Stetson Law teams shown here with the competition judges at the Indiana Supreme Court. Photo by Brooke Bowman.

Stetson University College of Law students won the National Professional Responsibility Moot Court Competition in Indianapolis, Ind. Stetson students also won all six of the possible awards, sweeping the competition.

Two teams of Stetson students beat teams from around the country to compete against each other in the final round, presented at the Indiana Supreme Court. The Stetson team of Kevin Crews, Erin Okuno and Morgan Vasigh won the final round, competing against the Stetson team of Adriana Corso, Erin Dolan and Michelle Reilly.

Stetson students Corso, Dolan and Reilly won the Best Petitioner Brief Award. Crews, Okuno and Vasigh won the Best Respondent Brief Award. Okuno was also named Best Oralist in both the preliminary and final rounds.

This is the second year in a row in which a Stetson team has won top awards at this competition. Last year, the Stetson team won the Best Oralist Overall, the Best Respondent Brief, as well as the entire competition.

“At Stetson, we focus on preparing and developing the whole advocate, and our students were remarkably prepared, thanks to the assistance of numerous attorneys and alumni who came to judge the teams’ practices,” said Stetson’s moot court adviser and professor Brooke Bowman. “The judges recognized that the Stetson students were the best advocates—in writing and orally—at this competition. These judges also commented on the students’ impressive level of professionalism.”

Stetson professors Bowman and Roberta Flowers coached the Stetson teams.

To learn more about advocacy at Stetson, visit www.law.stetson.edu/advocacy.

“Stetson teacher-scholars facilitate transformational learning in our students,” said Provost Elizabeth Paul, who made the announcement Wednesday, March 27. “They are themselves passionate lifelong learners who, through their scholarly, creative and professional engagement, make important contributions to the advancement of knowledge, disciplines and society. And they are leaders of the continual progress of Stetson University in realizing our important mission. Each and every one of these individuals exemplifies teacher-scholar excellence. I celebrate their accomplishments and thank them for their inspiration and impact.”

Cindy Bennington – Promotion to Professor of Biology

Bennington

Dr. Cindy Bennington has conducted ecological research in Alaska, West Virginia, New Jersey, and Florida.  At Stetson, she teaches courses on ecology and botany; she actively engages students in research on arctic and temperate plant species. Central Florida’s dry, sandy, nutrient-poor soils, coupled with a rich diversity of animal attackers, provide ample opportunities for her to pursue long-standing interests in plant adaptation to stressful environments.  She also regularly involves Stetson students in environmental service-learning projects both on and off campus.  Currently, she and Dr. Karen Cole, Director of the Gillespie Museum, are working to develop the Volusia Sandhill Teaching Landscape, a project adjacent to the Museum where visitors can learn about the longleaf pine ecosystem that historically dominated the sandhills of central Florida.

David Bjella – Promotion to Professor of Music

Bjella

A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Cellist David Bjella has had a multi-faceted career as a teacher, chamber musician, orchestral player, and soloist. He directs the Chamber Music program at Stetson and is Co-Principal in the IRIS Chamber Orchestra.  He is also a member of the Inman Piano Trio. One of the featured IRIS chamber musicians for the Naxos-released CD “Music of Stephen Hartke,” chosen by the New York Times as a “Top 10 Classical Recording of 2003,” Bjella has held appointments as Visiting Associate Professor of Cello at Florida State University and Professor of Cello at the University of Central Florida. He has also taught in the Valade Master Teacher program at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan.

Debbi Dinkins – Promotion to Professor and Associate Dean of the duPont-Ball Library

Dinkins

Debbi Dinkins, Associate Dean of the duPont-Ball Library, works closely with the Dean of the Library on administration and planning.  She is responsible for all aspects of Technical Services, including acquisitions, cataloging, periodicals, and computer systems.  Dinkins manages the library’s materials budgets and operating budgets.  She oversees the acquisition and cataloging of the library’s collections, which include over 300,000 volumes of books and bound periodicals, more than 70,000 electronic books, and access to over 64,000 electronic journals.  Management and maintenance of the 46 public computers in the library are also her responsibility. Dinkins’ research and professional interests include patron-driven acquisition of eBooks, library collection evaluation, and cataloging.  Her articles have been published in such journals as College and Research Libraries and The Journal of Academic Librarianship.

