St. Thomas Law and Catholic Legal Services Host Pro Se Asylum Clinic

On Friday December 18, St. Thomas Law co-hosted a Pro Se Asylum Clinic with Catholic Legal Services. The clinic and event, spearheaded by St. Thomas Law professor Lauren Gilbert, helped 16 Central American young women and men, most of them still teenagers, with their asylum applications. These asylum-seekers would not have had legal assistance otherwise. Eleven applications were completed that day and given to the applicants to be sent out, with several other children identified as eligible for additional relief.

The attorneys and staff from Catholic Legal Services provided a meaningful experience and excellent supervision to our student volunteers and provided them with an inspiring and effective mini-course in assisting asylum seekers with their applications. Our law students worked directly with asylum-seekers putting together their applications in teams with more experienced students and attorneys.

"Special thanks go to Professor Gilbert for undertaking this labor of love and organizing," stated law school Associate Dean Cece Dykas. "It was her dedication and commitment that made this possible. It was quite an undertaking. It truly is the season of giving."

In speaking of the event, Professor Gilbert stated that it was another example of why St. Thomas Law and Catholic Legal Services are both such special places. 

"The lawyers and staff of Catholic Legal Services, as always, provided an inspiring example of what it means to be committed advocates and effective attorneys while our students, many of them immigrants themselves, demonstrated great empathy for the young people they served that day while honing their legal skills in interviewing, counseling, storytelling, developing winnable asylum claims and identifying other possible forms of relief."

Alumni Spotlight: Judge Michaelle Gonzalez-Paulson

Judge Michaelle Gonzalez-Paulson '01

St. Thomas Law 2001 graduate, Judge Michaelle Gonzalez-Paulson, was recently profiled by the Daily Business Review. The profile recounts Judge Gonzalez-Paulson's history with domestic violence and how those experiences guided her decision to attend law school.

"I realized at that time how difficult it was to afford an attorney, and I didn't qualify for legal aid either," she stated. "I think that experience is something that made me realize that I wanted to go to law school, that I wanted to be in public service, and I wanted to be able to help those who could otherwise not have access to justice."

True to her goals, she worked as a certified legal intern with Dade Legal Aid during law school, working for them, full-time, after graduation. She eventually started a private practice where she hadled family law including divorce and domestic violence cases.

She was elected to the bench in 2010 and noted that being a judge was something she wanted not only as a career but as a part of her life. Her judicial career started in the civil division, however she now presides over cases that, once again, brings her into contact with victims and perpetrators of domestic violence.

Read the full profile here.

St. Thomas Law Students Receive Scholarship Awards at FAWL Judicial Event

On December 4, 2015, the Florida Association of Women Lawyers (FAWL) held their 33rd Annual Judicial Reception and Scholarship Award event.

St. Thomas Law University School of Law is proud to announce that two of our law students were among this year's scholarship recipients.

3L Brittnay Wittnebel

Brittnay Wittnebel was awarded the Alexandra Bach Lagos Scholarship. A third-year law student, Brittnay founded The Youth Unite - a non-profit aimed at preventing bullying in middle school. Youth Unite provides mentors to victims of bullying and aims builds confidence in teenagers through a substance free concert series, educational DVDs, healthy cooking classes and music therapy programs. Brittnay is also the Online Editor of the St. Thomas Law Review. Brittnay plans on practicing appellate law.

1L Greeny Valbuena

Our other scholarship recipient was first-year law student Greeny Valbuena.  She received the Lara Bueso Bach Scholarship.  Greeny is passionate about LGBT equality and is a 1L representative for the Lambda Law Society, an organization focused on spreading awareness of LGBT-related issues while advancing professional development of its members.  Greeny also serves as a community mentor for women who have been victims of sexual abuse or those struggling with their sexual orientation.  After law school Greeny plans to practice as a civil right attorney.




St. Thomas Law salutes these students who manage to not only excel academically, but also give of themselves towards the improvement of their communities.

Professors Gilbert and Narine Present at Workshop on Guatemalan Development

Professor Marcia Narine

Professor Lauren Gilbert

On December 4, 2015,  St. Thomas Law professors Marcia Narine and Lauren Gilbert spoke at the one-day Workshop, From Extraction to Emancipation: Re-imagining Development for Guatemala. 

