Real Cases

Stetson History

Episode 39: Who’s In Your Corner? Inside Stetson Law’s Mentorship Culture

Behind every confident lawyer is someone who helped them find their footing. In the latest episode of Real Cases, we explore the mentorships—with deans, with professors, and with working attorneys—that help Stetson students navigate law school and launch meaningful careers.

Professors Catherine Cameron and Assistant Deans Catherine B. Martin, Latoya Edwards, and Steve A. Maxwell join us to discuss what mentoring looks like at every stage of law school, from your transition into 1L year through bar prep and career planning. The conversation highlights Stetson’s unique Inns program, our support for first-generation and non-traditional students, and how early guidance helps students gain real-world perspective before entering the profession.

Length: 53 minutes

Stetson History

Episode 38: Beyond the Verdict: Inside Stetson’s Criminal Law Concentration

Criminal law sits at the crossroads of fairness, accountability, and reform. From questions of who gets prosecuted to how victims are heard, Stetson Law pushes students to see beyond the verdict and into the systems that shape it.

In this episode of Real Cases, we sit down with Professors of Law Susan D. Rozelle, Roberta Flowers, and Judith A. M. Scully, along with the Gary R. Trombley Family White-Collar Crime Research Professor of Law Ellen S. Podgor, to discuss the new Criminal Law Concentration at Stetson. We explore what draws students to prosecutorial work versus defense work, the moral and procedural complexities of plea bargaining, and the role of criminal lawyers in addressing corruption, white-collar crime, and social justice reform.

Length: 59 minutes

Stetson History

Episode 37: The Business Law Concentration and Stetson’s Dual JD/MBA Degree

On this episode of Real Cases, we discuss the business law concentration and Stetson’s three-year dual JD/MBA degree with Professor of Law Theresa Radwan, Associate Professor of Law William Bunting, and Gage Bonjorn, a third-year law student.

Along the way we find out how bankruptcy law can merge the roles of a transactional lawyer and a litigator, why it’s helpful when lawyers and business executives speak the same language, and why a surprising number of law school grads have a side hustle managing investment properties.

Length: 46 minutes

Stetson History

Episode 36: Adjusting to Law School Life: Stetson’s Inns Program, Part 2

In the second episode of this two-parter, we sit down with Dean Anne Mullins; inaugural faculty bencher, Professor Kristen Adams; and one of the Inns program’s first student readers, Mariana Monforte, a 3L who graduated from Stetson Law this spring. We discuss how law students go from private citizens to public advocates, the importance of developing a cross-generational professional network, and why Dean Mullins calls the Inns program “Hogwarts for law students’!

Length: 48 minutes

Stetson History

Episode 35: Adjusting to Law School Life: Stetson’s Inns Program, Part 1

Your first few weeks of law school can feel like moving to another country where everyone speaks a slightly different language—and you need to be fluent by midterms. Perhaps that’s why Stetson looked to a venerable institution from the UK’s legal system to help 1Ls connect with each other, their professors, and the profession: English Inns of Court.

In this first episode of a two-parter, we sit down with Stetson Law Professor Timothy Kaye, one of the program’s inaugural “benchers”—i.e. faculty mentors—to discuss how Stetson’s Inns program got its start, the system’s British origins, and how the program cultivates a more thoughtful and immersive approach to the study and practice of law.

Length: 34 minutes

Stetson History

Episode 34: From the Stage to the Stadium: Stetson Grads in Sports and Entertainment Law

Athletes and celebrities may be the ones in the spotlight, but behind every sponsorship deal, headline-making trade, or backstage battle over royalties, there's a lawyer making it all happen.

On this episode of Real Cases, we sit down with three Stetson Law alums: music industry attorney and Founding Partner of Keller, Turner, Andrews, & Ghanem, Jason L. Turner; Senior Director and Associate Council for the Charlotte Hornets, Cymoril White; and Vice President of Basketball Strategy for the Utah Jazz, Steven Schwartz. We discuss the ins and outs of copyright termination, new legal questions around data gathering through wearable technology, and the multitude of unusual avenues through which people enter the profession.