Tishia Dunham – Promotion to Associate Professor of Legal Skills

Dunham

Tishia Dunham teaches legal skills and is Director of Bar Preparation Services.  Prior to joining Stetson’s faculty, Professor Dunham practiced law in the areas of employment law, commercial litigation, and real property with an emphasis on community associations.  Dunham teaches and writes primarily in the area of state constitutional law. She is the co-author of Florida Constitutional Law: Cases and Materials (Carolina Academic Press, 2013).

Glen Epley – Awarded tenure as Professor of Teacher Education

Dr. Glen Epley has been a sportswriter for a metropolitan daily newspaper, a high school history teacher, a professor at three universities, a deputy superintendent of the Volusia County Schools, and an executive with Brown & Brown, Inc., one of the premier insurance brokerages in the nation and world.  Since joining Stetson, Dr. Epley teaches primarily in the graduate program for educators who are pursuing masters’ degrees in educational leadership.  His specialties are school law and school finance.  He also teaches a seminar on the legal rights of students in public schools.  Dr. Epley’s research focuses on constitutional jurisprudence as it affects public schools, and he has published in NASSP Bulletin, Phi Delta Kappan, Education Law Reporter, Kappa Delta Pi Record, and The Clearing House, among others.  He is a frequent presenter at national conferences on school law and school finance.  His current research project involves the legal concerns for school officials when they attempt to regulate student speech off school grounds on the internet and social media sites.

Eric Kurlander – Promoted to Professor of History

Kurlander

Dr. Eric Kurlander teaches classes on modern German, European, and world history. His recent book, Living with Hitler (Yale, 2009), examines the ways in which German liberals negotiated, resisted, and in some ways accommodated the Third Reich. He is also author of The Price of Exclusion: Ethnicity, National Identity, and the Decline of German Liberalism, 1898-1933 (Berghahn, 2006). His articles have appeared in Central European History, The Journal of Contemporary History, The Historian, and other journals.  Kurlander has held fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the German Historical Institute, and other granting agencies.  He is currently at work on two additional book projects:  a textbook co-authored with colleague Dr. Kimberly Reiter, The West in Question: Continuity and Change (Pearson-Longman), and Nazi Monsters:  A Supernatural History of the Third Reich (Yale trade division, forthcoming).

 Lance Long – Awarded programmatic tenure and promoted to Professor of Legal Skills

Long

Lance Long joined Stetson after having taught legal research and writing at J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, and at the University of Oregon School of Law. Before teaching, Professor Long practiced with Morrison & Foerster in Orange County, California and Hill, Johnson & Schmutz in Provo, Utah. His practice focuses on appellate and motion practice in the areas of intellectual property, contract, and construction law. Professor Long’s scholarship currently centers on empirical analyses of language patterns in appellate briefs and opinions. His two most recent articles, “Does the Readability of Your Brief Affect Your Chance of Winning on Appeal?” and “Clearly Using Intensifiers is Very Bad—Or Is It?” were published, respectively, in the Journal of Appellate Practice & Process and The Idaho Law Review.

Brigid Noonan – Promotion to Professor of Counselor Education 

Noonan

Dr. Brigid M. Noonan, Ph.D., LMHC, NCC, ACS, chairs the Department of Counselor Education.  She has more than 19 years of clinical experience working with a range of diverse clients, with a focus on addiction, eating disorders and depression, disability, career issues, and sexual identity.  Her research focuses on international counselor education, advocacy and social justice, working with families, and sexuality and spirituality.  Her recent articles have been published in such venues as International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling and Professional Issues in Counseling.  She is also co-author of a chapter in Handbook of Counselor Preparation:  Constructivist, Developmental, and Experiential Approaches (Sage, 2011).

