Stetson University College of Law

Stetson University College of Law (Stetson Law), founded in 1900 and part of Stetson University, is Florida's first law school. Originally located near the university's main campus in DeLand, Florida, the law school moved in 1954 to Gulfport, Florida. The law school occupies a historic 1920s resort hotel, the Rolyat Hotel, designed by Richard Kiehnel.[7] The College of Law is accredited by the American Bar Association and has been a member of the Association of American Law Schools since 1931. The college also has a campus in Tampa, Florida that shares space with a working court, Florida's Second District Court of Appeal.

Stetson University College of Law
MottoPro Deo et Veritate[1]
Established1900
School typePrivate
Parent endowmentUS$47.6 million
DeanMichèle Alexandre[2]
LocationGulfport, Florida, U.S.
Enrollment926[3]
Faculty47[4]
USNWR ranking84th (2024)[5]
Bar pass rate78.8% (Florida bar exam, July 2021 first-time takers) [6]
Websitehttps://www.stetson.edu/law

Academics
Stetson School of Law main tower as seen from the main courtyard (inspired by Torre del Oro in the city of Seville)

Stetson Law currently employs more than 40 full-time faculty members and has more than 900 students enrolled in its Juris Doctor (J.D.) program.[3] The J.D. program offers six concentrations: Advocacy, Business Law, Elder Law, Environmental Law, International Law, and Social Justice Advocacy. Stetson also offers advanced legal degrees, including a Master of Laws (LL.M.) with three concentrations: Advocacy, Elder Law and International Law. The law school also offers a Master of Jurisprudence (M.Jur.) with three concentrations: Aging, Law and Policy; Healthcare Compliance; and International and Comparative Business Law.[8] The J.D. degree may be combined with an LL.M or a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) with the Stetson University School of Business Administration. The J.D. degree may also be combined with an exchange program: an LL.M. in Exchange in Ireland/England with the University College Dublin Sutherland School of Law, a Master in International Economic Law (MINTEC) with Toulouse University or a Master in International and European Business Law (M.I.E.B.L.) with Comillas Pontifical University.[9][10]

The school is home to several institutes, centers, programs, and initiatives, including the National Clearinghouse for Science, Technology and the Law; Centers for Excellence in Advocacy, Elder Law and Higher Education Law and Policy; and Institutes for Caribbean Law and Policy and Biodiversity Law and Policy.[11][12]

Clinics

Stetson Law is one of few U.S. law schools that guarantees a clinic or externship for every student. More than 300 clinic and externship opportunities are available to students each year.[13][14]

Publications

The Stetson Law Review was the headquarters for the National Conference of Law Reviews from 2003 to 2008. The Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy and the Journal of International Aging Law and Policy are produced in conjunction with the school.[15]

Rankings

Stetson University is nationally ranked 84th among law schools by U.S. News & World Report. Among specialty rankings, the school ranked first in trial advocacy and third in legal writing.[5] Stetson had a 74.4 percent first-time Bar passage rate for takers of the October 2020 Florida Bar Examination.[16] 77.6 percent passed the July 2019 exam,[17] 67.2 percent passed the July 2018 exam[18] and 76.8 percent passed the July 2017 exam.[19]

Competitions

Since 1980, Stetson Law has won five world championships, 79 national championships, 97 regional championships, 53 state championships, 61 brief awards, 176 brief oralist/advocate awards and six professionalism awards.[20]

As of 2021, Stetson Law has won The Florida Bar Trial Lawyers Section of the Chester Bedell Mock Trial Competition 25 times in 38 years.[21]

Stetson Law was the first-ever American Bar Association (ABA) Competitions Champion in 2018 and earned the title for a second time in 2021.[22]

Stetson Law won The Florida Bar Foundation 2021 Florida Pro Bono Law School Challenge.[23]

Law libraries

In order to obtain, and maintain, accreditation through the American Bar Association (ABA), law schools must meet certain standards set by the ABA.[24] The Council and Accreditation Committee of the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is the accrediting agency for law schools.[25] Among the standards evaluated is the requirement that law schools have a law library.[26] The standards also establish the requirements relative to the administration of the law library, the law library director, personnel, services, and the collection the library shall hold.[26] As such, Stetson University College of Law maintains a main library on the Gulfport campus—the Dolly and Homer Hand Law Library—and a satellite library at the Tampa Law Center.[27]

