee. Dean Pietruszkiewicz is also a member of the Board of Trustees for the Southeastern Association of Law Schools, where he served as president in 2005-2006. He has served in various leadership positions for the American Bar Association Section of Taxation.
The law school has two beautiful Mediterranean-style campuses in the Tampa Bay area. Stetson University’s historic campus is located in DeLand with a satellite center in Celebration offering advanced degrees.
Stetson University College of Law is offering a Social Justice Advocacy Certificate of Concentration program for students. The concentration program is intended to prepare students to deal directly with significant social justice issues in civil or criminal law.
The Social Justice Advocacy Certificate of Concentration is a selective program, which admits a limited number of students based upon their academic and experiential background, interviews with program faculty, and commitment to a career dedicated to advocacy that serves the cause of social justice.
Stetson Law professors Robert Bickel and Judith Scully will oversee the concentration program.
Professor Scully, who is the faculty adviser for both the Innocence Initiative at Stetson and the Juvenile Justice Initiative, helped the African National Congress to draft the constitution for a Free and Democratic South Africa. South Africa’s constitutional provision guaranteeing a woman’s right to reproductive choice was based on Professor Scully’s recommendations regarding the protection of women’s reproductive rights.
Professor Bickel, who has taught a Constitutional Law and the Civil Rights Movement course at Stetson for the past seven years, recently received an award for his commitment to teaching from Odessa Woolfolk, co-founder of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. The law firm of Florin and Roebig has provided funding for Professor Bickel’s course, which allows students to travel each summer to six cities in the south to visit sites, museums, institutes and veterans of the Civil Rights Movement. Stetson Law alumna Maria Bogomaz JD ’12 was the only law student invited from outside the Washington, D.C., area to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the 1961 Freedom Rides at the White House last fall.
Wil H. Florin JD ’80 and Thomas D. Roebig Jr. JD ’86 explained that supporting social justice is a large part of their firm’s daily work in advocating for employee rights.
“Social justice is part of employment law,” Florin explained. “We deal with clients with discrimination complaints at the law firm on a daily basis.”
Visit Stetson Law for more information about social justice advocacy at Stetson.
Zarama said he has always had a passion for international human rights.
“My interest in international human rights came from my professional and academic experience working in the legal analysis of international criminal issues and human rights violations,” said Zarama.
While working with the London-based program, he will assist in developing academic papers and researching key legal topics of both local and international relevance.
“I look forward to bringing the IBA’s Internship Program to my understanding of the promotion, protection and enforcement of human rights as they are applied under international standards,” said Zarama.
While at Stetson, Zarama worked as a research assistant for Professor Luz Nagle on human trafficking issues. She encouraged him to apply for the internship.
Prior to attending Stetson, Zarama studied law at the Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia. He interned there at the Human Rights Clinic and researched discrimination issues in Latin America. After he graduated from the Universidad de Los Andes, Zarama worked as a junior consultant at the International Organization for Migration conducting legal research on the transitional justice process in Colombia.
The International Bar Association is involved with cutting edge issues that impact the international legal community. The IBA plays a role in promoting the status and independence of the profession, bringing lawyers together to exchange information and discuss matters of mutual concern, and promotes human rights, commercial and economic law reform.
Alumni Wil H. Florin JD ’80 and Thomas D. Roebig Jr. JD ’86 have long been supporters of civil rights education and their mentor, Stetson University College of Law Professor Robert Bickel. Since 2006, the Tampa Bay-based Florin Roebig law firm has helped fund a unique course on Constitutional Law and the Civil Rights Movement at Stetson Law. The experiential course provides students with an opportunity to learn about social justice firsthand, traveling each summer to six cities in the south to visit historic sites, museums, institutes and veterans of the Civil Rights Movement.
On July 25, Stetson Law Professor Bickel presented Florin Roebig with a plaque for continuing to support the course at Stetson.
Stetson Law alumni Wil H. Florin JD ’80 and Thomas D. Roebig Jr. JD ’86 accepted the honor from Professor Robert Bickel, a framed article about the course the firm helps fund.
“Social justice is part of employment law,” Florin said in accepting the award. “We deal with clients with discrimination complaints at the law firm on a daily basis.”
