Archive for 'FIU News'

For two days in March, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments regarding landmark cases about same-sex marriage. On Tuesday, March 26, U.S. Supreme Court justices heard arguments regarding California’s Proposition 8, which was approved by voters in 2008 and bans same-sex marriage. A day later, justices heard arguments regarding the constitutionality of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. DOMA prohibits federal recognition of same-sex marriages.

FIU News sat down with two university professors to learn more about the issues being debated.

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MacAdam Glinn JD ’07, center, receives a Torch Award from President Mark B. Rosenberg as Alumni Association President Gonzalo Acevedo looks on.

Neon-clad people and electronic music filled the streets of downtown Miami this past Saturday thanks to the Ultra Music Festival, but the real excitement was inside the nearby JW Marriott Marquis, where the FIU community came together to honor remarkable alumni and faculty at the 12^th annual Torch Awards ceremony.

“This is a joyous occasion that captures the hope, the spirit and the accomplishments of our graduates,” said President Mark B. Rosenberg as he welcomed attendees. “This gathering, ultimately, is a celebration of our values.”

The traditional gold and blue event is held by the Alumni Association to commend university graduates and faculty who have been outstanding in their communities and professional fields.

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Weil, bottom left, and crew during the filming of a scene from “Taste It.”

Zachary Weil ’09 was still a law student when he began writing the script for his movie “Taste It: A Comedy About the Recession.” Scheduled for an online release this April, the Miami-based film has already garnered a buzz, earning an “Award of Merit” in July 2012 at The Indie Fest, an international awards competition for independent filmmakers worldwide. Weil himself was recently interviewed by GQ Magazine Australia for an article about comedy during the recession.

1. How does someone trained in law end up making an indie movie? What’s that all about?

I’d loved making movies since I was a little kid. I used to shoot them on my dad’s camcorder using my sisters and friends as actors.  After making some films in college, I worked briefly for a production company in New York. It wasn’t a great experience so I decided to go to law school to make sure I could pay the bills if a career in filmmaking didn’t work out. I ended up not being able to shake the film bug even during law school, and ended up writing what became “Taste It” while I was still a student.

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To the trained eye of Elizabeth Price Foley, life and death aren’t as clear cut as, well, life and death. The professor specializes in constitutional law, healthcare law and bioethics, and has studied life and death extensively. Her findings may surprise you: Life and death aren’t opposites according to the law. In fact, they aren’t even related, legally speaking.

Foley focused on death in her TEDxFIU talk, which asked the audience “When are you really dead?”

This issue comes to the forefront as the demand for organ donation continues to rise. It more important than ever to standardize how and when death is legally declared.

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By Martin Haro

Eight law clinics are currently operating within the College of Law at FIU. There, law students are not only gaining hands-on experience in many areas of practice but also improving the lives of their fellow community members. In this first part of a two-part story, we tell you about some of the cases handled by the Consumer Bankruptcy Clinic, the Environmental Law Clinic, the Family and Children’s Advocacy Clinic and the Immigrant Children’s Justice Clinic.

When Peggy Maisel joined the faculty of the College of Law in 2003, she did so with a clear goal in mind: to establish a flagship clinical program that provides students with hands-on experience outside the classroom.

In August 2004, Maisel and former College of Law Professor Troy Elder launched the inaugural law clinic, the Carlos A. Costa Immigration and Human Rights Clinic. Currently, there are eight clinics and a ninth is being planned to work on behalf of veterans.

About 45 percent of FIU Law students work in a clinic before graduation. Through the end of the 2011-’12 year, the students had provided more than 27,000 hours of free legal services to approximately 400 individuals, groups and organizations. That is equivalent to a court-approved value of more than $2 million in free legal services, exclusive of faculty time.

“We are very much a law firm focusing on educating the next generation of lawyers through close supervision of law students as they practice for the first time and provide policy advocacy and community education throughout Miami-Dade,” said Maisel of the clinics, which primarily serve underprivileged individuals and nonprofits that must meet a certain threshold to receive services.