Jason Palmer – Awarded programmatic tenure

Palmer

Jason Palmer joined Stetson after teaching legal writing and oral advocacy at George Washington University Law School. Most recently, he worked for the Department of State, representing the United States in international arbitration cases before the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal. He also spent four years in Switzerland working as a claims judge for the Claims Resolution Tribunal for Dormant Accounts, adjudicating claims of victims of Nazi persecution; for the United Nations Compensation Commission, coordinating review of Palestinian claims against Iraq as a result of its invasion and occupation of Kuwait; and for the Europa Institute at the University of Zurich, creating and teaching a course for Swiss lawyers on U.S. legal writing. Before working in Switzerland and at the Department of State, Professor Palmer spent several years in private practice in Washington, D.C., focusing on commercial litigation and international arbitration.  He is author of numerous articles on international law, and he has served as editor of several legal journals.

Leila Roach – Awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor of Counselor Education

Roach

Dr. Leila Roach coordinates the Marriage, Couple and Family Counseling Program. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, an approved supervisor for Mental Health Counselors in the state of Florida and a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC). Dr. Roach has 22 years of experience counseling children, adolescents, adults, couples and families, including members of the Deaf community, in a variety of settings. She has advanced training in play therapy, couples counseling, and disaster mental health. Her research interests include wellness in counseling and counselor education, the personal and professional development of counseling students, and spirituality in counseling.

 Joshua Rust – Awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor of Philosophy

Rust

Dr. Joshua Rust is the author of two books, John Searle and the Construction of Social Reality (Continuum, 2005) and John Searle (Continuum, 2009). He is also a coauthor of several articles in empirical philosophy concerning the behavior of ethicists as compared to other academic professionals. On the lighter side, he has coauthored two essays (with Dr. Susan Pepper-Bates) at the intersection of popular culture and philosophy: one on True Blood and the other on Harry Potter. Areas of interest include metaphilosophy, explanation, social construction, and Wittgenstein. He is also interested in the history of 20th century analytic philosophy and ancient philosophy. Joshua is the secretary/treasurer for the Florida Philosophical Association, co-chair on the Values Steering Committee, and a member of the Social Justice Lecture Series Committee.

 Ranjini Thaver – Promoted to Professor of Economics 

Thaver

Dr. Ranjini Thaver, born in South Africa, completed her bachelor’s degree, with honors, in Economics at the University of Cape Town, and her master’s and doctoral degrees in Economics at the University of Notre Dame. She has taught at Stetson since 1992. She developed the first university-based microcredit program in the world, located in a poverty-stricken area in DeLand, and in Manio Village, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. She has partnered with local and national organizations to deliver economically empowering programs to the poor, such as personal finance education workshops, and volunteer income tax preparation (VITA). She is recipient of Stetson University’s McEniry Award for Excellence in Teaching. She has presented her research at international, national, and local conferences, and at universities such as Cornell, Notre Dame, and Mary Washington College.

Chris Tobler – Awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor of Finance 

Tobler

Dr. Chris Tobler teaches both undergraduate and graduate level course in finance and in the Executive MBA and JD/BMA programs.  His teaching interests include investments, corporate finance and risk-management.  His scholarship focuses on derivatives, asset pricing, and the role of overvaluation in mergers and acquisitions. He has published in various journals including the Journal of Finance and Accountancy, Banking and Finance Review and the International Journal of Global Business and Economics.

Louis Virelli – Promoted to Professor of Law

Virelli

Louis Virelli teaches courses in administrative law, civil procedure, constitutional law, and federal pretrial practice. He co-coaches two of Stetson’s moot court teams and is faculty advisor to the Freethinkers Rhetoric Society and the Stetson chapter of the American Constitution Society.  Prior to joining Stetson, Professor Virelli served as a trial attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.  He also taught legal research and writing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, where he was named best oralist in the law school’s Keedy Cup moot court competition and served as articles editor on the Journal of Constitutional Law. Professor Virelli clerked for Judge Franklin S. Van Antwerpen of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Judge Leonard I. Garth of the Third Circuit.  He has written on constitutional interpretation, congressional power, the teaching of evolution in public schools, and the role of scientific information in the regulatory process. His articles have appeared in such journals as the Miami Law Review, the Northwestern University Law Review Colloquy, the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, and the Administrative Law Review. 

