This book tells the fascinating story of the founding, development, and growth of Florida''s first law school, one that has achieved national and international recognition. The story begins in 1898, the year Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders boarded ships in Tampa Harbor for Cuba to fight in America''s short war with Spain. That same year, officials of the young John B. Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, considered starting a law program. With encouragement from lawyers and jurists, they did so, and the school''s doors opened in the fall of 1900 with five white male students. One-hundred and six years later, more than 1,000 law students--women, men, African and Island Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Indians--were enrolled at the Stetson University College of Law, with campuses in Gulfport and Tampa. This engaging, readable book covers the 106-year ongoing history of Stetson''s law school from its strong beginnings in the early decades of the twentieth century through its mid-life crises--the Great Depression, closure during World War II, and threatened loss of accreditation in the early 1950s. Through it all, the school survived. Its march upward accelerated in 1954 after the school relocated to a new home (a luxurious 1920s resort hotel) on a spacious and beautiful campus in Gulfport, Florida. There, Harold Sebring, a former chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court (and a judge at the Nuremberg War Trials) became dean. He revamped the program, hired a strong faculty, and renewed morale. He, in turn, was followed by Dean Richard Dillon, who raised academic standards and brought in significant gifts for the school. Subsequent deans have continued to push the school forward. In recent decades its national and international reputation has risen in part due to an acclaimed program in trial and appellate advocacy. Over the past dozen years, the school''s advocacy program has been ranked first in the nation eight times, and second three times. On the international front, Stetson University College of Law initiated and maintains several programs throughout the world. This supremely researched book describes and analyzes the rise in prominence of Stetson University College of Law. It is a history about people--administrators, faculty, students, friends, and alumni--and how their personalities and visions meshed to propel a small, poor law school into the dynamic, secure law center it is today. It is a story unlike any other in the chronicles of American legal education. "This history is a truly monumental work--a monumental to the progress of Florida''s oldest law school, a monument to those who labored to insure that progress, and a monument to its authors, two of Stetson''s most distinguished faculty members." -- Wm. Reece Smith, Jr., former president of the International, American and Florida Bar Associations, Rhodes Scholar, and Distinguished Professorial Lecturer at Stetson University College of Law "[M]ust-reading for anyone interested in the evolution of American law schools." -- James W. Ely, Jr., Underwood Professor of Law and Professor of History at Vanderbilt University "This is a vivid, detailed chronicle of the hundred-year-long history of Stetson University College of Law--step-by-step, year-by-year. Stetson law graduates will relish every word of it. Others, too, will learn from it what it takes to make an outstanding educational institution." -- Harold J. Berman, Rober W. Woodruff Professor of Law at Emory University and James Barr Ames Professor of Law Emeritus at Harvard University "Filled with people and personalities, this book nicely situates the College''s history within the broader contexts of the history of the state of Florida and the development of American legal education." -- Walter F. Pratt, Jr., Dean and Educational Foundation Distinguished Professor of Law at The University of South Carolina School of Law "This book may be the most comprehensive history of a law school ever written. It tells a rich story of the ups and downs of Florida''s oldest law school, and in the process nicely chronicles not only one hundred years of law teaching in Florida, but also the transformation in the character of law students." -- Stephen B. Presser, Director of American Society of Legal History and Raoul Berger Professor of legal History and Professor of Business Law at Northwestern University

A Land Remembered has become Florida's favorite novel. Now this Student Edition in two volumes makes this rich, rugged story of the American pioneer spirit more accessible to young readers. Patrick Smith tells of three generations of the MacIveys, a Florida family battling the hardships of the frontier. The story opens in 1858, when Tobias and Emma MacIvey arrive in the Florida wilderness with their son, Zech, to start a new life, and ends in 1968 with Solomon MacIvey, who realizes that his wealth has not been worth the cost to the land. Between is a sweeping story rich in Florida history with a cast of memorable characters who battle wild animals, rustlers, Confederate deserters, mosquitoes, starvation, hurricanes, and freezes to carve a kingdom out of the Florida swamp. In this volume, meet young Zech MacIvey, who learns to ride like the wind through the Florida scrub on Ishmael, his marshtackie horse, his dogs, Nip and Tuck, at this side. His parents, Tobias and Emma, scratch a living from the land, gathering wild cows from the swamp and herding them across the state to market. Zech learns the ways of the land from the Seminoles, with whom his life becomes entwined as he grows into manhood. Next in series > > See all of the books in this series

An indispensable book for both student and practicing clinicians, as well as for lawyers who want a better understanding of this interesting and ever-changing field, The Essentials of Florida Mental Health Law explains in a straightforward and user-friendly manner the laws most relevant to mental health practice in Florida.

The First Seminole War shaped how the United States demarcated its spatial and legal boundaries. Rooted in exceptionalism, manifest destiny, and racism, the legal framework that emerged from Andrew Jackson’s invasion of Florida laid the groundwork for the Monroe Doctrine, the Dred Scott decision, and westward expansion, as Deborah Rosen shows.

“An essential title for anyone thinking of law school or concerned with America's dysfunctional legal system.” —Library Journal On the surface, law schools today are thriving. Enrollments are on the rise and law professors are among the highest paid. Yet behind the flourishing facade, law schools are failing abjectly. Recent front-page stories have detailed widespread dubious practices, including false reporting of LSAT and GPA scores, misleading placement reports, and the fundamental failure to prepare graduates to enter the profession. Addressing all these problems and more is renowned legal scholar Brian Z. Tamanaha. Piece by piece, Tamanaha lays out the how and why of the crisis and the likely consequences if the current trend continues. The out-of-pocket cost of obtaining a law degree at many schools now approaches $200,000. The average law school graduate’s debt is around $100,000—the highest it has ever been—while the legal job market is the worst in decades. Growing concern with the crisis in legal education has led to high-profile coverage in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and many observers expect it soon will be the focus of congressional scrutiny. Bringing to the table his years of experience from within the legal academy, Tamanaha provides the perfect resource for assessing what’s wrong with law schools and figuring out how to fix them. “Failing Law Schools presents a comprehensive case for the negative side of the legal education debate and I am sure that many legal academics and every law school dean will be talking about it.” —Stanley Fish, Florida International University College of Law

From Field to Courts was written to inspire and inform its readers that regardless of the challenging circumstances and adversity in your life, whatever you can conceive and believe, you can achieve. The book is about how a poor black country boy in the segregated South was inspired by his grandparents and many others to become the first member of his family to graduate from college, finish law school, become an attorney, and be appointed as a judge in the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Pinellas and Pasco County. From Field to Courts is a remarkable and galvanizing true story about a person overcoming adversity, learning the value of education, and refusing to accept failure over success.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the Florida Constitution. After briefly describing the constitution's history (chapter 1), it organizes the constitution's numerous subjects into five discrete units: sovereignty (chapters 2-4); citizens' rights (chapters 5-12); government operations (chapters 13-19); public finances (chapters 20-22); and constitutional amendments (chapters 23-24). Specific sections of the constitution can be accessed quickly using the book's finding table. The text includes more than 1,000 case citations; extensive references to primary and secondary sources; and a select bibliography.