Professor Robert Bickel presented an inscribed copy of University of Minnesota professor Kathryn Sikkink’s book, The Justice Cascade: How Human Rights Prosecutions Changed World Politics, to Stetson Law professor Dorothea Beane in the Dolly & Homer Hand Law Library on Sept. 6.
Professor Dorothea Beane with Professor Robert Bickel in the Dolly & Homer Hand Law Library.
The new book by Sikkink is the winner of the 2012 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. Professor Sikkink inscribed the copy of her award-winning book to Professor Beane in recognition of her pioneering work in the field of human rights.
Professor Beane served as an attendee and reporter for the United Nations Conference of Plenipotentiaries (in Rome, Italy) on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court. As an international lobbyist, Professor Beane attended the Rome treaty conference which led to the creation of the International Criminal Court. She was a non-governmental observer representing the National Bar Association, lobbying for the treaty’s enactment.
The Edward and Bonnie Foreman Biodiversity Lecture Series at Stetson presented Craig Pittman on “The Scent of Scandal: How an International Treaty Led to Armed Federal Officers Raiding a Greenhouse for Contraband Flowers” on Sept. 6.
Craig Pittman presented on “The Scent of Scandal” at Stetson Law.
Pittman, Tampa Bay Times reporter and author of books including The Scent of Scandal: Greed, Betrayal, and the World’s Most Beautiful Orchid,presented a talk to students about a contraband orchid and what happened when scientists at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Fla., were suspected of violating the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
Story by third-year student Valeria Obi and Brandi Palmer
For most people, the Caribbean is a tropical paradise, a getaway destination where reef fish dart among sunken pirate gold in a boundless turquoise sea. For the people who live and work for equality and human rights in the Caribbean, a different picture emerges, one focused on the struggle for social justice.
Professors Dorothea Beane and Darryl Wilson, co-directors of the Institute for Caribbean Law and Policy.
Hundreds of years of colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade have left an indelible mark on the story of the Caribbean. Unemployment is rampant. Natural catastrophes like frequent hurricanes have struck the fragile islands. Hundreds of thousands of people died in Haiti in a devastating earthquake in 2010 and many of the survivors remain displaced and homeless today.
Through the law and humanitarian efforts, Stetson University College of Law alumni Peterson St. Philippe ’09, Genevieve Whitaker ’07 and professors Dorothea Beane and Darryl Wilson have dedicated significant time to creating opportunities for people to learn about the importance of human rights in the beautiful but troubled Caribbean. Alumna Afia Donkor ’08 is helping to make a difference for Haitian children in the Dominican Republic.
“I do think that the Caribbean faces very unique historical challenges,” said Whitaker, who was born and raised on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“Our history also consists of great stories of freedom fighters, slaves themselves who in many cases were triumphant in seeking emancipation,” said Whitaker, who after graduating from Stetson returned to the Caribbean to advocate for juvenile justice and women’s rights.
In addition to Stetson Law, Whitaker graduated with a degree in International Human Rights Law from Oxford University and attended the 2011 Women’s Campaign School at Yale University. She completed the White House Project’s GO LEAD & GO RUN political leadership training program and received a Certificate in International Humanitarian Law from the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Genevieve Whitaker ’07 speaking at the University of the Virgin Islands. Photo courtesy Genevieve Whitaker.
Today, Whitaker serves on the board of the Women’s Coalition of St. Croix, an organization formed to provide advocacy programs and services to end violence and oppression by promoting equality, and she is CEO of The Whitaker Consultant Group as well as the associate director of communications for AARP Virgin Islands. She recently participated in the Yahoo! Business and Human Rights Change Your World Summit held in Washington, D.C.
“My passion and foundation for human rights were cemented during law school and my experience studying abroad,” said Whitaker. “I found great mentors at Stetson, namely professors Dorothea Beane and Ellen Podgor and Dean Kristen Adams.”
Whitaker co-founded the Virgin Islands Youth Advocacy Coalition, Inc., where she is helping to educate young people about the importance of civic engagement and to research the oral and written history of social and political events in St. Croix.
