St. Thomas Law's Human Rights Institute Receives Invitation to Regional White House Convening

The White House Task Force on New Americans invited Christine Reis, Director of the St. Thomas Law Human Rights Institute, to join the White House Regional Convening on New Americans. This special, invitation-only event took place on Friday, February 26.

This regional convening brought together federal, state, and local agencies, service providers, the private sector, and local community leaders to highlight current multi-sector partnerships on immigrant integration and discuss promising practices to strengthen the regional infrastructure in supporting existing and emerging immigrant communities.

Meeting of the Minds: Invitees discuss immigration policies

Panelists included USCIS Director Leon Rodriguez, White House Associate Director of Public Engagement, Ginette Magana; and Fatima M. Noor, Policy Assistant for Immigration Policy and Rural Affairs, Domestic Policy Council at The White House.

The St. Thomas Law Human Rights Institute's invitation to this meeting serves as further evidence of the impact that we are having on domestic and international immigration and human rights policy.

The Human Rights Institute at St. Thomas Law offers direct services to low income persons in many different areas, including: administrative, family, general civil, housing, and immigration law. Immigration has been a major concern to people in the South Florida area for many years; therefore, from its founding, the Institute has focused on immigration-related matters.

It develops and maintains professional relationships with other service providers in the community, especially other legal services providers representing various groups.

For more information on the St. Thomas Law Human Rights Institute and its missions please visit http://www.stu.edu/law/human-rights/human-rights-institute.

St. Thomas Law Students Serving as Mentors to Undergraduate Students

Members of the St. Thomas Law student body have stepped up to serve as mentors to students in undergraduate degree programs at St. Thomas University. The program is sponsored by St. Thomas University's Career Services Department and St. Thomas University School of Law.

The objective of this shadowing/mentoring program is to expose undergrads to the law school experience.  The mentors, who are primarily second and third year law students, will be shadowed for an entire day - taking mentees to their classes and showing them a day in the life of a law student.
The program attempts to tailor each mentee's experience to focus on the specific area of the law that interests them.

Pictured (L-R): Joshua Rosner, STU Student Government President; Adrian Acosta, STU Law Student Bar Association President; Ariel Listo, STU Student Government Treasurer; and Stephanie Parsons, Student Bat Association Senator and Mentorship Program Coordinator.

During the mentoring process, our law students give mentees class preparation techniques, highlight the importance of time-management, and provide real insight into what it takes to successfully enter and excel in law school.

At the conclusion of each mentoring relationship, it is the hope that undergraduate participants will have developed a foundation on which to grow their interest in legal careers.

Mentoring Program Orientation 

Associate Dean Lawson - Keynote Speaker at 2016 Legal Scholarship Conference

We are pleased to announce that Associate Dean Tamara Lawson will be a keynote speaker at the upcoming 2016 Southeast/Southwest People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference (SESWPOCC) being held in Orlando, Florida from February 25-28, 2016.

This year, the conference theme is: Power and Authority in Promoting Justice for All.

The conference's goal is to provide scholars, students, practitioners and community leaders with the ideal setting to ignite stimulating dialogue and potential solutions to such topics as cultural competence in the justice system, the future of black males in America, and racism in the 21st century.

Associate Dean Lawson  teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Evidence, and a seminar on Race and the Law. In connection with her research on the Trayvon Martin case, Professor Lawson has made media appearances and was selected as the Reporter for the American Bar Association’s Task Force on Stand Your Ground Laws. She has written extensively on diverse criminal law topics, in addition to the Stand Your Ground law.

Celebrating Black History Month - Federal Judge Darrin Gayles Visits St. Thomas Law

On Tuesday, February 16, St. Thomas Law was honored to welcome United States District Judge, the Honorable Darrin Gayles to our campus. Judge Gayles visited as a part of the Black History Celebration at the invitation of the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) and the LAMBDA Law Society.

The visit took on a town hall format whereby Judge Gayles spoke candidly to the audience of law students, staff and faculty about his path to the federal bench and what the keys were to his success.  Students had the unique opportunity to ask questions, speak about their professional aspirations and seek career advice.