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The legal community came together Sept. 29 to celebrate 10 years of FIU Law. In the process, nearly $1 million was raised for fellowships and scholarships, ensuring that the college’s promise to educate a unique type of lawyer will be kept for generations.

“Miami opens its doors to all individuals with the will and the heart to seek and achieve success. FIU Law will do the same,” said College of Law Dean Alexander Acosta, addressing more than 400 law students, lawyers, judges, alumni, faculty and university leaders who gathered at the Four Seasons Hotel Miami. “There is something special about the FIU Law student. They do not believe in limits. They charge forward with the attitude that with hard work and an excellent education nothing is beyond their grasp. This is the attitude that makes FIU Law and FIU Law graduates distinct.”

The Judge Aaron B. Cohen Foundation, law firms and individuals contributed to the $918,000 fundraising effort. Net proceeds will directly benefit law students by providing summer stipends and by funding scholarships for first generation students.

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Dear members of the FIU community.

FIU is closed as of 7 p.m. tonight through Monday due to Tropical Storm Isaac, which is expected to affect our area starting early on Sunday. All FIU classes are cancelled as of 7 p.m. Saturday and continuing through Monday, August 27. We will open for regular operations on Tuesday, unless you are notified otherwise.

The Wolfsonian-FIU, located on Miami Beach, is closed as of this afternoon, due to a broken water main unrelated to the storm.

Resident students who have family in South Florida are encouraged to go home today, if possible, before travel conditions deteriorate. Essential employees should remain alert and be ready to return to work when conditions allow. This is the time to complete your storm preparations and go to the location where you will stay through the storm.

Stay safe and look for additional updates.

http://dem.fiu.edu/

Saturday, August 25, 2012 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

On the heels of President Obama’s enactment of the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) program, FIU’s College of Law in conjunction with PICO, Americans for Immigrant Justice, S.W.E.R. (Students Working for Equal Rights), and the Florida Immigrant Coalition, will host a day long clinic to help young persons to apply for deferred action.

Local attorneys, volunteers, along with students and recent law school graduates will volunteer to help DACA-seeking young adults determine if they qualify for the program and assist them in filling out the DACA applications.

This is the second DACA workshop with two more planned for South Florida in the upcoming weeks- one in Homestead and another in Little Havana.

The event will be held on Saturday, Aug. 25, from 8:30 a.m.- 5 p.m. at the College of Law’s Atrium.

DACA grants temporary two-year residency permits to undocumented young adults less than 30 years of age as of June 15. It is aimed at qualifying immigrants who came to the U.S. on or before June 2007 and who were 16 or younger at the time of their arrival. Among other qualifications for the program, the young adults must be free of serious criminal convictions, be enrolled in or have completed high school, or have served in the U.S. military.

FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg recognized more than two dozen distinguished members of the FIU academic community for their outstanding achievements in research and scholarship at the Top Scholars reception April 9.

“It is clear that you are reaching for the stars,” said  Rosenberg at the annual event held at the Ronald W. Reagan Presidential House. “You have set high goals and nd you have met them. The provost and I want to challenge you to keep it up.”

Former Florida Judge and FIU Associate Professor of law Phyllis Kotey – who was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to teach constitutional law and criminal procedure at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana – said she was proud to be nominated with such world-class scholars. “I think of myself as a practitioner, never as a scholar. It’s wonderful to be welcomed by this prestigious group.”

Honorees are nominated by their respective deans through the Office of the Provost. The following law faculty members were recognized this year.

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In FIU News, Law Fellow Ryan Stoa addresses the world’s growing water crisis and how The Global Water for Sustainability (GLOWS) program, led by FIU, has become a major player in the field.

Ryan Stoa is currently the Program Executive Officer for Global Water for Sustainability – GLOWS, as well as a Fellow in Water Law and Policy at Florida International University College of Law.

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