He added that supporting social justice is a large part of their firm’s daily work in advocating for employee rights.
“All of the law students we’ve worked with who have taken this course return and say they’ve been personally affected,” Roebig said. He shared that Professor Bickel provided the inspiration he needed to focus on social justice in his legal career.
“All of us deserve common decency, dignity and fair pay,” said Roebig.
“Poverty is one of America’s great challenges,” Professor Bickel said. “When workers are treated unfairly or paid less than a living wage, it cuts to the heart of dignity. The Memphis Sanitation Worker’s Movement and Dr. King’s Poor People’s campaign remind us that our dignity as workers is a part of our dignity as people.”
Stetson Law will be offering a new concentration for law students interested in social justice advocacy starting in the fall. Stetson Law professors Bickel and Judith Scully will oversee the Social Justice Advocacy Certificate of Concentration program for J.D. students.
Moody is a Distinguished University Professor at Stetson Law and was the school’s vice president and dean from 1994-1999, opening the state-of-the art Dolly & Homer Hand Law Library and laying the foundation for the college’s part-time law and international programs. She was honored by the Baltic state of Estonia’s Higher Education Accreditation Centre in March 2000 for her efforts in legal higher education.
Moody was one of only seven women in her class of 160 Yale Law graduates, and beforeentering the teaching profession, she opened doors for women in the legal profession.
“I wanted to be a lawyer more than anything in the world,” Moody explained.
Moody was one of the first women lawyers rated AV by Martindale-Hubbell and was the first woman to be elected president of the Cleveland Bar Association. In spite of the era’s notorious “glass ceiling” for female lawyers, Moody made partner decades ago at the prominent Cleveland law firm of Metzenbaum, Gaines & Stern. While teaching at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Moody and Professor Jane Picker created the Women’s Law Fund, Inc., the first law firm in the nation to specialize in sex-discrimination cases, in 1972.
“Lizabeth Moody’s achievements as a leader in women’s legal history are remarkable,” said Stetson Law dean Christopher Pietruszkiewicz, who began serving as dean at Stetson Law in June. “I am extremely proud that she is a member of the Stetson Law faculty, where she serves as a mentor to her students and as an inspiration to her colleagues.”
Previously, Moody received the Josephine Irwin Award honoring women who have championed social justice for women, the American Bar Association Section of Business Law honored Moody with the Glass Cutter Award for her extraordinary efforts in paving the way for other women in the legal profession, and she was honored with the Ohio State Bar Medal, the association’s highest honor. The city of Cleveland named the day of May 8, 1990, in honor of Lizabeth A. Moody.
Professor Moody teaches at Stetson Law in the area of corporate and securities law, with an emphasis on nonprofit corporations and professional responsibility. She was inducted into Stetson Law’s Hall of Fame in 2009. Stetson Law Professor Ellen S. Podgor interviewed Moody for the oral history submission.
Professor Gardner, the director of Stetson’s Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy and an expert in environmental law and wetlands, introduced the resolution, which provides a framework to avoid, mitigate and compensate for wetland impacts around the world.
Third-year student Erin Okuno along with recent Stetson Law graduates Marcela Bonells JD ’12 and Juan Zarama LL.M. ’12 conducted research to support the resolution. The students and Professor Gardner published a Briefing Note that reviewed wetland laws and policies throughout the world. Stetson students, including exchange students from the University of Toulouse, translated the Briefing Note into Spanish and French, the other official languages of the convention.
Professor Gardner was invited to Romania as an expert of Ramsar’s Scientific and Technical Review Panel, a subsidiary body of the convention that provides guidance on wetland conservation. Stetson’s Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy works with the Ramsar Convention, and Stetson is the only law school in the world that has a memorandum of cooperation with the Ramsar Secretariat.
The draft resolution was produced in part at a Ramsar workshop that Stetson hosted at its Tampa Law Center in October of 2010, and in part at a Ramsar workshop hosted by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in the UK in July of 2011. The final resolution expresses appreciation to both Stetson and the UK government.
View the video, “Welcome to Elder Law,” by NAELA member and attorney Rajiv Nagaich, Esq., of Seattle, Wash.
