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NOTICE: Graduation Location, Time Changed

Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]

Stetson University College of Law is moving graduation ceremonies from the Gulfport campus to the Pasadena Community Church, 227 70th St. S., St. Petersburg, due to inclement weather. The commencement ceremony will begin Saturday, Dec. 18, at 2 p.m., instead of the originally scheduled graduation time of 1 p.m.

Each graduate has been provided with 10 guests tickets; graduates may freely trade extra tickets. We expect to be able to accommodate all guests. The doors open to ticketed guests at 1:00 p.m. and to non-ticketed guests at 1:45 p.m.

  • Directions to Pasadena Community Church: From Stetson Law in Gulfport, turn right on Gulfport Blvd. S. (22nd Ave. S.). Turn right onto Pasadena Ave. S. (first major intersection). Turn left at Park Circle S. and you will see the church.
    »» VIEW MAP
  • The ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. to allow time for graduates and visitors to report to the new location.
  • Graduating students should report to Hamilton Auditorium no later than 12:30 p.m.
  • Faculty should report to the Gathering Room no later than 1 p.m.
  • Graduates who have not picked up their regalia and tickets should contact the Office of Conferences and Events at (727) 562-7898.
  • The graduation reception will take place at the church immediately following the ceremony.
  • The Dolly & Homer Hand Law Library will be open for visitors on the Gulfport campus from 8:30 a.m. –5 p.m.
  • The Bookstore will be open on the Gulfport campus from 12 –4 p.m.
  • We still hope to offer a webcast of the ceremony, but are working on logistical issues. Please check the College of Law’s homepage, www.law.stetson.edu for updates.
  • Any additional updates about the ceremony will be posted on the College of Law’s homepage and communicated to students, faculty, and staff via e-mail.

 »» More information about Graduation Events

Elder Consumer Law Day Series

What: Elder Consumer Law Day series for seniors.
Where: Stetson University College of Law, 1401 61st St. S. in Gulfport.

When:

Jan. 25, 2011, 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Shield Yourself from Financial Exploitation: Tax Season, Investment Opportunities, Consumer Scams and Frauds

March 22, 2011, 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Protect Yourself from Financial Abuse: Family Issues, Preplanning, Legal Document Basics

May 17, 2011, 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Batten Down Against Disaster Frauds and Scams: Price Gouging, Home Repair, Insurance Concerns and Charity Fraud

Members of the public are invited to attend these free events, focused on informing, educating and empowering senior and elder individuals.

Free consumer services will be provided, including secure on-site document shredding, do-not-call/opt-out registration and free credit report registration. While legal issues will be discussed, no legal advice, legal representation or legal education credit will be provided.

Registration is required and limited, available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Continental breakfast and boxed lunch will be provided to registered attendees. To register, or for more information, call Slade V. Dukes at 727-562-7888 or e-mail [email protected] .

To learn more about Stetson’s Elder Consumer Protection Program and Financial Scam & Fraud Elder Awareness Project, visit http://www.law.stetson.edu/elderconsumers.

Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]

Stetson Graduate Joins Alumni Services


Michael Stewart
New assistant director of alumni services Michael Stewart. Click for high-resolution image.

Michael Stewart is the new assistant director of alumni services in the office of college relations at Stetson University College of Law.

Stewart is responsible for developing alumni chapters throughout the country, planning special alumni events and creating and maintaining online alumni communities.

Prior to his current position in college relations, he worked with the Stetson Law office of admissions and financial planning.

Stewart earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Florida State University and his J.D. degree from Stetson. As a law student, he served as a research assistant, a student assistant and was an active member of the Black Law Students Association.

Stewart’s academic interests focus on the cross-section of law and political science and its impact on national public policy and economics.

Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]

Law Students Discuss Human Rights

Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]

Professor Dorothea Beane and her law class meet at Thurgood Marshall Middle School before the teach-in
Professor Dorothea Beane and her law class meet at Thurgood Marshall Middle School before the teach-in. Click for high-resolution image.

During the same week that many people visited American grade schools as part of the Great American Teach-In, Stetson University College of Law professor Dorothea Beane and her law class returned to Thurgood Marshall Fundamental Middle School for an annual discussion of human rights issues on Nov. 15.

Child labor, school shortages and the one-child law in China were the topics of discussion for instructor Jessica Salinas’ gifted class of 18 middle schoolers.

“We are presenting our teach-in in the hopes that we can learn from one another,” Professor Beane told the sixth-graders after introducing her class of 10 Stetson Law students.