Becky Watts – Awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies 

Watts

Dr. Rebecca Watts’ teaching and scholarship centers on the application of rhetorical theory and criticism to public culture, including Southern culture, political culture, and popular culture. She is interested in organizational crisis rhetoric as well as internet communication as a way of increasing participation in public culture (in everything from political culture to sports culture).  Her book, Contemporary Southern Identity: Community through Controversy (University Press of Mississippi, 2008), applies rhetorical theory and criticism to Southern culture specifically and public discourse in general.

John York – Awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor of Chemistry 

York

Dr. John York has expertise in inorganic, organometallic, and biological inorganic chemistry.  His research focuses on using transition metal compounds to perform important chemical transformations.  He is especially interested in understanding how copper can function in both biological and industrial systems to bind with important organic molecules like alkenes and thiophenes. In this research, Dr. York utilizes both synthetic chemistry and computational chemistry methods.  He is also active in the field of chemical education and develops innovative techniques and materials for teaching chemistry to undergraduate students.

Stetson Law Professor and Dean Emeritus Bruce Jacob has handled cases for indigent clients for 50 years.

As a young lawyer in his 20s working for the Florida attorney general in Tallahassee 50 years ago, a Stetson University College of Law graduate named Bruce Jacob was assigned to represent the respondent in a Supreme Court case that made history.

The Court’s landmark decision on March 18, 1963, regarding the right to a fair trial in Gideon v. Wainwright was the impetus for the idea of public defenders. Jacob, now a professor and dean emeritus at Stetson University College of Law, was inspired to dedicate the next 50 years of his life to handling cases for indigent clients.

Shortly after the decision in Gideon, Jacob said he signed up as a volunteer public defender, one of the first in the state.

“I just thought it was the right thing to do,” Jacob explained.

After joining the faculty at Emory University School of Law in 1965, Jacob established the Legal Assistance for Inmates Program at the Atlanta Penitentiary. In just the first two weeks after its launch, more than 750 inmates approached the program for assistance. Jacob supervised the program and 53 students who volunteered to work on cases. In 1969, Jacob took a federal prisoner’s case to the Supreme Court and won the case for the petitioner in Kaufman v. United States.

While studying at Harvard Law School, Jacob helped start the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project. Through the Community Legal Assistance Office in Cambridge, Mass., Jacob supervised law students defending criminal cases and representing indigent people.

Jacob fought for the rights of the indigent throughout his teaching career. He has taught 20 different law school courses over the past 48 years. Jacob currently teaches courses on constitutional law, administrative law, criminal law and criminal procedure at Stetson University, where he has received hundreds of letters from inmates and lawyers through the years requesting his expertise.

Jacob is taking one inmate’s case, the case of Dwight Roberts, to the Florida Supreme Court. That case involves a sentence that was imposed on the basis of an unconstitutional statute, Jacob said.

Recently, Jacob also took the clemency case of Jerome Davis, referred to him by the Public Defender’s Office. A non-violent offender, Davis was convicted multiple times for selling cocaine or fake cocaine and sentenced in 1991 to life in prison, the highest penalty allowed. Jacob estimated that the combined sum of money Davis made from all drug sales was $70 and that tax-payers have spent approximately $30K a year on Davis’ prison stay over the past 20 years.

“Sentences in the U.S. are longer than in any other country in the world,” Jacob said.

Jacob is asking Florida’s clemency board to consider whether Davis’ life-sentence fits his crime, the same sentence defendants convicted of sexual battery, child molestation, and murder have received. Ultimately, the state attorney general, Commissioner of Agriculture and governor will review the clemency application that he filed on May 30, 2012, Jacob said.

