Citizenship Day success

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This year’s Citizenship Day which was held on Saturday April 14th attracted a record number of applicants from the Jacksonville community.  The Coastal Law Naturalization Skills Lab with the help of student clinicians in the Immigration Rights Clinic planned, set up, and successfully held this annual event initiated by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (“AILA”).

Volunteering at the event this year were 40 attorneys from the Jacksonville area, students from Professor Kara Roberts’ Citizenship Skills Lab, 15 clinicians from the Immigrant Rights Clinic, 35 other law student volunteers, Florida Coastal faculty and staff and 12 interpreters from a local non-profit agency. Students were able to assist 100 people from the Jacksonville community file their citizenship applications.  Several other individuals whose applications needed more attention are being referred to local attorneys for pro bono representation.

The applicants who attended were from various countries.  Some of the countries represented at the event were: Mexico, Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Russia, Vietnam, Sudan, Panama, Liberia, Costa Rica, and a few European countries. The community came out in great number and expressed gratitude for this life changing event put on by Florida Coastal School of Law.

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ALWR competition and Entertainment Law

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Everyone is invited to attend the Eighth Student ALWR Research Poster Competition in the Atrium. Students will be showcasing their diverse ALWR research topics in academic poster sessions on Tuesday, April 17 & Wednesday, April 18 from three ALWR courses; Domestic Violence (Prof. Clausen), Employment Discrimination (Prof. Harthill) and Law of Information Technology (Prof. Ponte).  Please stop by and check out their posters and ask the students about their ALWR research.

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Seven Florida Coastal Moot Court teams reach advanced rounds

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Congratulations to seven Moot Court teams for reaching the advanced rounds in national competitions this week and last, with one team reaching the championship round.

At the Rendigs National Products Liability Moot Court Competition in Ohio the team of Sarah Young (brief writer/oralist) and Drew Parrish Bennett and Anson Call (oralists) out-paced teams from Indiana University, South Texas, University of Georgia, John Marshall (Chicago) and Pace University, among others in a field of 22 teams, to reach the out-rounds. Our team then defeated Pepperdine University and Mississippi College of Law in the quarter-finals and semi-finals to reach the championship round. Drew and Anson argued in front of a bench of nine jurists in the final round, including justices from the Supreme Courts of Missouri, West Virginia, Arkansas and Indiana. The finals bench also included judges from the federal Courts of Appeals for the Sixth and District of Columbia Circuits, and the Northern District of Ohio. In addition to reaching the championship round, Sarah Young received the Best Brief, Respondent Award.

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Gain valuable knowledge from the DCA and Jurist-In-Residence

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The Florida First District Court of Appeal will hear cases at Florida Coastal beginning Tuesday, March 27 at 9:00 a.m. and convening again on Wednesday, March 28 at 9:00 a.m. The judges on the panel include Judges Rowe, Swanson, Marstiller and Makar. Oral arguments will take place in the Appellate Courtroom (Room 400). This is a tremendous opportunity to observe the Florida appellate court in action. I encourage students to drop by to hear at least a portion of the arguments. The court understands that students will be coming and going to attend classes. Please dress in courtroom attire. Additionally, please silence your cell phones and remove head coverings not worn for religious reasons.

This Tuesday and Wednesday, United States District Court Judge Timothy Corrigan will be visiting as this year’s jurist-in-residence. Judge Corrigan is a highly respected jurist who brings both wisdom and enormous intellect to the federal trial bench. He is recognized not just for his legal acumen, but also for his decency and rich understanding of the human condition.

Judge Corrigan is known as a judge’s judge and as a lawyer’s judge — because of his many years on the federal trial bench and his many years as a practicing attorney. In 2007, Judge Corrigan was named “Judge of the Year” by the Jacksonville Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, and he is the 2010 Ehrlich Award winner from Florida Coastal School of Law. He is a Master and past president of the Chester Bedell Inn of Court.

Judge Corrigan will hold two special topic sessions and visit a number of classes. On Tuesday, he will participate in a panel discussion with three First DCA judges on professionalism. On Wednesday, he will address the relationship between good writing and good courtroom advocacy. Each special topic session has been approved for one hour of professionalism credit.

Celebrate Mock Trial and join us for various events

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The Mock Trial Team had a very successful weekend. Nova’s Trial Association sponsored a closing argument competition open to all Florida schools. Coastal sent five individual competitors. There were approximately 70 competitors from around the state. The trial that was the basis for the closings was videotaped, except for the closing arguments. The competitors were provided the video and given one week to prepare closing arguments for both the prosecution and the defense. All competitors had to be prepared to give a closing argument for either the prosecution or defense with minimal notice.

After three preliminary rounds, three Coastal Law competitors qualified for the octo-finals. Garth Cheek 2L and Jola Adigun 2L were octo-finalists. Marc Taupier 2L advanced to the semifinals and placed third in the competition. They were coached by Professor Richard Watson and Coastal alum, Jo-Anne Yau. Congratulations to all. Continue reading →

Florida Coastal Moot Court Honor Board successes

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The Moot Court Honor Board won two competitions last weekend. The first was the Frederick Douglas Moot Court Competition (FDMCC), one of the largest advocacy competitions in the country, with more than 150 teams competing. FDMCC is hosted by the National Black Law Students Association.

