BEN CRUMP Seeking Justice for All
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THE MAGAZINE OF THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LAW SPRING 2006 BEN CRUMP Seeking Justice for All 444042-FSU4042-FSU LLAWAW CCOVER.inddOVER.indd 2 55/19/06/19/06 111:19:381:19:38 AAMM Looking Back on Another Great Year s I type, the spring ■ 58% of our students contributed fi nancially to our 2006 graduating class student Annual Fund drive, helping to establish A is getting ready to the culture of philanthropy that is necessary for “walk.” This is an exciting time us to achieve “top15” status for all of us—especially for the new graduates and their families The faculty has continued to press full-steam who have sacrifi ced so much to ahead. This year, the faculty has— help them achieve personal and ■ Published more than three dozen articles in pres- professional success. We have tigious law journals from the dean from the high hopes for our new gradu- ■ Published 10 books ates, hope based both on their ■ Posted more than 200 working papers to the on- quality and on the successes of line Social Science Research Network our recent graduates. ■ Made more than 100 professional presentations The marketplace has been outside of Tallahassee extremely receptive to our ■ Been cited in a wide range of national and inter- graduates. Last spring’s graduat- national media ing class had a 99% placement We continue to rise in the national rankings. This rate nine months after graduation. We at the law spring, we rose three ranks in the infl uential U.S. News school are doing everything in our power to continue & World Report rankings—for a total rise of 14 ranks this enviable record. over the last two years. In addition, for each of the last Our students are leading the charge to help us two years, U.S. News has rated our environmental law welcome become one of the nation’s top 15 state law schools. program the 14th strongest in the nation. I am particularly proud of the students who are pro- Make no mistake about it: We recognize that your jecting their talents at a national and international fi nancial contributions are critical to our successes. To level. This past year— take but one example, our students have been suc- ■ Our Mock Trial Team won 1st place in the Lone cessful in national advocacy competitions because we Star Classic National Mock Trial Competition in have been able to provide generous support for their San Antonio, Texas training and for their travel. Last fall, we completed ■ Our Moot Court Team won 1st place in the our share of the University-wide Capital Campaign. Mugel National Tax Moot Court Competition Over the fi ve years of this Campaign, our alumni con- in Buffalo, New York tributed an impressive $18 million to the law school. ■ Our student-edited scholarly journals, the Florida We are putting that money to good use supporting State University Law Review, the Journal of Land the efforts of our students and faculty. In this year’s Use & Environmental Law and the Journal of Annual Fund drive, which only lasts through June, Transnational Law & Policy, were all rated high we have not quite reached our goal of a 26% alumni in terms of “impact factor” by Washington & giving rate. If you have not done so already, please Lee University send your check, payable to the College of Law, and ■ Our Black Law Students Association was selected join the alumni who are helping move the law school the national BLSA Chapter of the Year ahead so dramatically. ■ Of the 10 accredited law schools in Florida, our I am honored to be your Dean. December graduates had the highest passing rate on the February administration of the Florida Bar Exam Thanks! Don Weidner Dean and Alumni Centennial Professor 444042-FSU4042-FSU LLAWAW CCOVER.inddOVER.indd 3 55/19/06/19/06 111:19:421:19:42 AAMM Contents FSULAW DEAN AND ALUMNI CENTENNIAL PROFESSOR Donald J. Weidner FEATURES ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS ALUMNI FOCUS Mark Seidenfeld ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR Beating the Odds ADMINISTRATION 2 Tallahassee’s Ben Crump is making a name for himself as an Stephanie L. Williams attorney who is winning the “no-win” cases. ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS Power Broker Nancy Benavides 6 Law school provided a solid foundation for Joe Richardson, ASSISTANT DEAN FOR the man in power at one of the nation’s largest energy DEVELOPMENT companies. Mark Pankey ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF Renaissance Woman DEVELOPMENT AND 8 Real estate lawyer Beth Daniels is a hit on the golf course and ALUMNI AFFAIRS on the stage. Becky B. Shepherd 8 DIRECTOR OF Securing Financial Futures COMMUNICATIONS 10 Jason Lazarus has found a unique niche, helping claimants & EDITOR Barbara Ash make the right decisions about what to do with monetary awards from law suits. PHOTOGRAPHY Ray Stanyard Jessie R. Eason Tax Attorney by Day, Rock ‘n’ Roller by Night 12 Nick Lioce feeds his alter ego as lead singer in a popular WRITERS West Palm Beach band. Dave Fiore Jessie R. Eason Barbara Ash STUDENT FOCUS GRAPHIC DESIGN Perry Albrigo, Private Scholarships Pomegranate Studio 14 Alumni and friends fi nd meaningful ways to give back to the College of Law. FSU Law is published 14 by the Florida State University College of DEPARTMENTS Law, and is distributed to alumni, faculty, students, staff and friends of the 18 NOTEWORTHY College. Please send Alumni Profi les, Philanthropy, Events editorial contributions, including Class Action and changes of name 24 CLASS ACTION and address to FSU Law, Find out what your classmates are up to Offi ce of Development and Alumni Affairs, FSU LAW College of Law, Florida 33 FOR THE RECORD State University, Faculty News, Publications and Activities Tallahassee, FL 32306- ■ 1601, e-mail: alumni@ 40 law.fsu.edu. If you have 40 AROUND THE LAW SCHOOL SPRING a disability requiring accommodations for events mentioned in FSU Law, please call the College of Law. FSU Law is also available in alternative format COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY RAY STANYARD upon request. 1 444042-P01-234042-P01-23 TTEXT.inddEXT.indd 1 55/19/06/19/06 111:32:201:32:20 AAMM Beating the focus alumni Law partners Ben Crump, left, and Daryl Parks fl ank the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and associate Keisha Rice, ’04, as they march to the Capitol to demand an arrest in the Martin Lee Anderson case. Ben Crump Winning the ‘No-Win’ Cases BY BARBARA ASH en Crump recalls the day in 1993 Florida State. success. The whole family was counting when he ran into Daryl Parks dur- “We naturally gravitated toward one on us to make it through law school so we Bing their fi rst week at the Florida another because we had concluded that we could save them.” State University College of Law. They had were the poorest people in the law school Now 13 years later, the former classmates met as undergraduates when Parks was a and that we had the most to prove,” Crump are partners in one of the most successful two-term president of the Florida A&M said recently. “We were there not to carry personal injury law fi rms in Florida and the SPRING ■ University student body and Crump was on the family tradition, but to give our second largest African-American-owned president of the Black Student Union at families—not just us—a chance for some plaintiff’s law fi rm in the country. Civil FSU LAW 2 444042-P01-234042-P01-23 TEXT.inddTEXT.indd 2 55/16/06/16/06 111:08:321:08:32 AAMM ALUMNI FOCUS ALUMNI Odds ■ BEN CRUMP rights leader the Reverend Al Sharpton has ‘Where’s the glory in helping Goliath beat David? Now, called the two “the next Johnny Cochrans” of the nation. people who are seeking justice come to us because They formed Parks Crump Attorneys at they don’t know where else to go.’ Law with three employees in 1996, moving into a 1,000-square-foot building on East Tennessee Street in Tallahassee. Today, confi dential settlement even though the wasn’t worth more than $1 million. The the fi rm’s 10 lawyers and 30 support staff statute of limitations had expired. jury awarded his widow $5 million, the occupy a 14,000-square-foot office on ■ A 27-year-old Georgia woman injured largest recovery for a single wrongful Magnolia Street, across from the Tallahassee after being hit by a company car driven death case in Thomas County. Democrat. by the president and general manager of “We’re going to get big settlements, or, if Looking back, Crump said he and Parks an auto dealership in Mariana. A jury we’re forced to go to court, we’re going to get were naïve to think it would be a piece of awarded her $3.5 million. big verdicts,” Crump said matter-of-factly. cake to set up a law fi rm right out of law ■ A 12-year-old cheerleader injured in a “But we’ve never been comfortable with school and make it self-sustaining. They fall inside a Wal-Mart store in Tallahas- just getting a monetary resolution. Daryl did it, however, because they didn’t believe see. The company refused to settle for and I have attempted to build a legal justice other fi rms would let them practice the kind $5,000 and the jury awarded the girl center—not just a law fi rm—predicated on of law they were passionate about. $250,000. “That surprised the judge as helping people who historically have been “We wanted to represent people from much as it shocked Wal-Mart,” Crump denied justice.