|
|
|  |
Assistant Dean for Academic Programs Maribel Roig talks to incoming students during orientation in August 2018. | |
| | |
Last academic year, we began offering enhanced support to students through our Academic Programs Office. The office is charged with improving the academic success of our students and coordinating academic program oversight. The professionals in this new office, led by Assistant Dean Maribel Roig, provide personalized advising to students on course selection, graduation requirements, study abroad programs and joint-degree programs. They also offer enhanced legal writing and other academic support, and help students and recent graduates who are preparing for bar exams. You can find them counseling and advising students on a daily basis. In addition, the Academic Programs Office is responsible for maintaining and storing law school records. Creating this office was part of our overall mission to provide greater levels of individualized support to all students. We are fortunate that these efforts include many of our engaged alumni, who make themselves available to our students in ways that make me very proud to be a member of the FSU Law community.
- Dean Erin O'Connor
| |
Faculty & Alum Profile: Rob Clarke (’86)
| |
Rob Clarke is teaching Florida Civil Practice and co-teaching Civil Discovery & Depositions with Marty Sipple at FSU Law this fall. Clarke has taught Florida Civil Practice at the law school since 1999. He has also taught Trial Practice and Electronic Discovery & Digital Evidence. Clarke is a shareholder with Ausley McMullen in Tallahassee. He is board certified by The Florida Bar in Business Litigation and has more than 30 years of experience litigating in Florida’s state and federal courts. Clarke serves as counsel in a broad range of cases, including complex business disputes, significant personal injury and wrongful death claims, class actions, and other litigation and regulatory matters. His clients include national corporations, state and local governments, construction companies, estates, partnerships and individuals with significant litigation issues. Clarke has successfully won his clients multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements in a variety of commercial and personal injury cases. He has also successfully defended large corporate clients against plaintiffs seeking millions of dollars in damages. Clarke has served on the Second Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission since 2012, previously serving as chair. He also served on The Florida Bar Civil Procedure Rules Committee and previously served as chair. He was on the board of directors of the FSU College of Law Alumni Association, where he served as president. He is also an Army veteran, having served four years on active duty and 16 years in the Army Reserves. Clarke graduated with honors from FSU College of Law in 1986.
| |
“Over my 30 years of practice, I have experienced the many challenges facing lawyers who work to help businesses and individuals solve complex problems. My focus in the classroom is providing students with the skills to handle these challenges in an effective and professional manner. It has been a privilege to work with so many bright law students at FSU over the years. My time with them has taught me many things and made me a better lawyer.”
| |
Alum Profile: Dominic J. Baccarella (’77)
| |
Dominic J. “Dick” Baccarella practices at Older Lundy & Alvarez in Tampa, where he now specializes in divorce, family law and criminal law. Before joining the firm in 2015 in an of counsel capacity, he practiced at Baccarella & Baccarella, P.A. with his wife, Donna, for 21 years. Prior to that time, he was a sole practitioner for 15 years. Before entering private practice in 1979, Baccarella was an assistant state attorney in Hillsborough County. He also previously served as a certified contract advisor to National Football League players. Baccarella’s career has been very diverse in terms of the types of law he has practiced and the clients he has represented, but he has always been a litigator. Baccarella is also a family law mediator and previously chaired The Florida Bar’s Traffic Court Rules Committee. He served for almost two decades on the committee and is very proud of the work they accomplished. In 1982, Baccarella served as the third president of the Hillsborough County Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Baccarella has been an active presenter at CLE courses, professionalism seminars for new lawyers and DUI seminars. He also has been active in the community, including as a fundraiser for the University of South Florida and for the Hillsborough County Education Foundation. Baccarella is the recipient of an AV Superior rating by Martindale Hubbell.
| |
“I had a career in sales and marketing before law. In 1974, Dean Morse called me on a Wednesday and said, ‘You start law school on Monday.’ I left my children and wife in Tampa and lived in Tallahassee for 2.5 years. I made some great friends in law school and had a great experience. My thanks to Chuck Ehrhardt, whose voice I always heard while in the courtroom.”
| |
|
Student Profile: 3L Matthew Pritchett
| |
Desired Practice Location: Primarily Florida, but open to relocate to anywhere within the Southeastern U.S.
Expected Graduation: May 2019
Field of Law Sought: Environmental, land use or administrative law
Tallahassee native Matt Pritchett earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from the University of Florida. When he graduates from FSU Law in May 2019, he will earn the Environmental Law Certificate along with his J.D. Last summer, Pritchett interned with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, where he assisted the litigation section with pre-trial preparation by drafting legal memoranda, motions and discovery requests. He also assisted the programs section with in-depth research concerning substantive policy areas that will result in the implementation of rules and regulations for Florida’s air, water and state lands. During the spring semester of his 2L year, Pritchett was selected for the 2017-2018 Gunster Environmental Law Scholarship and Clerkship. The 10-week paid internship with Gunster Law included assisting firm shareholders with a range of legal and government operations assignments. Also during Pritchett’s 2L year, both before and during legislative session, he worked as a legislative assistant for GrayRobinson, P.A. Pritchett conducted bill and amendment analysis, covered committee meetings, generated reports, shadowed meetings with representatives, and drafted bill and amendment language. The fall semester of his 2L year, Pritchett clerked for the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, where his responsibilities included conducting a document review of agency-wide public records requests and ensuring that all public records redactions were made in accordance with federal Medicaid statutes, federal healthcare privacy statutes and the Florida Sunshine Law. During the summer after his 1L year, Pritchett externed with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Pritchett currently serves as an executive editor of the law school’s Journal of Land Use & Environmental Law. He previously served as an article & notes editor and article selection editor. Pritchett won the journal’s 2017-18 Article & Notes Editor of the Year Award. Also, his student note, “Federal Lands, Federal Authority: The Case for Regulation of Fracking on Federal Lands,” is forthcoming in the UCLA Journal of Environmental Law & Policy. If you are interested in hiring Pritchett after graduation, visit his LinkedIn profile.
| |
“My time at FSU Law has been unforgettable, due in large part to the commitment and expertise of the school’s students, faculty and staff. I am also incredibly grateful for the unique opportunities offered by the law school’s environmental, energy & land use program. My passion for environmental studies, combined with the professional and academic experience I’ve gained as a law student, make me enthusiastic to begin a career in environmental or land use law.”
| |
|
|
|
|