The workshop, held at the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California, was part of a larger project to use Guatemala as a case study on corporate social responsibility and sustainable development. 

In July 2015, Professor Narine was part of a small delegation of law professors, lawyers and law students from the United States and Canada who traveled to Guatemala to study how these issues played out on the ground. Professor Narine gave the opening address, Corporate Social Responsibility in Guatemala: A Framework. Her presentation framed the entire workshop, which focused on whether it was possible to achieve sustainable development in Guatemala through greater corporate social responsibility (CSR). Professor Narine looked at the role that CSR has played in achieving legal and social legitimacy for foreign investors. Using Guatemala as a case study, she demonstrated how CSR Reports, which are distributed to stakeholders, may not reflect the actual situation on the ground. 

Professor Gilbert's gave the final presentation on Gender Violence as a Tool of Power and Control in the Northern Triangle, focusing on the roots of the refugee crisis in Central America, the role of Truth Commissions in confronting impunity, and the role that gender has played in the subordination of ethnic groups by the Guatemalan State. Professor Narine's and Professor Gilbert's  papers are part of a larger book project, which will bear the title of the workshop.

Professor Amy Ronner Delivers Keynote Address at Conference on Juvenile Justice

St. Thomas Law professor Amy Ronner was the keynote speaker at the conference at the University of Miami School of Law on the topic of “Therapeutic Jurisprudence and Juvenile Justice” the conference is co-sponsored by the Miami-Community Based Care Alliance. 

Professor Amy Ronner

During her address, Professor Ronner' gave background on therapeutic jurisprudence, its core philosophy and its objectives. She introduced attendees to what she and the late Professor Bruce Winick coined the "three Vs" - Voice, Validation, and Voluntary participation.

Professor Ronner posited the question: "how can the legal system effectuate positive, therapeutic results?" 

She explained the stages of the therapeutic process beginning with individuals experiencing a sense of "voice" or an opportunity to tell their story to a decision-maker. A by-product of "voice" is "validation," which occurs when participants in the process feel that they have been genuinely listened to, heard, and taken seriously. Consequently, when litigants emerge from a proceeding with that sense of "voice" and "validation," they tend to be more satisfied and accepting of the outcome. Voice and validation thus foster a sense of "voluntary participation" - - which occurs when individuals experience the proceedings as less coercive.

"In general, human beings thrive when they have a sense of choice and feel that they are making, or at least participating in, their own decisions," stated Professor Ronner, "Participants in such a process tend to be more inclined to accept responsibility for their own conduct, take charge, and change."

Amy D. Ronner has taught at St. Thomas University School of Law since 1992. In 2002-03, she was a Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Miami School of Law. With a background and several degrees in Creative Writing and English Language and Literature, she also has taught English as a Teaching Fellow at the University of Michigan and as a Lecturer at the University of Miami. A prolific author, she has published several books as well as articles in the Columbia Human Rights Law Review; the Harvard Women's Law Journal; the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism; and the Arizona, Buffalo, California Western, and U.C. Davis Law Reviews, among others.

A popular presenter, she has spoken at numerous conferences all across the United States, as well as in The Netherlands and Portugal. At St. Thomas University School of Law, Professor Ronner has been active in many ways, including service as Faculty Advisor to the Moot Court Board and membership on the Academic Standing, Curriculum, Library, and Promotion and Tenure Committees; currently, she teaches Property.

St. Thomas Law Graduate - First Colombian-American Judge Elected in Florida

Judge Diana Gonzalez-W'hyte '03 Highlighted in Daily Business Review Judiciary Profile

Judge Diana Gonzalez-Whyte, a 2003 St. Thomas Law graduate, was recently profiled in the Daily Business Review. The profile not only gave insight into the pathway that led her to becoming a county court judge, but also her courtroom style and expectations.

Judge Diana Gonzalez-Whyte '03

Elected to the bench in 2012, Judge Diana Gonzalez-Whyte was the first Colombian- American judge elected in Florida. This accomplishment is the culmination of Judge Gonzalez-Whyt'e lifelong desire to pursue a legal career after facing discrimination as a child.

After graduating from St. Thomas Law, she clerked for a civil litigation firm, and then joined the Miami-Dade Public Defenders Office - a time that she described as "amazing years." The time with the public defenders office also allowed her to set her sites on serving in a judicial role.

Read the Daily Business Review profile in its entirety here.