The law students started the class off with a documentary film about children working in agricultural fields in the U.S. The film interviewed children who worked long, physically exhausting hours while being exposed to pesticides. The sixth-graders then discussed an exemption in the Fair Labor Standards Act which allows children to work legally in agriculture in our country.

The students continued their discussion of child labor issues outside the U.S. The middle school class broke into three groups to talk about the dangers of child labor and inadequate access to education in China. One student group cut out a shirt from a paper pattern and assembled it while a stop watch clicked, illustrating the demands placed on Chinese children in clothing factories.

“We think that middle schoolers talk a lot to each other about what’s important to them, and they talk to their families about what’s important to them, and we think that the greatest impediment to spreading human rights is people aren’t talking enough about it,” Professor Beane told the sixth-graders.

“We hope that you will continue the conversation with your friends and with your families because we think it’s important and important enough for us to take a day to spend with you,” Professor Beane told the students.

Beane is the founder of Stetson Law’s Summer Abroad Program in The Hague, Netherlands. She speaks and writes frequently on the role of international tribunals and co-directs Stetson’s Institute for Caribbean Law and Policy.

ABA President Honored by Law Review

Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]

ABA President Stephen Zack
ABA president Stephen Zack is this year's J. Ben Watkins Award recipient. Click for high-resolution image.

American Bar Association president Stephen Zack was honored at the annual Law Review banquet at Stetson University College of Law on Nov. 19 in Gulfport. Zack received the J. Ben Watkins Award for Excellence in the Legal Profession.

The Watkins Award is presented annually in honor of J. Ben Watkins, who was instrumental in founding the Stetson Law Review. Five members of the 1970 Stetson Law Review editorial board were also recognized at the event. “Good lawyers make a living. Great lawyers make a difference,” Zack said at the banquet.

Zack is the first Hispanic and Cuban-American president of the American Bar Association, elected in August 2010. As president of the ABA, Zack is working on a range of issues including improving access to justice and funding for the judiciary, increasing civic education in schools, improving Hispanic legal rights and responsibilities, and the ABA’s disaster preparedness plan.

Zack served as the first Hispanic-American and youngest president of the Florida Bar, founding member of the Cuban-American Bar Association, chair of the Florida Ethics Committee, and member of the 11th Circuit Judicial Nominating Committee for the Southern District.

This year, Hispanic Business Magazine included Zack on its list of the 100 Top Influential Hispanics, Florida Trend Magazine named him among Florida’s Legal Elite, and he is listed among the Law Dragon 500. The 2011 edition of The Best Lawyers in America lists him in the commercial litigation practice area. Zack is regularly recognized in the Super Lawyers section of the Miami Herald as a Top Florida Lawyer.

Zack is also a partner in the national law firm of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, with offices in Miami. His clients include former Vice President Al Gore in the trial of Bush v. Gore.

The Stetson Law Review is the college’s premier academic journal, published three times a year. Each issue addresses contemporary legal topics in a symposium format.

Stetson Hosts Comparative Law Clinic, ACLI

Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]

Stetson host comparative law clinic
(L-R): Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Grandy; Assistant U.S. Attorney Josie Thomas; Professor Susan Charles, Hugh Wooding Law School, Principal Mitchell Davies, Cayman Islands Law School; Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Downing; Professor George Belnavis, Norman Manley Law School; Professor Jane Cross, Nova Southeastern Law School; Professor Darryl Wilson, Stetson; Principal Tonya Bastian-Galanis, Eugene Dupuch Law School; Professor Dorothea Beane, Stetson; Professor John Knechtle, Florida Coastal Law School; Carla Card-Stubbs, Eugene Dupuch Law School. Click for high-resolution image.

The American Caribbean Law Initiative and the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida co-sponsored a comparative law clinic at Stetson University College of Law Nov. 8-12.

Stetson hosted students from law schools in the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Cayman Islands and Florida participating in a comparative law moot exercise as part of the American Caribbean Law Initiative.

Law students participated in  a moot court exercise, which tested their legal research and oral presentation skills on a range of civil, criminal and asset forfeiture cases.

Assistant U.S. attorneys from Tampa submitted mock problems and served as a panel of judges. Assistant U.S. Attorney and 2006 Stetson Law alumna Josie Thomas said she was pleased to participate in the project. Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Grandy congratulated the faculty and student participants, citing the exceptional quality of the oral submissions.

“The American Caribbean Law Initiative provides students from several law schools with the opportunity to work together to improve their relationships and understanding of their respective legal systems,” said Professor Dorothea Beane, who co-directs the Institute for Caribbean Law and Policy at Stetson.