Length: 78 minutes

Stetson History

Episode 33: Making the Most of Your First Year at Law School

They say you should treat law school like a full-time job. But what does that really mean in practice, and how do you get the most out of your first year?

In this episode, we sit down with Assistant Professor Erin Okuno, who both teaches at Stetson Law and graduated from the school in 2013, and John Stafford, who’s now a second-year student at Stetson. We discuss the most common challenges students face in their first year at law school, ways the environment for new grads has changed in the last decade, and how Stetson’s uniquely collaborative environment sets students up for success.

Length: 60 minutes

Stetson History

Episode 32: Biden v. Nebraska and Student Loan Forgiveness

What’s the difference between “waiving” and “modifying,” and how does that affect whether the President of the United States can forgive student loan debt?

In this episode, we sit down with Stetson Law Professor Mark Bauer to discuss Biden v. Nebraska, the Supreme Court case that struck down the Biden administration’s partial student loan forgiveness efforts. On the way we consider the major questions doctrine, the vagaries of standing, and how sometimes―just sometimes―your work in antitrust law gets made into a Hollywood movie.

Length: 34 minutes

Stetson History

Episode 31: The Stetson Law Campus and the History of the Hotel Rolyat

What do Babe Ruth, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and a cat named Porkchop all have in common? They’ve all been distinguished guests on Stetson Law’s storied hundred-year-old campus.

In this episode, we sit down with Brooke M. Smith, a Circulation Librarian and Archivist, and Reference Librarian Sally Ginsberg Waters to discuss the history of that campus, dating back to its original construction as the Hotel Rolyat, an attraction for celebrities during the Roaring Twenties.

Length: 44 minutes

Employment Law

Episode 30: Employment Law and Discrimination

More and more job applications are processed by machine learning before a real person ever reads them. But can these algorithms exhibit prejudice? And, if so, what would it mean to adopt algorithmic affirmative action?

In this episode, we sit down with Stetson Professor Jason Bent to discuss the changing landscape of employment and employment discrimination law in the twenty-first century. We discuss the impact of AI, growing concerns about data privacy in employment contexts, and the role new Supreme Court decisions have played in the interpretation of Title VII.

Length: 63 minutes

Supreme Court

Episode 29: Major Cases from the Supreme Court This Summer

Are presidents immune from criminal prosecution for actions they take in office?

That was just one question – and perhaps not even the most wide-ranging one – under consideration in the decisions released at the end of the Supreme Court’s latest term this summer. In this new episode, we sit down with Stetson Law Professor Louis Virelli to discuss how the court’s recent slate of decisions is reshaping the balance of powers. From gun rights to presidential immunity to fundamental workings of administrative law, the cases from this latest term are rewriting the textbooks.

Length: 75 minutes

Studying Part-Time

Episode 28: Part-Time Students at Stetson

How do part-time law students juggle a family, a job, and law school all at once?

In this episode, we sit down with two strong advocates for Stetson Law’s part-time program, Dominique Alford-Raymond and Grace Moseley. Together we discuss the diversity, the resilience, and the uniquely strong community among members of Stetson’s part-time program.

Length: 61 minutes

American Indian Law

Episode 27: American Indian Law and the Supreme Court

In an era of sharp and often predictably partisan disagreements within the Supreme Court, it might surprise some that Neil Gorsuch, one of the court’s 6 conservative justices, has emerged as one of the fiercest proponents of tribal sovereignty to ever serve on the bench.

That fact doesn’t surprise Stetson Law Professor Grant Christensen, however. Christensen is a specialist in Federal Indian Law, the unique mixture of federal regulations and tribal sovereignty that governs the lands set aside for Native American communities within the states.

In this episode, we discuss the unexpected Supreme Court majorities that can emerge in Indian Law cases that test questions about federalism, recent decisions about the Indian Child Welfare Act and tribal lands in Oklahoma, and how indigenous legal traditions can propose models for reforming corporate governance.

