Stetson Law’s new Advocacy Institute opens
Stetson Advocacy Institute/Stetson’s Facebook page
Stetson alumni, leadership, and friends recently gathered to celebrate the opening of its new Advocacy Institute on the College of Law campus in Gulfport.
The Advocacy Institute invites students, faculty, and other members of the advocacy community to learn and collaborate in its well-appointed courtrooms, study areas, and other spaces.
Officials and alumni celebrated the new facility at an event in late October.
“It has been such a joy to share our new Advocacy Institute with the community,” said Stetson Law Dean D. Benjamin Barros. “We can’t wait to see the many ways in which this dynamic new space will grow and shape our legacy as a global advocacy leader.”
The facility will build on Stetson Law’s reputation as a national leader in advocacy education while giving students opportunities to grow as advocates and as members of the community. Stetson Law is U.S. News & World Report’s number 1 destination for advocacy and has been for years.
More space to collaborate, practice, and celebrate
Inside Stetson Advocacy Institute/Stetson’s Facebook page
Situated on Stetson Law’s historic Gulfport campus, the 16,000-square-foot facility offers students a modern setting to learn without leaving the campus’s grounds.
With the addition of six new courtrooms, the new facility brings the number of formal courtrooms on Stetson’s campus to 12. The facility also adds two new jury deliberation rooms, one new lecture classroom, two new technology-equipped conference rooms, and 16 new offices.
The institute also features a history and awards hall, a renovated lobby entrance, and the campus bookstore.
The new spaces will be the training ground for Stetson Law’s award-winning moot court, mock trial, and dispute resolution teams – as well as the backdrop for major annual events like the Educating Advocacy Teachers conference, the National Pretrial Competition, and the International Environmental Moot Court Competition.
Exploring advocacy across disciplines
Several of the Stetson Law’s centers and institutes have also moved to the new facility, including the Center for Excellence in Advocacy, Center for Excellence in Elder Law, and Jacobs Law Clinic for Democracy and the Environment.
“An advocacy-rich education, which extends across concentrations and courses, gives students multiple opportunities to advocate for themselves as well as for positions, principles, and issues,” said Law Professor Elizabeth Boals, director of Stetson’s Center for Excellence in Advocacy. “These experiential learning spaces in our new Advocacy Institute allow for more intensive, advanced, specialized advocacy courses.”