ACLI board members and law school administrators also met for a two-day collaborative strategic planning session on Stetson Law’s Gulfport and Tampa campuses. The group discussed opportunities for scholarly development in areas such as international comparative law and advocacy.

They discussed teaching and student exchanges; locations and topics for continuing legal education conferences for students, faculty, judges and members of the bar throughout the U.S. and Caribbean; and membership expansion plans through 2015.

The law students hailed from Eugene Dupuch Law School, Hugh Wooding Law School, Norman Manley Law School, Cayman Islands Law School, Florida Coastal School of Law, Nova Southeastern School of Law and Stetson.

Advocacy Teams Win Two Competitions on Nov. 13 and 14

Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]

Advocacy Teams win two competitions 1
(L-R): Mercer Law Dean Gary J. Simson, Professor Daisy Hurst Floyd, Jessica Flammer, Kaleena Barnes, Jason Lambert, Judge Louis Sands, Judge Danny Craig and Judge Michael J. Moore. Photo courtesy Mercer University. Click for high-resolution image.

Stetson University College of Law’s advocacy teams won two competitions on Nov. 13 and 14.

The Stetson Law Moot Court team won the Legal Ethics and Professionalism Moot Court Competition on Nov. 13 at Mercer University School of Law in Macon, Ga. Two joint advocacy board arbitration teams of Stetson Law students won both first and second place at the American Bar Association Law Student Division Regional Arbitration Competition on Nov. 14 at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Kaleena Barnes, Jessica Flammer and Jason Lambert won the inaugural Legal Ethics and Professionalism Moot Court Competition, competing against 15 teams from around the nation. District and circuit court judges presided over the final rounds of the competition, in which the team argued a moot U.S. Supreme Court case.

 

Advocacy Teams win two competitions 2
Students (L-R): Chris Donegan, Sarah Lord, Angela Meyers and David Jacobs won first-place in the ABA LSD Regional Arbitration Competition. Click for high-resolution image.

The Stetson team of Chris Donegan, David Jacobs, Sarah Lord and Angela Meyers won first place in the ABA LSD Regional Arbitration Competition. The second Stetson team of Rachel Attal, Anne Dryden, Ashley Dusnik and Matthew Futch won second place. It is the fifth time in the regional competition’s history that two Stetson teams have faced each other in the finals. Ten teams competed. Both of Stetson’s teams will advance to the ABA/LSD National Arbitration Competition in Chicago in January.

 

Advocacy Teams win two competitions 3
Students (L-R): Matthew Futch, Anne Dryden, Ashley Dusnik and Rachel Attal won second-place in the ABA LSD Regional Arbitration Competition. Click for high-resolution image.

 

NCSTL: Forensic Technology Innovator

Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]

NCSTL Honored
The August Vollmer Excellence in Forensic Science Award. Click for high-resolution image.

The National Clearinghouse for Science, Technology and the Law at Stetson University College of Law  was honored as a forensic technology innovator in October. The NCSTL was  presented with  the 2010 August Vollmer Excellence in Forensic Science Award in the category of Innovation in Forensic Technology on Oct. 24.

The National Clearinghouse was selected for outstanding achievements on behalf of the law enforcement profession by the International Association of Chiefs of Police Forensic Committee. The award was presented at the IACP’s 117th Annual Conference in Orlando, Fla.

Stetson’s National Clearinghouse provides a unique online resource that concentrates on the nexus of science, technology and the law, educating and sharing information with scientists, legal professionals, law enforcement, academics and the public. The NCSTL forensic research database provides more than 100,000 resources about forensic science and technology, the law of scientific evidence and expert witnesses. The NCSTL offers an innovative  one-stop clearinghouse to assist research.

According to TIME magazine, August Vollmer was a self-educated criminologist who started the police force in Berkeley, Calif., in 1905 and pioneered the use of blood, fiber and soil analysis and  fingerprint analysis.

To learn more about Stetson’s National Clearinghouse, visit http://www.ncstl.org or call 727-562-7316.

University of Miami Wins Regional ABA LSD Negotiation Competition at Stetson

Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]

U of Miami wins ABA-LSD Competition
The student team from the University of Miami won the Region 4 ABA LSD Negotiation Competition. Click for high-resolution image.

Students from the University of Miami School of Law won the Region 4 ABA/LSD Negotiation Competition Nov. 6-7 at Stetson Law in Gulfport, Fla.

