by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
With good grades, enthusiasm and a little luck, law students get jobs as interns with attorneys and judges all the time.
For the really lucky ones, the teaching doesn’t necessarily stop when the office or the chambers shut down for the night.
“I learned just as much about life in general as I do about law from Judge Flower,” said Mathew Boutros, an intern in the office of County Court Judge Gary Flower. “He’s so active in the community, and he genuinely cares about people in the community.”
Boutros, who will graduate in December from Florida Coastal School of Law, had been a student in the family law class Flower teaches at FCSL. He has been interning this summer “strictly for the experience” — no pay and no class credit.
He will continue the internship in the fall, this time for credit.
“Judge Flower has taught me a lot about the law,” said Boutros. “You can learn the black letter law, but the law is all in how it applies to people, and conflicts between people.
“Seeing how the black letter is applied to people’s problems in the courtroom is always interesting.”
“He’s really a great mentor,” agreed Sean Dore, Flower’s intern in the spring and fall of 2002. “You got to see his moral character in being a judge — that he was truly interested in the difference between right and wrong and took his role very seriously.”
Dore had been a police officer for four and a half years in New Orleans and Harvey, Ill., where he was a member of the SWAT team. He is now in general practice at Dore & Schwartz, 550 Water St., with an FCSL classmate, Seth Schwartz.
“Judge Flower really started both of us with the basics, the difference between a motion and a pleading,” said Dore. “He took the time to start from the basic building blocks of the law through court appearances and the arguments from both sides. You really got to watch his decision-making process based on what was presented to him.
“I just really enjoyed that he allowed me to be his shadow throughout the day. I wasn’t put in some corner or cubbyhole to do research. He made you feel that you were going along with him to learn and absorb as much as you can.”
Because of his experiences, Boutros may follow in the footsteps of several local judges and attorneys who also teach at Florida Coastal.
“I definitely would go back,” he said. “Of course,” he added with a big smile, “I’d need to get a few years of experience under my belt first. Actually, I really need to graduate first.”
Dore and his partner have a general law practice. A lot of family law problems are coming through the door.
“I also had Judge Flower for trial practice, and he definitely influenced me to take the risk in starting my own practice right out of law school,” said Dore. “He definitely influenced me to want to litigate and to do my own thing.
“Based on my background and enjoyment of being in a courtroom, I probably will gear toward criminal defense work.”
Boutros originally intended to go into estate planning and real estate law. His experiences as an intern may have changed his mind.
“There’s something about being in the courthouse every day that’s exciting,” he said. “Being in this atmosphere and being around here makes me consider going into ... more likely, criminal defense work than a prosecutor.
“I don’t know if that’s Judge Flower’s influence or not. It’s more just actually being here in the halls of justice and seeing it every day, wanting to be in the center of where the action is.”
Flower sees his work with interns as an everyone-wins proposition. It helps him, the students, the school and the city.
Boutros and Dore “were both great students, and they’ve both been great interns,” said Flower, who has been teaching courses at FCSL “virtually since day one.”
Many Florida Coastal graduates are finding jobs at City and Sate departments — the Public Defender’s Office, State Attorney’s Office, Jacksonville Area Legal Aid. A growing number of private firms are grabbing them up, too.
“That’s because there are a lot of great students who come out of there,” said Flower. “There are a lot of good people there with a lot of diverse interests.
“I believe in my heart these are people who truly have a calling to public service who are going to school there. It’s clear when you interview them that’s where their passion is. And that’s been good for the city.”