Our team consisted of oralists/brief writers Tier Brown and De’Anne Jackson and Team Manager Juwon Adebayo. The team was coached by Honor Board alum Cory Simmons, who now practices criminal law downtown. After having won the FDMCC Southern Regional in January, Tier and De’Anne argued this weekend in the National Rounds in Washington, D.C. At the National Rounds, our team defeated teams from Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Texas, UCLA, South Texas, John Marshal Law School (Chicago), St. Thomas University (Miami), the University of Alabama and Washington & Lee, among others. This is an outstanding accomplishment! Congratulations to all! Continue reading →

Moot Court and Mock Trial both compete over weekend

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Congratulations to two of our moot court teams on their success this weekend, including a championship.

Both teams competed in the New York Regional of the National Appellate Advocacy Competition (NAAC) hosted by the American Bar Association. NAAC is the largest moot court competition in the country. The New York Regional had 36 teams competing. The team of Michael Hunter, Ross Darville and Matthew Rosenthal won the Regional championship, surpassing teams from Florida International, Columbia, Duke, New York Law School, Hofstra, Syracuse, St. John’s University, Marquette, Pace, Seton Hall and Brooklyn Law School, among others.

Our other team of Florence Chen, Tenielle James and Nicholas LeCakes reached the semi-finals. In addition to our teams’ success, out of over 100 advocates, Florence Chen won the Best Advocate Award, Second and Michael Hunter the Best Advocate Award, Fourth. Brooke Downing did a great job as Team Manager. Both teams were coached by Professor Sander Moody. Our championship team advances on to the National Rounds in Chicago, where the American Bar Association is headquartered.

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Three Moot Court teams achieve weekend success

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It was another strong weekend for our Moot Court program.

First, congratulations to our Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition team. Jessup is the largest moot court competition with over 600 law schools world-wide competing. This weekend in Houston, Florida Coastal reached the semi-finals of the Jessup Southern Super-Regional. After going undefeated in the preliminary rounds against LSU, Oklahoma, Ole Miss and Georgia State, our team paired up against advocacy powerhouse South Texas College of Law in the quarter-finals. (Florida Coastal and South Texas have been the only two law schools this year to lead the moot court national rankings.) Our team defeated South Texas in the quarter-finals before dropping an extremely narrow decision to Emory in the semi-finals.

Our Jessup team members include Andrew Weegar (Team Manager), Michael Flores and Warda Ali (oralists) and Amanda Isaacs, Theodora Oprea and Jim Buergler (brief writers). Amanda, Theo and Jim won Best Brief, Third. Michael won the Best Advocate, Sixth award. Warda won Best Advocate, Fifth. Professor Chris Roederer coached the Jessup team, continuing his Jessup success. In past years, Professor Roederer has coached Florida Coastal Jessup teams to top-10 and top-20 world-wide finishes.

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ABA Regional Client Counseling Competition

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Florida Coastal students, Tiara Jackson and Shaquandra Woods, competed in the ABA Regional Client Counseling Competition.

The Competition simulates a law office consultation in which the students, acting as attorneys, were presented with a client matter. They interviewed actors acting as clients and then explained what legal action they would recommend based on the hypothetical situation presented by the client.

At the end of the first three preliminary rounds, the students were ranked second in the competition. After the semi-final rounds, they were ranked number one although they were ultimately defeated in the finals. They ultimately finished ahead of teams from, among others, Stetson, Nova and Florida State. This is the first year Florida Coastal advanced to the finals in this competition. Monique Goran was the team captain. Professor Irvin, Professor Millard, and Martha Smith coached the team.

Congratulations to all! Great work.

2012 Law Review Symposium and Young Lawyer Boot Camp

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Florida Coastal Law Review is holding its 2012 Annual Symposium on Friday, March 2 at 9:00 A.M. in Room 550. This year’s event is entitled: “DigitalExpressions: Exploring Free Speech in Cyberspace”.

Florida Coastal Law Review is very fortunate to have a great panel of presenters from across the country. The event will kick off with a keynote presentation by the Honorable Alex Kozinski, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. To complete the panel, we have Florida Coastal’s own Professor Lucille Ponte, Professor Lyrissa Lidsky (University of Florida), Professor Jacqueline Lipton (Case Western Reserve University), Paul Alan Levy (Public Citizen Litigation Group), and Eric Robinson (University of Nevada-Reno, Center for Media and Courts).

The panel discussions will be moderated by Florida Coastal Professors John Knechtle and Joseph Tomain. Lunch and breakfast will be provided. All attendees are required to dress in courtroom attire. Laptops and electronic devices will not be permitted. If you plan on attending, please RSVP by February 29, at 5:00 P.M. at www.fcsl.edu/go/lawreview and sign in at the registration table at 8:30 A.M. on the day of the event. You must register for a Coastal Connect account in order to RSVP. If you do not RSVP, you are still welcome to attend, however, you will not receive lunch.

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