Judge Gayles speaks with St. Thomas Law students and faculty

Judge Gayles began his career as an Assistant State Attorney in the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office from 1993 to 1997. From 1997 to 1999, he served as an Assistant District Counsel at the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service. From 1999 to 2004, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

Judge Gayles was joined by panelists from the LAMBDA Law Society and BLSA. Pictured from left:
2L studemt Cortney Walters (BLSA), Judge Darrin Gayles,2L Evan Phoenix (LAMBDA Law Society), and 2L Amal Uthman

In 2004, Gayles became a judge, serving as a County Judge in Miami-Dade County within the Eleventh Judicial Circuit. From 2011 to 2014, he served as a Circuit Court Judge on the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court of Florida.

Audience of St. Thomas Law students and faculty

Judge Gayles with members of the Black Law Student Association

On February 6, 2014, President Barack Obama nominated Gayles to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, to the seat vacated by Judge Patricia A. Seitz, On June 17, 2014 the U.S. Senate voted 98-0 in favor of final confirmation, making Gayles the first openly gay African-American man to be confirmed as a U.S. federal judge. He received his judicial commission on June 19, 2014.

St. Thomas Law Hosts International Moot Court Competition

City University of  Hong Kong Wins St. Thomas Law's 11th Annual Susan Ferrell Moot Court Competition

The 11th Susan J. Ferrell Intercultural Human Rights Moot Court Competition took place on January 29-31, 2016 at St. Thomas University School of Law. The annual event, organized by St. Thomas Law's Graduate Program in Intercultural Human Rights, saw the best international moot court teams compete over the course of two days. Teams competed around a simulated court proceeding in which teams representing both sides of the argument prepare written pleadings with respect to a fictional problem of international human rights law and policy. They then present their oral arguments before the International Court of Justice.

Best Teams

In a close final round between two outstanding teams, decided by one point, the City University of Hong Kong took the Ferrell Trophy over Valparaiso Law School. 

Judges of Final Round

The Final Round was judged by His Excellency The Honorable Fausto Pocar (former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia), The Honorable Patrick A. White, and Florencia Cornu Laport, LL.M. candidate, lawyer from Uruguay.

Best Oralists

Howard University law student Imani Oakley and City University law student Cheung Lai Tung took top honors as best oralists. 

Best Memorials

The best memorial was written by the City University of Hong Kong. Two teams, Hidayatullah National Law University, India, and SUNY Buffalo School of Law shared second place.

All teams joined in the praise for the rigor, organization and integrity of the event.  From teams that have been a fixture in our competition to SUNY Buffalo, a newcomer to the event-- all called it the best competition they ever attended. 

Thanks are due as follows:

The writers of the problem, LL.M. students: Maritza Cuadros and Olayinka Reis

The writer of the bench brief, LL.M. student: Florencia Cornu Laport

The judges of the memorials and of the oral rounds, graduates and friends of St. Thomas Law: Denise Wallace, Allison Hernandez, Sylvia Ospina, Victoria Mesa-Estrada, Virginia Akar, Olayinka Reis, Donald Morehead, Ana Vallejo, Jerry Schreiber, Giselle Jamison, Vanessa Kirch, Ilona Demenina, Rick Moore, Nadine Gedeon, in particular, the faculty of St. Thomas School of Law: Todd Sullivan, Lenora Ledwon, Kenneth Noto, Anna Chan, Jennifer Martin, Marvin Klein, Kathleen Mahoney, Patricia Moore, Barbara Singer, Jessica Fonseca-Nader, Jay Silver, Susan Warheit, John Kang, Marcia Narine and Mark-Tizoc Gonzalez

The student bailiffs, Jackson De Souza, Amal Uthman, Raphael Fortunato, Wendy Cruz, Annika Cooke, Denise Calle, Anastasiya Sack

The team liaisons, David Cruz, Javiera Jimenez, William Johnson, Danielle Schwabe, Erica Streim, Stella Villalobos

The scores counter, Andrea Arauz and student coordinators Maritza Cuadros, Annika Cooke, Andrea Arauz and Teresa Hawkinson

Logistics staff: Haydee Gonzalez, Olga Leyva and Maikel Marquez

Support staff: Anilda Wright, Maria Duarte, Guillermo Cabarcas, Gabriel Marin and Eduardo Torres

The St. Thomas Law administration presence & support: Associate Dean Cece Dykas and Assistant Dean John Hernandez.

Coordinating, keeping an eye on and being immensely grateful to all of the above were faculty advisors: Professor Siegfried Wiessner and Professor Roza Pati, directors of the Graduate Program in Intercultural Human Rights.