Legal Roundup
Legal Roundup
Ave Maria Grant : Ave Maria School of Law has been awarded a $13,000 grant from The Florida Bar Foundation for its Public Service Fellows Program, used to provide financial assistance for students working in legal aid organizations in Southwest Florida this summer, including Legal Aid Service of Collier County, the Lee County Legal Aid Society, and the Florida Equal Justice Center. Ave Maria second-year student Jacqueline Shilling also received a Legal Services Summer Fellowship from the Foundation and will work at Florida Rural Legal Services in Ft. Myers.
Ft. Lauderdale Red Mass: The St. Thomas More Society of South Florida will hold a Red Mass, reception, and dinner June 4, beginning at 6 p.m. at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church on N.E. 2 St., in Ft. Lauderdale. Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick, archbishop emeritus of Washington, D.C., will be the guest speaker. Father John C. Favalora, archbishop of Miami, will be the principal celebrant at the Mass. The reception and dinner will be held at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort on Holiday Drive in Ft Lauderdale. The reception begins at 7:30 p.m., with dinner at 8:30 p.m.
Jax YLS Tees it Up: The Young Lawyers Section of the Jacksonville Bar Association held its Fifth Annual “Tee It Up” for charity golf tournament and raised $24,000 for the Family Nurturing Center, which provides a nurturing environment for families impacted by divorce, custody battles, and domestic violence, and keeps children safe during these difficult times while helping parents foster positive relationships with their children. Providing supervised visitation and exchange services, as well as parenting programs, the Family Nurturing Center of Florida has helped over 5,000 families since 1993.
Karp Essay Contest: Joseph Karp presented Dwyer High School student Cecelia Britton with a $500 check for her winning submission in the 2009 Karp Law Firm Essay Contest. Palm Beach County students submitted essays describing how they and their family are affected by someone suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. Karp presented the award at the Memory Walk fundraiser sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Association of Southeast Florida in downtown West Palm Beach.
Stetson Wins a Big One: A team of four students from Stetson University College of Law won the American Association for Justice Student Trial Advocacy Competition during the finals in West Palm Beach. Nelson Baez, Derrick Connell, Sara Mieczkowski, and Aaron Watson scored consecutive victories in mock trials against teams from Loyola of Los Angeles, University of Maryland, Loyola of Chicago, and Samford University. The competition began with 248 squads from 147 law schools. Stetson advanced to the national final after winning a regional tournament in Providence, R.I. Judge David A. Demers, Adjunct Professor Susan Demers, and Professor Roberta Flowers coached the winning team.
Curran Awarded Liberty Bell : Jane Curran, executive director of The Florida Bar Foundation, received the Orange County Bar’s 2009 Liberty Bell Award at its Law Week luncheon in Orlando. Curran is the first and only executive director of the Orlando-based Florida Bar Foundation, which is the administrator of Florida’s IOTA program and provides about a quarter of the funding for the state’s legal aid organizations. Curran has pioneered nationally recognized projects and programs, including the implementation of rules of comparability, which require banks to provide to IOTA account holders the same returns as provided to other valued accounts.
Barry Honors Judge Sharp: Former Judge Winifred J. Sharp recently received Barry University’s Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law’s Allies for Justice Award. Sharp, who retired after serving 27 years as a judge for the Fifth District Court of Appeal, was recognized for her advocacy for women and children’s issues. She has been involved in the equal rights movement and Florida child care initiatives, and has remained active on women’s issues through membership in groups like the League of Women Voters and the Governor’s Commission on the Status of Women, and as a past president of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers. She has also been active in organizations that protect the rights of children and the mentally ill, which has been portrayed through her roles as past president of the Child Care Resources Network, a member of the Florida Council for Community Mental Health, and a board member of the Beth Johnson Community Mental Health Center.
Richman Greer Lawyers Recognized: Five attorneys from Richman Greer were honored at a Dade County Bar luncheon for their volunteer efforts to help Holocaust survivors in South Florida seek financial reparations from the German government. The Ghetto Work Fund was established by the German government to pay survivors $3,000 each for their work in German ghettos during World War II. Richman Greer attorneys have donated over 100 hours assisting survivors fill out the complex applications and explaining the review process. To date, approximately 65 survivors have been helped by the firm’s efforts. Those recognized included Ethan Wall, Adam Myron, Jen Molle, Leora Freire, and Josh Spoont.
Carrollwood Bar Scramble: The Carrollwood Community Bar Association raised a record $13,750 at its Eighth Annual Spring Charity Courthouse Scramble held at Heritage Harbor. The proceeds go to benefit the All Sports Community Service Scholarship Fund.
Rue & Ziffra Gets Busy: Rue & Ziffra’s eight attorneys and 40-plus staff members participated in four separate charity events on one Saturday to raise a total of nearly $15,000 for Port Orange area charities. The events included the American Cancer Society’s “Relay for Life” walk to raise awareness and money to help fight cancer; the Lupus Foundation’s Lupus Link’s “A Day at the Derby” benefit party; an appreciation dinner for former State Rep. Joyce Cusack in Daytona Beach; and a motorcycle race from Orlando to Daytona Beach to benefit children with life-threatening diseases at the Boggy Creek Camp. All told, Rue & Ziffra raised and contributed a total of $750 for the Cusack dinner, $1,600 for the Lupus Foundation, $2,600 for the American Cancer Society, and $10,000 for the children at Boggy Creek.