History of Stetson's law libraries

As the Board of Trustees authorized the establishment of the Stetson University College of Law in 1899, creating a law library immediately became a concern.[28]: 56–62  To create a core collection for the law library, book and monetary donations were sought and obtained from Florida attorneys.[28]: 61  By its opening in October 1900, the College of Law had a law library and the 1901 annual report indicated that the library donation goals had been met.[28]: 61–62 

Upon the law school's move from DeLand to Gulfport in 1954, the library collection also had to be moved.[28]: 285  The new house for the law library consisted of "several small cubicles" and at the time "all the law books 'fit into one moving van.'"[28]: 286  The collection contained less than 18,000 books.[28]: 402  In 1955, an anonymous donor pledged $250,000 to assist in paying for the creation of a new law library and classroom building.[28]: 319  Within one year, the law school was able to raise the money to match the anonymous donation and met its $750,000 goal.[28]: 319  It became known that the anonymous donor was Charles A. Dana and the Charles A. Dana Foundation.[28]: 319  Construction on the new Charles A. Dana Library began in 1957.[28]: 321  Students and staff transferred the small law library collection from the original location on the Gulfport campus to the new library in less than thirty minutes.[28]: 321  This new library included space to expand the collection (housing for 70,000 volumes) and study space for 100 students.[28]: 322  In 1958, the Charles A. Dana Law Library opened.[28]: 322 [29] The dedication of the library, made in the presence of Charles A. Dana, included a convocation by Florida's Governor, LeRoy Collins.[28]: 322 [30] The Charles A. Dana Foundation provided a gift in 1971 for the purpose of doubling the law library's size.[28]: 387  The school completed the expansion in 1973 and provided space for 275 students and 160,000 volumes.[28]: 387  During this time, the Charles A. Dana Library also became "the first law library in Florida to be a depositary for Federal Government documents."[28]: 388  By 1981, the library's collection contained more than 165,182 volumes.[28]: 402 

By the mid-1990s, Stetson University College of Law "had been put on notice years earlier that its library was on shaky grounds regarding ABA requirements, and that the problems were of such magnitude that a new structure might have to be built."[28]: 606  Some individuals did not believe a new library was warranted as they doubted the future of libraries, but Dean Moody proceeded with the planning stated by her predecessor Dean Bruce Jacob, Emeritus Law Librarian Lamar Woodard, and architect Canerday.[28]: 606  In 1998, the new facility, named Stetson Law Library and Information Center, was completed.[28]: 607–608  The new facility provided 58,000 square feet and had ample accommodation for the current collection (350,000 volumes), as well as "government documents, and other traditional resource materials."[28]: 607  United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke at the new library's dedication on September 5, 1998.[31] C-Span provided video coverage of Justice Ginsburg's speech.[32]

In 2004, Stetson University College of Law opened its Tampa Law Center with a satellite library.[29] In 2010, Stetson University College of Law renamed the Stetson Law Library and Information Center for philanthropists Frances R. "Dolly" and Homer Hand.[33][34] The renaming occurred as part of the College of Law's celebration of its 110 years in existence.[33][34] Dolly Hand spoke at the naming ceremony, which was captured on video.[35]

Dolly and Homer Hand Law Library

The Dolly and Homer Hand Law Library is situated on the Gulfport campus.[27] When constructed in the late 1990s, the new library was built in the Mediterranean Revival design style to maintain consistency with the style of the buildings comprising the Gulfport campus, which were originally the Rolyat Hotel.[27][28]: 607  Located across the street from the original campus buildings, the Dolly and Homer Hand Law Library contains a collection of approximately 400,000 volumes.[27] The current collection "is above the median size of academic law libraries in the United States."[36] The three-story building offers Internet access, 35 study rooms (ranging in size), and more than 600 seats at individual carrels, tables, and lounge areas.[27]

The library provides services for students, faculty, staff, alumni, attorneys, and the public.[37] Students have 24/7 access to the Dolly and Homer Hand Law Library through use of their swipe cards.[37] The law library employs six professional librarians[38] and seven additional staff members, including the Systems Administrator and members of the Access Management & Services Team.[39]

