Archive for '2012'

FIU Law Office of Admissions and Financial Aid hosted the Admitted Student Social on Thursday, June 7^th, welcoming admitted law students that will begin classes this fall. The objective of the social was to give prospective students the unique opportunity to meet many of their future colleagues, as well as to learn how to prepare for the demands of law school.

Over the course of the event, students engaged with the law school community and learned about the various resources available to them as they transition this summer and throughout the course of their enrollment. They had the opportunity to go on a campus tour with current law students and recent graduates, purchase FIU Law S.W.A.G. (Souvenirs, wearable(s), and gifts) and meet SBA President Chris Sanchelima. They were also given the chance to connect with Associate Dean M.C. Mirow, Zoraya Ledesma from the Clinical Programs, Cynthia Henry-Duval from Career Planning and Placement, Michelle Pestaina from Admissions and Financial Aid, Tesha Allison from Student Development, and Nicole Torres from Housing & Residential Life who was on-hand to answer questions and provide helpful information about affordable and convenient housing options at FIU.

The incoming students also participated in a discussion about The Road Ahead: “Preparing for and meeting the challenges presented by the 1L year” with Dean Acosta and faculty panelists Senior Associate Dean Michelle Mason, Professor Juan Carlos Gomez, and Professor Ila J. Klion. The discussion was moderated by Tesha Allison, Assistant Director of Student Development.

This year’s entering class was selected amongst a record number of applications from a solid applicant pool. The FIU College of Law is excited that they will be joining us this fall.

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Ryan Stoa, a Fellow in Water Law and Policy at the FIU College of Law, will be speaking at a Rio+20 Side Event — the World Meeting of Environmental Lawyers –  organized by the French-based International Centre of Comparative Environmental Law.

“International water resource governance is an uncoordinated and inconsistent practice,” explained Stoa, who will give a talk on the importance of harmonizing the various international legal instruments related to water entitled, “Freshwater Resources – Towards a Consistent Transboundary Freshwater Framework.”

“The 1997 United Nations Convention on the Law of Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses still hasn’t entered into force,” Stoa said. “We need to integrate and promote the various legal instruments – principally, the Watercourses Convention and the Law of Transboundary Aquifers – to have the necessary foundation for development of a more robust and synergistic regime.”

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In the Miami Times, law student Desmond Meade is quoted on the State of Florida’s purging process and why he feels entire communities are being wiped out of existence with the purging of voting rolls.

In the article, Desmond Meade states: “When you focus on the rights of one person, you sometimes forget to look at the bigger picture,” he said. “Given the disproportionate number of Blacks in prison who are now ‘returning citizens’ [he refuses to use the term ex-felons which he says is a negative label], when we allow for these purging schemes, it’s inevitable that entire Black communities are losing their political voice. They are becoming a political non-factor. Commissioners still listen to ‘returning citizens’ because those jobs [city and county commission] are tied directly to the community. But when you look at folks like state representatives or state senators, even school systems and public parks, voters sway the decisions of the office holders. Why fund a park or help a school where most of the people cannot vote? They can’t keep you in office anyway. Those who live in such communities that can vote find themselves and their needs being ignored more and more.”

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Pictured:  Andrea Canona, FIU Law 2L (with son)

This past weekend, the FIU College of Law answered the call and participated in the Inaugural CABA “Lawyers on the Run” 5K run/walk to benefit its Pro Bono Project.

The Cuban American Bar Association (CABA) Pro Bono Project’s mission is to assist the poor and indigent community in Miami-Dade County by serving as a nexus and providing a referral source between needy clients and pro bono attorneys who can provide direct legal services to them.

Special thanks to the students who volunteered to support a wonderful cause in the legal community!

FIU’s College of Law conferred 184 degrees on its departing Class of 2012 on May 25 at the U.S. Century Bank Arena. Many of the new alumni have already secured positions at major law firms and public interest organizations throughout Miami and the surrounding counties. U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, who is serving in his fifth term in Congress, was the keynote speaker.

The FIU News team was there to capture all the Polaroid moments – students celebrating and parents beaming with pride.

Check out FIU Facebook to see more photos. Tag yourself and your friends! To download your “FIU grad” photo in higher resolution, go to FIU Flickr.

Read more at news.fiu.edu »

The President of The Florida Bar has appointed Professor H. Scott Fingerhut to the Criminal Procedure Rules Committee for a three-year term.  Crim Pro Rules, a standing committee of The Bar, reports to the Florida Supreme Court concerning the proposal of new rules of criminal procedure as well as changes to existing rules.  This is Professor Fingerhut’s second appointment the Committee.  His previous six years of service includes three terms as Vice Chair and as Chair of the Committee in 2007.

FIU Law Alumna Maria D. Garcia, an attorney at Zumpano Patricios & Winker, was elected to serve on the Board of Directors for Florida International University Alumni Association.

Maria D. Garcia graduated from FIU College of Law in 2008. While at FIU Law, Maria served as President of the Moot Court and received the Appellate Advocacy Award upon graduation.

Garcia, currently a member of ZP&W’s healthcare practice group, is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Cuban American Bar Association (“CABA”) and a member of the Business Buddies Board for Best Buddies Miami. She is also active with the Florida Bar Association’s Health Law Section, the Dade County Bar Association, Women’s International Shipping & Trade Association and the American Inns of Court, Spellman-Hoeveler Chapter. In addition, she has served as the President of the FIU College of Law Alumni Association.

“The College of Law is very proud of Maria Garcia, who recently became the first FIU Law graduate elected to the FIU Alumni Association Board,” said Dean Alex Acosta.

WLRN/Miami Herald news reporter and producer Kenny Malone will host FIU Law Professor Manuel A. Gomez. Professor Gomez will discuss the lawsuit filed in Miami federal court against Aroldis Chapman, a left-handed pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds. Aroldis Champan, who defected from Cuba, has been sued for $18 million by a Cuban-American man who blames the player for his imprisonment on the communist island. The lawsuit claims that Chapman falsely accused Danilo Curbelo Garcia of involvement in human trafficking, leading to his 2008 arrest and conviction in Cuba.

Professor Gómez teaches international and comparative law as well as complex and transnational litigation-related courses at the College of Law.

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MIAMI – Florida International University College of Law congratulates the incoming 2012-13 FIU Law Review Editorial Board. Editorial board members include: Editor-in-Chief Courtney Walter, Managing Editor Cristina Neuman, Executive Symposium Editor Erin Auble, and Executive Comments Editor Jennifer Soberal.

The FIU Law Review is a student-run organization responsible for producing a journal of scholarly legal works.  As a symposium-based law review, their issues are composed of articles addressing a particular area of the law, with its authors often participating in a live symposium before publication.

“I congratulate the new board members of the Law Review and look forward to working with them in the year ahead,” said FIU Law Dean R. Alexander Acosta.

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Nicholas Icaro had a rough start. When he was 5, a car accident rendered his father quadriplegic. When he was 12, his mother suffered a work injury that kept her from ever holding down another job. Public assistance followed.