Stetson University College of Law is partnering with the Community Law Program and the St. Petersburg Bar Foundation to prepare free simple wills and advance directives for WWII, Korea and Vietnam War veterans and their spouses. WHAT: Stetson’s Center for Excellence in Elder Law and Veterans Law Institute will host a daylong program where volunteer attorneys from the Community Law Program will provide free wills… » Read more

John T. Berry, legal division director of the Florida Bar, was presented with this year’s Wm. Reece Smith Jr. Public Service Award. Stetson established the prestigious public service award for Wm. Reece Smith Jr. more than two decades ago. Berry is an expert in judicial education, ethics and professionalism who established professional development programs for the Florida Bar and State Bar of Arizona. He served… » Read more

Shivani Alamo, a student at Stetson University College of Law, has won the prestigious Lewis Hine Award for her volunteer work with children. Alamo received the New Generation Award, a special Lewis Hine Award for Service to Children and Youth, named for the National Child Labor Committee photographer who documented early 20th century exploitation of children to facilitate child labor reform. Traveling to New York… » Read more

Verónica Cáceres Chamorro, secretary pro tempore for the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles, talked to Stetson University College of Law students on Feb. 20 about the need for global collaboration and conservation. Cáceres Chamorro discussed threats to sea turtles including incidental capture from trawling gillnets and longline fishery, habitat loss like beach erosion on nesting beaches, and global climate change… » Read more

On Feb. 6, Stetson University introduced the Social Justice Advocacy Series to students on the Gulfport campus, featuring Robin Rosenberg, deputy director of Florida’s Children First. Rosenberg, who fights for the rights of at-risk children and youth in Florida, talked with Stetson Law students about the importance of advocating for justice in the community. Her talk was simply entitled “Do Good.” “You are here today… » Read more

Stetson University College of Law’s Black Law Students Association was recently named Chapter of the Year for the Southern Region for outstanding community activism. The Stetson student group was selected from a pool of 43 law school chapters in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The students were honored during the Southern Regional BLSA Convention in Nashville, Tenn., Jan.… » Read more

Stetson University College of Law students Andrew Harris, Julia McGrath and Victoria San Pedro won the New York City Bar’s 63rd Annual National Moot Court Competition on Jan. 31. McGrath was also honored with the runner-up best individual speaker award. This competition is one of the most prestigious in the nation. Teams from more than 150 law schools competed in 15 regional rounds across the… » Read more

Stetson University College of Law students Chad Burgess, Erin Okuno and Morgan Vasigh won the Best Brief Award at the prestigious Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Championship on Jan. 26 in Houston, Texas. The invitation-only law school competition, hosted by the University of Houston Law Center Blakely Advocacy Institute, drew students from 16 law schools around the country. The invitation is based on the schools’… » Read more

Stetson University College of Law students won the Florida Bar Chester Bedell Mock Trial Competition on Jan. 18 in Orlando, Fla. Stetson has won the competition 20 out of 30 times, including last year. A total of 22 teams from 11 Florida law schools competed. Two teams of four Stetson Law students advanced to compete against each other in the final round of the competition.… » Read more

Venable partner Peggy Strand, an expert in federal wetlands and environmental law, talked with Stetson Law students about challenges to protecting biodiversity through the law at the Edward and Bonnie Foreman Biodiversity Lecture on Jan. 17. Strand explained that one challenge to protecting biodiversity through the law is the lack of consensus among lawmakers on environmental issues. “If you can’t get consensus on climate change… » Read more

The winner of the 2013 White Collar Criminal Defense Award was presented at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Fla., on Jan. 12. Notable litigator Abbe David Lowell, whose high-profile clients include former U.S. presidential candidate Senator John Edwards, intelligence analyst Stephen Jin-Woo Kim and Tampa socialite Jill Kelley, received the award during the NACDL White Collar Criminal Defense College at Stetson. The award… » Read more

Legendary Florida lawyer William Reece Smith Jr., who served for decades as a distinguished professorial lecturer at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Fla., died on Jan. 11. Smith was 87. Smith joined the Carlton Fields law firm in Tampa, Fla., in 1953, most recently serving as chairman emeritus. In 1954, he joined Stetson’s teaching faculty and in 1991 was named a distinguished professorial… » Read more