In addition to its traditional collection of statutes, case reporters, journals, and treatises (both physical and electronic access), the Dolly and Homer Hand Law Library and its librarians also provide LibGuides on a variety of topics,[40] tutorials on researching a variety of sources and using electronic databases,[41] and digital archives including the Harold L. Sebring Collection, the Florida Military Academy Collection and the Hotel Rolyat Collection.[42]

Housed within the Dolly and Homer Hand Law Library is a physical archive with artifacts relevant to both university and property history.[43] This collection includes the physical copies of the Harold L. Sebring collection including his personal papers and records as a medical case judge in the Nuremberg War Trials.[44]

Tampa Law Center Satellite Library

Situated near downtown Tampa, the satellite library has two floors consisting of approximately 200 seats and 15 study rooms.[27] The satellite library provides a core collection of materials and Internet access.[27] The satellite library also provides services to students, faculty, staff, alumni, attorneys, and the public; however, such services are available subject to more limited hours of operation.[45]

Employment

The 2020 ABA employment summary report shows the employment status of 2020 graduates.[46]

Costs

The estimated total cost of attendance (including tuition, fees, and living expenses) at Stetson University College of Law for the 2020–2021 academic year is $70,592. [47]

Diversity and inclusion

Stetson Law received the 2020 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the largest magazine centered on diversity in higher education. The HEED Award recognizes U.S. colleges and universities for outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion.[48][49][50]

As of 2020, Stetson Law and the 11 other Florida law schools formed the Florida Law Schools’ Consortium for Racial Justice (FLSCRJ). This collective will leverage each school's strengths and educational roles to assist community organizations fighting for racial justice and policy reform throughout Florida.[51][52]

Stetson Law is one of the four co-founding higher education institutions of the St. Petersburg Higher Education Consortium for Racial Justice. The other three consortium institutions are Eckerd College, St. Petersburg College and the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. The consortium serves 36,000 students in St. Petersburg, Florida, and focuses on dismantling racial hierarchies. Recognized for their efforts, the consortium and 78 institutions nationwide were invited to the 2021 American Association of Colleges and Universities Institute on Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) to learn about the TRHT framework and develop an action plan.[53][54][55]

In 2021, Stetson Law launched a youth civic education program aimed at teaching underrepresented teens in Pinellas County how to be advocates for themselves and others.[56][57]

Notable faculty
  • Bruce Jacob (see alumni)
  • Cary D. Landis – 25th Florida Attorney General, (1931–1938)
  • Ellen Podgor – expert on white-collar crime
  • Harold Sebring – former chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court; a judge at the Nuremberg War Trials; Dean of Stetson Law (1955–1968)
  • Bradford Stone, commercial law maven, and theorist, Stetson University College of Law Charles A. Dana Professor of Law Emeritus,[58] author of several editions of Uniform Commercial Code in a Nutshell and coauthor of Commercial Transactions Under the Uniform Commercial Code.
  • Michèle Alexandre – first Black female dean of Stetson Law[59][60]
  • Ciara Torres-Spelliscy – nationally recognized expert and author on election law and politics[61]
  • Louis J. Virelli III – nationally recognized expert and author in constitutional law[62][63]
  • Rebecca C. Morgan – nationally recognized expert in elder law[64]
  • Peter F. Lake – nationally recognized expert on higher education[65][66]
  • Luz Estella Nagle – internationally recognized expert in international law, first tenured Hispanic law professor at Stetson Law[67][68]
  • Dorothea Beane – professor emeritus, first tenured African-American female professor of law at Stetson Law, co-founder of the Institute for Caribbean Law and Policy, founder of Stetson Law’s study abroad program at The Hague[69][70]

Notable alumni
Stetson Law's campus from the library
Stetson Law's Crummer Courtyard from the coffee shop

References
  1. AbleMedia. For God and Truth Latin Mottoes of U.S. Colleges and Universities
  2. "Introducing: Michèle Alexandre, New Dean of Stetson Law". www.stetson.edu.
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Further reading

  • Florida's First Law School: History of Stetson University College of Law (2006) by Michael I. Swygert provides a detailed history of the school covering its founding, development, and growth. ISBN 1-59460-316-2.

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