Length: 61 minutes

Environmental Law

Episode 26: Climate Change, Environmental Law, and Public Access to Justice

Florida isn’t just on the front line for climate change in America – it’s also a testing ground for new legal questions about how to deal with its consequences.

In the latest episode of Real Cases, we speak with Assistant Professor Jaclyn Lopez, Director of the Jacobs Public Interest Law Clinic for Democracy and the Environment. We discuss public access to environmental justice, new legal problems raised by increased flooding, and the role the Jacobs Law Clinic is playing in fighting to extend federal Endangered Species Act protection to the ghost orchid, a rare and famous flower unique to the region.

Length: 55 minutes

Constitutional History

Episode 25: History, the Law, and Constitutional Consciousness

How did free African Americans before the Civil War regard the Constitution, freedom, and citizenship in a republic that excluded them from political participation? In the latest episode of Real Cases, we sit down with Stetson Professor James Fox to discuss the fuzzy boundaries between history and legal scholarship, different varieties of originalism on today’s Supreme Court, and how greater racial diversity in the academy advances new ways of understanding the past.

Length: 55 minutes

Tampa Bay

Episode 24: Stetson in the Tampa Bay Community

What’s life like for young legal professionals in Tampa Bay? On this month’s episode of Real Cases, we talk to three Stetson Law alums with prominent positions at law firms in the greater Tampa Bay community: Ciara Willis J.D. 16, a Partner at Bush Ross, P.A. who practices community association law, Matthew Ceriale J.D. ‘19, an Associate Attorney at Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, L.L.P. who practices civil litigation, and Danielle Weaver-Rogers J.D. ‘13, Senior Corporate Counsel for Labor and Employment at Qualfon Data Service Group, L.L.C., who works in employment law. They talk about life in Tampa Bay, how they got into their current line of work, and how their experiences at Stetson led to the jobs they have today.

Length: 48 minutes

Intellectual Property

Episode 23: AI and Intellectual Property Law

By scrubbing the internet for information that it recombines into new texts and images, generative AI has launched a host of new questions about intellectual property law and liability. For instance, who’s responsible if an AI infringes upon your intellectual property? The company that made it? The company that used it? The AI itself?

We discuss these questions and more in the latest episode of Real Cases with Professor Darryl C. Wilson, Stetson Law’s Associate Dean for Strategy & Operations.

Length: 65 minutes

Space Law and Cyber Law

Episode 22: Space Law and Cyber Law

What nation has jurisdiction if an astronaut commits a crime in space? Who owns the right to mine asteroids? How do countries co-manage the physical infrastructure of the internet – on earth and in orbit? On this month’s episode of Real Cases, Stetson Law Professor Roy Balleste discusses the complex web of maritime precedents and international agreements that govern space exploration. He explains why the final frontier holds a host of new ethical, technological, and legal questions that law scholars have only just begun to contemplate.

Length: 58 minutes

Artificial Intelligence

Episode 21: AI, Law, and Legal Education

Are AI tools like ChatGPT reshaping the landscape of law and legal education? Or are they just another form of information technology that lawyers and students can harness with a properly critical approach? In this episode, Stetson professors Catherine Cameron and Kelly Feeley discuss the limits of AI tools and online databases, the persistent importance of legal interpretation and analysis, and the unexpected ways new technologies can replicate structural biases.

BONUS: CLICK here to read the latest blog post on the topic. 

Length: 53 minutes

Social Justice

Episode 20: Social Justice Advocacy

In this episode, Professors Judith Scully and Kristen Adams join us to discuss Stetson Law’s Social Justice Advocacy concentration. They discuss how law students can build their portfolios, how students can learn to advocate for themselves, and how lawyers around the country work for what they believe in without sacrificing their own well-being.

BONUS: Click here to read the latest blog post on the topic. 