Twenty-four teams from 12 law schools across the region competed on the Stetson Law campus, with the top four teams advancing to the finals. One team from the University of Miami, two teams from Stetson Law and one team from Cumberland School of Law competed in the finals.

A team from the University of Miami and a team from Stetson Law will advance to compete in the ABA/LSD National Negotiation Competition Feb. 11-12, 2011 in Atlanta.

Stetson Law Moot Court Wins Best Brief

Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]

Stetson Moot Court Win Best Brief
(L-R): Stetson alumnus and coach Larry Miccolis, team leader Tony Thomas, Greg Ludtka, Sandra Harrell and Derrick Clarke. Click for high-resolution image.

Stetson University College of Law’s Moot Court team won the Best Brief award at the Navy JAG Corps 2010 National Moot Court Competition Oct. 28-30 at the Naval Air Station Jacksonville. A team from the University of Michigan won the overall competition.

Stetson students Derrick Clarke, Sandra Harrell, Greg Ludtka and team leader Tony Thomas competed along with 19 teams from law schools around the nation. Stetson alumnus Larry Miccolis coached the Stetson team that won the Best Brief.

“Moot court competitions involve both a written and oral component, and to bring home the top award for the written submission is amazing,” said Professor Brooke Bowman, Moot Court Advisor.

Stetson’s Moot Court won the Veterans Law Appellate Advocacy Competition in Washington, D.C., for the second year in a row on Oct. 17. Earlier this year, Stetson’s Moot Court won the E. Earle Zehmer Workers’ Compensation Moot Court Competition in August and the Robert Orseck Memorial Moot Court Competition in June.

Stetson Professor Appointed to IBA Council

Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]

On Oct. 7, Stetson University College of Law Professor Luz Nagle was elected by acclamation to the International Bar Association Legal Practice Division Council for a four-year term starting in January 2011.

“I feel honored to have been selected for this important appointment,” Nagle said. “As a member of LPD Council, I am thrilled to have an opportunity to contribute substantively to one of the world’s leading legal organizations.” Her election to the Council caps prior appointments as secretary, vice-chair, and co-chair of the IBA’s criminal law committee, and serving on several IBA task forces on the rule of law and counter-terrorism.

Nagle, an expert in international law and international criminal law who has been published in English and Spanish on four continents, began her legal career in Colombia, where she was a judge in Medellín confronting drug lords. At Stetson, she teaches International Law, International Criminal Law, Human Trafficking, and an Advanced Seminar on Terrorism and Global Security.  Professor Nagle has been involved in several rule of law, judicial reform, and hemispheric security projects sponsored by USAID and the U.S. Departments of Defense, Justice, and State and has trained government and military officials from more than a dozen nations.

Deeply involved in the international fight against human trafficking and modern day slavery, Nagle serves on the Florida Governor’s Task Force on Human Trafficking, and was honored in 2009 with the Freedom Award given by the Florida Coalition against Human Trafficking. She was also recently honored by the University of Minnesota Law School for her “Outstanding Contributions to the Achievement of Social Justice and Human Rights.”

An active member of the American Bar Association, Professor Nagle serves as co-chair of the international law section of the ABA Criminal Justice Section, and holds a seat on the ABA’s Criminal Justice Council, one of the most influential legal policymaking bodies in the United States. She also holds elected memberships in the American Law Institute, the American Branch of the International Law Association, L’Association Internationale de Droit Pénal, the International Network to Promote the Rule of Law, the Academia Mexicana de Derecho Internacional Privado y Comparado, and the Tampa Chapter of the Committee on Foreign Relations.

The IBA, with a membership of more than 40,000 lawyers and 197 bar associations and law societies, spans every continent. It influences the development of international law reform and shapes the future of the legal profession throughout the world.

Stetson Law Invites Prospective Students to Campus on Nov. 13

Contact Brandi Palmer
Manager of Media Relations
727-562-7381
[email protected]

Stetson University College of Law invites prospective students to experience campus life during Law Information Day on Nov. 13. The program runs from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on Stetson’s Gulfport campus with a required 8:30 a.m. registration.

The day-long program is designed to provide prospective students with a glimpse into the life of a law school student. Attendees will participate in a simulated law class, meet law professors, speak with current law students and learn about the admissions and financial aid process. A campus tour and complimentary lunch will also be provided.

Reservations are required. RSVP online by Nov. 9 to http://www.law.stetson.edu/admissions/infoday.

For more information, call the Office of Admissions and Student Financial Planning at 727-562-7802 or e-mail [email protected]. Stetson’s Gulfport campus is located at 1401 61st St. S., Gulfport.