“Very few children in the Virgin Islands are exposed to civics,” Whitaker explained.
“Growing up in Haiti was an experience like no other,” said St. Philippe. “Haiti has been a country cursed by political unrest for the better part of two decades. I left Haiti when I was 12 years old and by then I had lived through two political coup d’états. I remember schools shutting down for days at a time because of violence that would go on in the city. I remember the country going through a severe embargo that nearly crippled the country by increasing the price of goods between 60-70 percent overnight.”
St. Philippe worked with Gulf Coast Legal Services after graduating from Stetson Law before starting his own immigration law practice in Miami, Fla. At Gulf Coast Legal Services, St. Philippe’s work focused on representing undocumented Haitian immigrants who had been victims of serious crimes, including domestic violence, human trafficking and immigration scams.
A Haitian immigrant himself, St. Philippe knows what it is like to be victimized. At the age of 12, when St. Philippe’s mother first arrived in the U.S. from Haiti, she was scammed by con artists posing as legal practitioners who misguided her about the immigration process. With nowhere to turn, St. Philippe’s mother was left to navigate the process alone. Once his mother became a U.S. citizen, she petitioned for St. Philippe and his older sister, who spent their childhood in Haiti.
Children from Haiti attend a special school in the Dominican Republic. Photo by Afia Donkor.
“My mother was at one time an undocumented immigrant and lived in fear of being sent back to Haiti like many of my clients at Gulf Coast,” said St. Philippe.
After the earthquake struck Haiti two years ago, killing more than 200,000 people and displacing thousands of others, St. Philippe concentrated his efforts on helping Haitian refugees to remain in the U.S. without fear of being deported.
“Although there have been some improvements in Haiti, the conditions are still dire,” said St. Philippe. “The work I did at Gulf Coast was the most fulfilling work that I have ever done, and I can’t think of any better way to use my Stetson education.”
Donkor, now a lawyer in Ontario, Canada, is helping with a school in the Dominican Republic for Haitian refugee children who have no access to education. The school, run and supported by Paul Washington Jones, a member of her church, fulfills a need for education that would otherwise go unmet.
“Because of the school, 80 school children have access to opportunities many of us take for granted. They are able to learn, to develop skills, and to understand how to implement their skills to build better futures for themselves and their communities,” Donkor said. “That is priceless.”
Some Haitian schoolchildren displaced by the earthquake have become refugees in the Dominican Republic. Photo by Afia Donkor.
“It’s not just about money,” Professor Beane explained of challenges in the Caribbean. “There are people who don’t have shelter, healthcare, education, roads or even water.”
“Who advocates for people?” Beane asked. “You have to understand how the law can be used to help people including under-served groups like women and children. You have to be clever, tenacious and creative.”
Professor Beane served as a mentor to both St. Philippe and Whitaker while they were both at Stetson and said she is proud when her students use their talents to help others. She co-directs Stetson’s Institute for Caribbean Law and Policy with professor Wilson.
In 2008, Beane worked with a faculty consortium and Stetson Law students to assist the U.S. Virgin Islands in drafting its own constitution. A formidable human rights advocate, Beane’s background is in federal and civil law, subjects she had been teaching for some time as a law professor at Stetson when she decided to go back to school to “learn something new.”
Professor Beane attended Oxford to immerse herself in the study international human rights law and became the first full-time faculty member at Stetson to teach a course on the subject. Professor Beane has worked extensively in The Hague, Netherlands, on matters involving international criminal law and human rights. She helped create the foundation for Stetson’s study abroad program at The Hague.
She said that lawyers and law students can make changes that better people’s lives around the world.
“Lawyers make history,” Beane said. “Very brave individuals can change the law.”
Dominican school founder Paul Washington Jones with Afia Donkor ’08 in the Dominican Republic. Photo courtesy Afia Donkor.
“Through pro bono volunteering, fundraising, writing articles, reaching out to the community, and talking with young people about human rights, law students can influence society and influence the law in a number of ways,” said Beane.
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.