Length: 60 minutes

LGBTQ Law

Episode 19: LGBTQIA+ Law Students and the Lambda Legal Society at Stetson

In this episode, we’re joined by Professor Joseph Morrissey and Stetson alum Nathan Bruemmer to discuss the role of advocacy and organizing in law school and beyond, the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association’s Lavender Law Career Fair, and what schools like Stetson are doing to make queer students and their allies feel welcome in the legal profession.

BONUS: Click here to read our latest blog post on the topic.

Length: 75 minutes

Out of State Students

Episode 18: Studying Away from Home: Out-of-State Students at Stetson

In this episode, we’re joined by Lamine Gueye and Sara Fultz, two rising 3L students at Stetson who originally hail from New York and Virginia. They share their thoughts about the Tampa Bay area, what drew them to Stetson, and what it’s like going to law school after spending some years working after college.

BONUS: Click here to read our latest blog post on the topic.

Length: 44 minutes

Disabilities

Episode 17: Disability, Law, and Legal Education at Stetson

Over one out of four adults in the U.S. has some type of disability. In this episode we’re joined by Kathryn Pelham, Stetson Law’s Associate Director of Accessibility Resources & ADA Coordinator, to discuss how Stetson and other law schools are accommodating a growing number of students with conditions that impact their access to education. She discusses her philosophy behind equitable accommodations in law school curricula, the challenges of reaching for universal accessibility, and the importance of advocating for yourself.

BONUS: Click here to read our latest blog post on the topic.

Length: 51 minutes

Affirmative Action

Episode 16: Affirmative Action

The Supreme Court’s new ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard reverses an over 40-year-old precedent for how university admissions committees can cultivate racial diversity in their incoming classes. In this episode we’re joined by Professor Peter Lake, an internationally recognized expert on higher education law and policy. He discusses the history of race-conscious college admissions, the consequences of judicial mistrust for higher ed administration, and why he thinks the court’s latest ruling is “litigation bait” for many more lawsuits to come.

BONUS: Click here to read our latest blog post on the topic.

Length: 1 hour 11 minutes

Graduation and Career Development

Episode 15: Life After Law School

In this episode, Stetson Law Professor Louis Virelli III, a leading expert on the constitutional questions underlying Supreme Court recusal, discusses the importance of legal career development — as a student and after. After making a hard pivot from engineering to the law, Virelli knew he wanted to teach and followed a career path to take him there.

BONUS: Click here to read our latest blog post on the topic.

Length: 1 hour 8 minutes

Legal Ethics and Independent Study

Episode 14: Pursuing Your Passions Through Independent Study

In this episode, Stetson Law Professor Christine Cerniglia and recent grad Denia Angelino discuss judicial externships, the legal profession’s standards for ethical behavior outside the courtroom, and how the passions Denia pursued in her independent study led her to her current career working in employment discrimination law.

BONUS: Click here to read our latest blog post on the topic.

Length: 50 minutes

Arts and the Humanities

Episode 13: Poetry, Art, and the Law

In this episode, Stetson Law Professor Kristen Adams and her students Jase Maden and Taylor Simonds discuss the intersections between literature, performance, and legal scholarship they explored in Adams’ course, “The Law as Reflected through Poetry.”

BONUS: Click here to read our latest blog post on the topic.

Length: 49 minutes

Legal Education

Episode 12: The Good, the Weird, and the Precedent-Setting: Popular 1L Cases

In this episode, Stetson professors Catherine Cameron and Ashley Krenelka Chase discuss cases every 1L student should know, what to do when your clients over-share, and how to separate the essential facts from the merely weird ones when the law and the real world collide.

BONUS: Click here to read our latest blog post on the topic.

Length: 51 minutes

Mental Health & Wellness

Episode 11: Mental Health and the Student Wellness Society

In this episode, Stetson Student Wellness Society members Katie Johnson, Kayla Albritton, and Christopher Manon talk about finding the right work/life balance, how to avoid burnout, and the crucial difference between being “The Best” and being the best version of yourself.

