FLORIDA STATE LAW Inside Moot Court Team Wins World Championship Lapointe: Living the American Dream Annual Report Alumni Recognitions ALUMNI MAGAZINE FALL 2011 Message from the Dean A Fall of Bittersweet Memories and Inspiring Advances Steve Gey Africa, in October. In the Spring of 2007, this maga- In early November, our Mock Trial students won rst place zine included a story about Steve in the Florida Justice Association’s E. Earle Zehmer Mock Gey’s many contributions to the law Trial Competition, in Tampa. is is the second year in a row school and his a iction with ALS. our students have taken this rst-place title. e students on the Law Review ran In mid-November, a team elded by our Dispute Resolu- a special tribute to his work, alums tion Society won rst place at the Southeastern Regional have participated in triathlons in Negotiation Competition, sponsored by the American Bar As- his honor, and students, faculty and sociation. e winning team will now advance to the National alums rallied to his side. After a Competition, which will be held in New Orleans in February. phenomenal life, Steve passed on June 9th. Early this fall, the academic year began with a memorial here at the law school Just Plain Fun in honor of Steve. Our entire community and Steve’s family e student successes are a result of their vision and hard got to share recollections about Steve and how much he has work. Make no mistake about it, though, our students still done for the school and for everyone around him. is issue know how to have fun. My favorite piece of fun is taking place of Florida State Law includes photographic images of that as I write this column, immediately prior to Homecoming. ceremony. e students call it “Rivalry Week” because it celebrates the rivalry between our students who were undergraduates at Bill VanDercreek Florida State and our students who were undergraduates at the Alums closest to our Moot Court Team know that Bill University of Florida. Garnet and Gold bunting has been hung VanDercreek has recently been told he has only a short time on one side of our atrium and Orange and Blue bunting on the remaining with us. Since he got the news, Bill has been noth- other. Signs abound celebrating allegiance to the athletic team ing short of inspirational. He states repeatedly that he is lucky of one school or the other. Earlier this week, our male FSU that his form of cancer leaves him in no pain. He is free to alums claimed victory at dodge ball over our male UF alums. spend his remaining days with people he loves and re ecting is afternoon, our female students who were Florida State with them on the times they have shared together in a life he undergraduates are playing “powder-pu football” against our has loved. Many alums and former faculty, especially Moot female students who were undergraduates at UF. e Village Court alums, have rallied around him to make his nal time Green is lined with cheering students from a huge range of with us a period of celebration of a life well-led. I am sure he undergraduate institutions. would love to hear from you if he hasn’t already. Another thing that has been fun for me this week is in- specting the interior of the vacated First District Court of Advocacy and Negotiation Successes Appeal as our complete remodel of it nears completion. e It is tting that, this fall, the Moot Court Team, which Bill new courtrooms are especially beautiful and will stand as a founded, has hit another all-time high and has taken the seeds lasting tribute to our advocacy teams. Su ce it to say that the Bill planted and cultivated them to full bloom. As our cover photos of the addition in this issue fail to do justice to how story reveals, our Moot Court students this year rst won the nice it will be. I promise you that you will like it! North American Space Law Competition, in Washington, D.C., and went on to win the world title in Cape Town, South Sincerely, Don Weidner Dean and Alumni Centennial Professor Table of Contents Contents DEAN AND CENTENNIAL ALUMNI PROFESSOR Features Donald J. Weidner ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR Cover Story ACADEMIC AFFAIRS Curtis Bridgeman 2 Moot Court Team Brings Home ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS International Championship Nancy L. Benavides ASSISTANT DEAN FOR Alumni Focus STUDENT AFFAIRS Janeia Daniels 6 Markenzy Lapointe: ASSISTANT DEAN FOR ADMINISTRATION Living the American Dream Catherine J. Miller ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR 8 Family Lawyer Kim Picazio Makes an DEVELOPMENT Mark Pankey Impact in the Courtroom, at Home DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI and on the Airwaves AFFAIRS & ANNUAL FUND Becky B. Shepherd 10 Phil Blank: DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND Leading