One obstacle to shorter prison sentences for non-violent offenders like Davis, Jacob said, could be opposition from the prison industry itself, which supports employees who are caretakers of long-term prisoners. Another obstacle is the struggle to provide indigent people with adequate counsel.

Fifty years after Gideon, Jacob said that public defender offices are underfunded and lawyers are overwhelmed with cases.

“The justice system requires ethical prosecutors and solid defense lawyers,” Jacob said “Without criminal defense lawyers, the justice system disintegrates.”

Jacob is appealing Dwight Roberts’ case in April.

Click here for more information on this multimedia website.

Related articles:

“Remembering Gideon’s Lawyers”
By Professor Bruce Jacob
Published in The Champion, June 2012

“Memories of and Reflections about Gideon v. Wainwright”
By Professor Bruce Jacob
Published in Stetson Law Review, Fall 2003

“Fifty years after Gideon, lawyers still struggle to provide counsel to the indigent”
By Mark Walsh
Published in the ABA Journal, March 2013

“So You Want to Learn More About the Gideon Case?”
By Andrew Cohen
Published in the Atlantic, March 2013

Stetson BLSA member Andrenette Sullivan was installed as Advocacy Specialist for the BLSA Southern Region Executive Board.

Sullivan attended the convention along with Stetson BLSA member Pavielle Bookman, and BLSA chapter delegates Charis Campbell, Brannon Gary, Angelica Jones, Valeria Obi, and BLSA president Lakeisha Simms.

“Our accomplishments over this past year make me extremely optimistic about the future of Stetson’s BLSA,” said Simms.

Last month, Stetson’s BLSA was named Chapter of the Year for the Southern Region for outstanding community activism from a pool of 43 law school chapters in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

AAJ Regional winners (L-R): Charles Strauss, William Gower III, Erica Emas and Andona Zacks-Jordan. Photo by Austin Miniard.

Stetson University College of Law students won the American Association for Justice Regional Mock Trial Championship on March 10 in Miami, Fla.

Sixteen teams competed in Miami. Stetson students Erica Emas, William Gower III, Andona Zacks-Jordan and Charles Strauss won the regional and a chance to compete against 13 teams from around the country in the AAJ nationals, April 4-7, in New Orleans.

“These competitions give our students the opportunity to learn and practice the exact same skills that will serve them, and even more importantly their clients, well in years to come,” said Stetson Trial Advocacy Fellow Lee Coppock. “The prestigious American Association for Justice competition is one of only two mock trial events that starts with more than 200 different squads and ends with one champion.”

Coppock, Judge David A. Demers, and St. Petersburg College paralegal studies dean Susan Demers coached the Stetson team.

Download a high-resolution image of the team by visiting Stetson Law News.

To learn more visit http://www.law.stetson.edu/advocacy/  or watch a video introduction to advocacy at Stetson here.

The Vis competition includes more than 290 teams from over 65 countries around the world. The Jessup competition includes student advocates from 550 law schools and more than 80 countries.

“In a few weeks, our students will showcase their advocacy skills on the international stage,” said Stetson Law professor and moot court advisor Brooke Bowman. “These competitions give students opportunities to present their arguments before top international judges and attorneys.”

Stetson’s Vis team of Paul Crochet, Meagan Foley, Michael Rothfeldt, Lisa Tanaka and Alex Zesch won the Florida Bar International Law Section Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Pre-Moot in Miami, Fla., on March 2. Foley was named the best oralist in the competition, for an unprecedented second year in a row. The team travels to Vienna to compete in two weeks.

Stetson’s Jessup team of Sharon Galantino, Caitlein Jammo, Bradley Muhs and Carly Ross finished second at the South Super-Regionals of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in New Orleans, La., on March 1-3, and won the runner-up memorial award. The team heads to Washington, D.C., in a few weeks to compete in the international finals with law students from around the world.

To learn more visit http://www.law.stetson.edu/advocacy/.

Brent Walker will give a series of lectures April 9 and 10 about religious freedom and the separation of church and state.

Executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C., J. Brent Walker, will speak on religious freedom and the separation of church and state, as part of the Shurden Lectures at Stetson University. These lectures, sponsored by the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and Stetson University, are open to the public, free of charge. All lectures will be held in the Stetson Room, second floor of the Carlton Union Building, 131 E. Minnesota Ave., on the DeLand campus.

“First Principles: God-given, but government protected” is the topic for Walker’s lecture, 5 p.m., Tuesday, April 9. “First Freedoms: Accommodate religion, but don’t advance it” is the title of the second lecture, 3 p.m., Wednesday, April 10. “Religion and Politics: How did we do in 2012?” is the topic for the third lecture, 5 p.m., Wednesday, April 10.

Walker, a 1976 honors graduate of the Stetson University College of Law, is an ordained minister and member of the Supreme Court Bar and the Bar of the District of Columbia. He was recognized by the Stetson Lawyers Association as a distinguished alumnus in 2009. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Florida.

Walker was a partner in the Tampa law office of Carlton Fields, but left the practice in 1986 to earn a Master of Divinity degree from Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He has served the cause of religious liberty as an advocate for the separation of church and state in our nation’s capital since 1989. He has been published widely, and he regularly provides commentary in the national media. Walker has been quoted by numerous national publications and has appeared on CNN, NBC, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, and National Public Radio. His latest book, Church-State Matters: Fighting for Religious Liberty in the Nation’s Capital, is available from Mercer University Press or from popular online book retailers.

The Shurden Lectures, named after Drs. Walter and Kay Shurden, are designed to educate students regarding separation of church and state, and to enhance the programs of the Baptist Joint Committee. The lectures are held at Mercer University every three years and at another seminary, college or university the other years. This year the lectures will be held at Stetson University.

For further information about these lectures, please contact Stetson professor of religious studies Gregory Sapp at (386) 822-8930, or gsapp@stetson.edu. As Stetson’s Hal S. Marchman Chair of Civic and Social Responsibility, Sapp is director of Stetson’s Shurden Lectures.

Joel Jones (left), executive director of Creative Services in SUM, accepted the Grand Award in the category of Green or Sustainable Publications for the Fall 2012 VISUAL Admission Magazine. Presenting the award to Joel is Awards Chair Joshua Hawkins, from University of Louisville, and CASE Chair Tina Kauffmann, from Bellarmine University.

Stetson University received eight CASE awards at the CASE District III Conference held Feb. 17-20, in Atlanta, Ga. CASE stands for the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. Criteria used for determining CASE awards include writing, editing, professional execution of publications, design, technical quality, creativity, and an array of other elements to the programs. Stetson University won one Grand Award, two Awards of Excellence and five Special Merit Awards.

According to the CASE organizational mission statement, CASE is the premier professional association for educational advancement professionals. CASE helps its members build stronger relationships with their alumni and donors, raise funds for campus projects, produce recruitment materials, market their institutions to prospective students, diversify the professional, and foster public support of education. It was founded in 1974 through a merging of the American Alumni Council and the American College Public Relations Association.

The annual CASE awards honor and recognize outstanding programs and individuals from the individual districts. Stetson University is part of CASE District III, which is the Southeast district. It includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. It is the second-largest district with over 3,500 members.

“CASE gives the opportunity for us to take things we work on, whether it’s websites, programs, media sources, and put them up against other universities to calibrate and see how we compare to other schools,” said Stetson Vice President for University Marketing Greg Carroll. “Attending the 2013 CASE ‘Inspire Conference’ allows Stetson to be able to look at the works of other schools and be able to learn and compare projects and programs to those of other universities and help build ideas and concepts for endeavors in future media projects at Stetson.”