BONUS: Click here to read our latest blog post on the topic.

Length: 44 minutes

Diversity on Campus

Episode 10: You Belong Here

In this episode, Stetson Law students Francesca Little and Logan Jackson – plus recent Stetson grad Edson Abadia, Jr. – open their case files on their diverse leadership roles. Plus: how Stetson has created an inclusive space for Latinx, Black, and queer students.

BONUS: Click here to read our latest blog post on the topic.

Length: 45 minutes

Law School Admissions

Episode 9: Getting Into Law School with Karla Davis-Jamison and Darren Kettles

In this episode, Darren Kettles (Director for Admissions) and Karla Davis-Jamison (Assistant Dean for Enrollment Management) of Stetson University College of Law open their case files on breaking down enrollment barriers, building a school community, and reaching a diverse applicant pool. Plus: dispelling some myths about college applications.

BONUS: Click here to read our latest blog post on the topic.

Length: 43 minutes

Veteran Advocacy

Episode 8: The First Line of Defense with Stacey-Rae Simcox

In this episode, Professor Stacey-Rae Simcox of Stetson University College of Law opens her case file on civil war pardons, backlogs at the VA, and what the GI bill promises. Plus: how Stetson Law students are already changing veterans’ lives.

BONUS: Click here to read our latest blog post on the topic.

Length: 41 minutes

Disaster Law

Episode 7: Practicing to Practice with Christine Cerniglia

A student approaches her law professor and says “I’m interested in Space Law.” With very little case law on the books, the professor begins pulling statutes to create a scenario that puts this student in the pilot’s seat of a legal situation that doesn’t even exist…yet.

In this episode we talk about the limits of attorney-client privilege, practicing law during a global pandemic, and why students should get out of the classroom.

Read More: Clinical & Experiential Learning: A Must-Have for Law Schools

Length: 52 minutes

Higher Education Law & Policy

Episode 6: Navigating Title IX with Peter Lake

Episode 6 features an interview with Stetson’s own Professor Peter Lake as he opens his case file on students’ evolving identities, shifts in SCOTUS ideology, and controversies faced by the Department of Education.

Read More: Title IX Law Marks its 50th Anniversary

Length: 49 minutes

Entertainment Law

Episode 5: Entertainment Law with Dean Darryl C. Wilson

Judge Judy has made more than 6,000 judicial decisions in her 25 years on TV. But does she have any legal weight? You might be surprised at the answer. In this episode, we talk about transgender athletes, the complexities of NFT ownership, and being the only Black law student in the room.

Length: 39 minutes

Legal Education

Episode 4: Law School on the Beach with Vicky & Khalil Madani

In this episode, Vicky and Khalil Madani (class of ‘14) open their case files on mock trial competitions, prison phone recordings, and on-campus gardening. Plus: what happens when a Stetson graduate walks into a courtroom.

Length: 61 minutes

Elder Law

Episode 3: Protecting Autonomy with Prof. Roberta K. Flowers

In this episode, Professor Roberta K. Flowers, elder law expert at Stetson University College of Law, opens her case file on scams targeting elders, the importance of legal autonomy, and a new kind of accessible courtroom. Plus: Does the age of consent have an expiration date?

Length: 56 minutes

Trial Advocacy

Episode 2: Bearing Witness with Prof. Elizabeth Boals

In this episode, Professor Elizabeth Boals, advocacy law expert at Stetson University College of Law, opens her case file on email evidence, expert witness testimony, and what really goes on in the courtroom. Plus: what do you do when your client is guilty?

Length: 43 minutes

Environmental Law

Episode 1: Preserving Life with Paul Boudreaux

In our premiere episode, Professor Paul Boudreaux, environmental law expert at Stetson University College of Law, opens his case file on endangered species protection, natural resource preservation, and the effects of industrial development on tiny fish, rare flies, and struggling families. Plus: why Florida is the ideal place to practice environmental law and how diversity impacts the field.

Length: 41 minutes