a Law Firm and a Family into Law EDITOR Christi N. Morgan 21 Rick Rumrell Faithfully Practices Law PHOTOGRAPHY Bill Lax, Ringside Entertainment & Faculty Focus Productions WRITERS 41 Remembering Professor Gey Christi N. Morgan, Sally Bowman GRAPHIC DESIGN Perry Albrigo, DEPARTMENTS Pomegranate Studio 16 Noteworthy Please send editorial Alumni Profiles, Philanthropy, Events contributions, including 20 Class Action Class Action submissions Alumni Notes and changes of name and address to Office of Devel- 36 For the Record opment and Alumni Affairs, Faculty News and Notes College of Law, Florida State 44 Around the Law School University, Tallahassee, FL Florida State Law News 32306-1601, e-mail: [email protected]. Cover photography by Bill Lax FALL 2011 1 Cover Story MOOT COURT TEAM Brings Home International Championship! By Christi N. Morgan (L-R) Anne Marie Rossi, Tanya Cronau and Lynn Guery 2 FLORIDA STATE LAW Cover Story n October, the Florida State Uni- Th e team was assembled by Moot teams that he coaches,” said Professor versity College of Law Moot Court Court advisor Nat Stern, the John W. Stern. “His deep insight into legal issues ITeam accomplished an unprec- & Ashley E. Frost Professor of Law, generated in practice arguments and edented feat. It was victorious in an during the summer of 2010. Stern endless patience for critique ensure that international advocacy competition also assigned the trio to the space his teams will be thoroughly prepared – the World Finals of the 2011 Man- law competition, which is based on a for competition.” fred Lachs Space Law Moot Court hypothetical space law dispute before In advance of the North American Competition. the International Court of Justice Regional competition, held in Wash- Team members Tanya Cronau, a 3L from Port St. John and Cape Ca- naveral, Florida, Lynn Guery, a 3L from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Anne Marie Rossi (’11), from Tampa, Florida, traveled to South Africa for the competition. Th ey ultimately ended up arguing in the fi nals before three justices of the International Court of Justice at the High Court of Cape Town, South Africa. No one took for granted that Florida State would win, although the team’s impressive record in national competitions gave grounds for hope. When the College of Law was an- nounced the winning team, the students were overcome with emotion. “I cried,” said Cronau. “It was ex- tremely overwhelming. We put in so much work for this, more work than I’ve “I cried,” said Cronau. “It was extremely overwhelming. put into a lot of things, to be honest. So it was like a weight was being lifted off We put in so much work for this, more work than I’ve put my shoulders. It fi nally paid off .” into a lot of things, to be honest. So it was like a weight When news of the team’s victory was being lifted off my shoulders. It fi nally paid off.” made it back to Tallahassee, the law school community was elated. “We were all thrilled when Florida State won and sponsored annually by the Inter- ington, D.C., in April, the team wrote the right to represent North America,” national Institute of Space Law. He and submitted two briefs – one for each said Dean Don Weidner. “To be the then matched them with proven coach side of the issue. To obtain critiques global winner has us all walking on Arthur Stern (no relation to Professor and perfect the arguments, the trio also cloud nine.” Stern), a Tallahassee attorney who had practiced before nine separate panels To fully appreciate this accomplish- coached Florida State students to mul- comprised of professors, students and ment, one should know about the tiple national victories. practitioners. students’ hard work leading up to the “Arthur brings extraordinary legal “We sought the assistance of faculty, October 6 fi nals. intellect and total commitment to the Continued on page 4 FALL 2011 3 Cover Story “Moot Court,” continued from page 3 who were extremely helpful and candid To be number one out of this group is As required, they refi ned their briefs with their feedback as to the quality always an uphill climb.” and resubmitted them. Then, dur- of our arguments,” said Guery. “Th ey “Our team members not only per- ing August and September, the team provided ample suggestions as to how formed superbly at the competition, but held seven panel practices to get ad- to frame our arguments better so that also represented the school in an utterly ditional feedback from students and they were more persuasive.” professional manner,” said Professor faculty members. On September 29, Th e team, accompanied by Professor Stern. “I never enter a competition they boarded a plane for South Africa. Stern, competed in three rounds at the predicting that our team will win; “Th e competition is part of a big regionals.