CASE Awards presented to Stetson University at the 2013 CASE Conference, include:

GRAND AWARD

Publications/Print and/or Digital for University

Green or Sustainable Publications

VISUAL—Admission Magazine

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

Programs and Projects

Communications and Marketing

Crisis/Issues Management Plan

Razing Stover Theatre

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

Electronic/Digital

Online Innovation/Experimentation

Digital

STETSON TODAY

SPECIAL MERIT

Publications/Print and/or Digital

Recruitment

Publications/Viewbooks/Magazines

VISUAL—Admission Magazine

SPECIAL MERIT

Publications/Print and/or Digital

Recruitment

Recruitment Series

Law Academic Specialty Programs

SPECIAL MERIT

Electronic/Digital

Website or Microsite

Recruitment

Admission Web Portal

SPECIAL MERIT

Program and Projects

Communications and Marketing

Branding/Identity Program or Campaign

Campus Signage

SPECIAL MERIT

Programs and Projects

Alumni Relations

Alumni Relations Project, Event or Program

Homecoming 2012 Green and White Game and Food Truck Bazaar.

by Lauren Robbins, SUM Intern

Stetson’s Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Advocacy program is designed to meet the needs of busy legal practitioners who wish to learn the Stetson method of advocacy. Students enrolled in the program will complete courses online with some limited in-person participation. Applicants for admission to the LL.M. program must have a law degree from a U.S. law school or a law school approved by the appropriate authority outside the U.S.

“Stetson sets the benchmark for trial advocacy in the country,” said Charles Rose III, director of the Center for Excellence in Advocacy and Professor of Excellence in Trial Advocacy. “We focus on preparing our students for the practice of law, providing them the skills, knowledge and confidence to be as comfortable before the bench as they are drafting a brief for a case or interviewing a client. Stetson gives students the skills they need to conduct the business of law in the real world.”

The new online LL.M. program is offered through Stetson’s Center for Excellence in Advocacy, home to advocacy teams who have won four international titles, 60 national championships, 40 state titles, 38 best brief awards, and 96 best oralist/advocate awards. In the 18 years that U.S. News and World Report has ranked trial advocacy programs, Stetson has been ranked the top program 14 times.

Stetson’s advocacy center is also a resource for law professors and practitioners, hosting an annual Educating Advocates: Teaching Advocacy Skills conference and maintaining an Advocacy Resource Center.

The deadline for applications is June 1. Application fees for the new program have been waived. To download an application and view eligibility requirements, visit http://www.law.stetson.edu/academics/advocacy/llm/.

Wm. Reece Smith III, left, and Stetson Law Dean Christopher Pietruszkiewicz, right, pose with John T. Berry, this year’s recipient of the Wm. Reece Smith Public Service award.

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 as liaison for the State Bar of Arizona to the ABA Ethics 2000 Commission and ABA Multijurisdictional Practice Commission.

Stetson Law students and faculty attending this year’s Inns of Court Banquet on Feb. 13 in St. Petersburg celebrated the life of Wm. Reece Smith Jr., the lecture’s namesake and a legendary lawyer, who died on Jan. 11.

Smith, a longtime distinguished professorial lecturer and member of Stetson’s Hall of Fame, left behind a legacy of service to the legal profession. Smith founded Florida Legal Services and advocated for legal representation for the poor, served as president of the International, American and Florida Bar Associations, and was a member of the Carlton Fields law firm since 1953.

“A great attorney and an even greater human being, William Reece Smith Jr. embodied the values of Stetson University College of Law as much as any of our legendary leaders,” said Stetson Law Dean Christopher Pietruszkiewicz.

Nationally recognized trial lawyer Bruce Ross, of Holland & Knight LLP, presented the Wm. Reece Smith Jr. Distinguished Lecture at the Inns of Court Banquet. Ross is spearheading his law firm’s efforts to assist the Mickey Rooney Elder Abuse Project in providing free legal assistance to elder clients who have been exploited. Ross is included among the Best Lawyers in America for Trusts and Estates and among the Top 100 Attorneys by Worth Magazine and Who’s Who in Law.

The Annual Inns of Court brings together prominent lawyers, experienced teachers and law students to exchange ideas, experiences and education. The adopted Stetson Inns of Court tradition has its roots in England.

Read this release and more news from Stetson University College of Law.