“The first wave of Baby Boomers is now retiring. As a whole, this generation of retirees is healthier and will live longer than the last generation of retirees. The number of Americans who will seek the services of an elder or special needs law attorney is expanding quickly. This is an opportunity for attorneys to learn more about NAELA’s unique resources, which educate our members and give them the tools they need to better serve their clients,” said NAELA Past President Edwin Boyer.
This video is part of a series jointly produced by NAELA and Stetson Law. Primarily designed for use by attorneys, consumers will also find the information in this video useful as they plan for their futures or the future of a loved one.
This project emphasizes NAELA’s commitment to providing education to its members in order to help them better serve older Americans, individuals with special needs, and their families.
Professor Rebecca Morgan, the Boston Asset Management Chair in Elder Law and director of the LL.M. in Elder Law and Center for Excellence in Elder Law at Stetson, said, “It was an incredible opportunity for all of us at the Center for Excellence in Elder Law at Stetson to participate in the creation of the NAELA educational video series. NAELA is the premier elder and special needs law attorney organization, and this video series provides great information from nationally recognized leaders in the field.”
About NAELA
Members of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) are attorneys who are experienced and trained in working with the legal problems of aging Americans and individuals of all ages with disabilities. Established in 1987, NAELA is a non-profit association that assists lawyers, bar organizations and others. The mission of NAELA is to establish NAELA members as the premier providers of legal advocacy, guidance and services to enhance the lives of people with special needs and people as they age. NAELA currently has members across the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit NAELA.org.
About Stetson University College of Law
Stetson University College of Law is Florida’s first law school. It has educated lawyers for more than a century. The law school is located in the Gulfport/St. Petersburg area with a satellite campus in downtown Tampa. Stetson University’s historic campus, founded in 1883 in DeLand, is home to the College of Arts & Sciences, School of Business Administration, and School of Music. Stetson also has a satellite center in Celebration offering advanced degrees.
About Elder and Special Needs Law
Elder and special needs law are specialized areas that involve representing, counseling and assisting seniors, people with disabilities, and their families, in connection with a variety of legal issues, with a primary emphasis on promoting the highest quality of life for individuals. Typically, elder and special needs law address the convergence of legal needs with the social, psychological, medical, and financial needs of individuals. The elder and special needs law attorney handles estate planning and counsels clients about planning for incapacity with health care decision-making documents. The elder and special needs law attorney also assists clients in planning for possible long-term care needs, including at-home care, assisted living, or nursing home care. Locating the appropriate type of care, coordinating public and private resources to finance the cost of care, and working to ensure the client’s right to quality care are all part of the elder and special needs law practice.
Media Contact:
Abby Matienzo, Communications Specialist
National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys
(703) 942-5711 #230
Professor Edwin Boyer has been named the first Borchard Distinguished Professorial Lecturer in Elder Law at Stetson University College of Law. Boyer ’78 has taught several classes in Stetson’s J.D. and LL.M. degree programs as an adjunct professor.
Professor Edwin Boyer
Boyer, who is the immediate past-president of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and a partner in the Sarasota elder law firm of Boyer & Jackson P.A., will serve as a mentor to Stetson Law students focused in the area of elder law. He will teach a class on trusts and estates at Stetson during the fall semester of 2012.
“We are delighted that someone of Ed Boyer’s experience and stature will enrich Stetson’s fine elder law program as the first Borchard Distinguished Professorial Lecturer,” said Edward D. Spurgeon, the president of the Borchard Foundation and co-director of the Borchard Foundation Law and Aging Center.
“It is an honor to be named by the Stetson faculty as the Borchard Distinguished Professorial Lecturer in Elder Law,” said Professor Boyer. “At Stetson, I am looking forward to furthering the foundation’s mission of helping improve the quality of life for elderly people through service and education.”
The Borchard Foundation, through its Center on Law and Aging, works through education, research and service to help improve the quality of life for elderly people, including those who are impoverished or isolated by lack of education, language, culture, disability or other barriers.
Stetson built the Eleazer Courtroom, the nation’s first barrier-free and elder-friendly courtroom, in 2005 as a model for accessibility on the Gulfport campus. Professor Rebecca Morgan, the Boston Asset Management Chair in Elder Law and director of Stetson’s Center for Excellence in Elder Law, is the nation’s first faculty chair in elder law.
