by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
Florida Coastal School of Law knew Jarrod Turner was the kind of employee it wanted. After all, it helped train him.
Three years after Turner became an FCSL alum, the school called him back in May 2003 to be the director of Institutional Support to help develop various programs, expand alumni relations, increase fund-raising efforts, organize conferences and provide career advice to future alumni. That can make for a long day.
“While we’re the new kid on the block, only seven and a half years old, we want people to see we have something to offer the community,” he said. “We want to show everyone the quality of our students, our graduates and our school.
“We want to blend with and be part of the legal community.”
Turner’s life actually seemed to be headed in a different direction not so very long ago, but a memorable campaign season sent him down another road.
A native of North Carolina, he had graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned a master’s degree in public administration at UNC-Charlotte.
“I was working in the Michigan Legislature for a state legislator, and it was cold,” he said. “I was hammering a sign into the frozen tundra during the election season of 1996. It was like 52 below with the wind chill.”
A notice about the new Florida Coastal School of Law caught his eye; he sent in his application and came on down. The school’s approach to teaching proved to be as attractive as the weather.
“The faculty and the staff are student-oriented,” he said. “They go the extra mile to be supportive and try to make the students feel welcome and the learning environment strong.”
After graduation in May 2000, Turner, who is also married to a Florida Coastal alum, worked for Bombardier Capital, a finance company in Jacksonville, and later for a criminal defense attorney.
An important part of Turner’s job now is to help organize conferences that draw attorneys, as well as the public, to Florida Coastal.
“Attorneys can receive Continuing Legal Education credit for many of the programs,” he said. “We want to attract people to the summits and conferences regarding the important issues of our day, as well as have them experience the positive aspects of our law school — the students and faculty and the search for knowledge and justice.
“Our goal is to improve the bar exam pass rate, get our graduates more jobs in places where we haven’t before, and foster new and continuing relationships. We’re proud of our 89-plus percent job placement rate, but we can and will improve.”
Turner also gets to remind students that attention to detail pays off.
Twice a year, when the bar exams are given, “the dean of students, executive assistant to the Dean Renita McTeer and I go down to Tampa, and we provide lunch for the alumni and the students,” he said. “We talk and encourage them before the exam and try to provide a calming atmosphere during the lunch break.
“I know it was helpful to me.”
A committee has been established to help students prepare for the bar exam, “to give them the best opportunity for success,” Turner said.
The school also lines up speakers to talk to students about “real-life practice” on Career Day Tuesday, held twice or more each month during a semester.
The Jacksonville Bar Association as a whole, as well as many individual judges and lawyers, have gone out of their way to help the school, said Turner.
In particular, he said, “Judge Gary Flower has been my mentor and is a great role model for all young lawyers to follow.”
In addition, Judges Charles Mitchell, Peter Webster and Lance Day, along with JBA Executive Board members Dan Bean and Joe Camerlengo, have taught classes, hired students as interns “and done anything they can to be supportive.”
“A really good thing about the school is you get hands-on experience, so you’re ready to practice, hit the ground running when you graduate and pass the bar,” Turner added.
The school’s growing prestige, he said, is the result of the hard work being done by the entire faculty and staff. Special mention went to Eric Smith, assistant dean for External Affairs; interim Dean Dennis Stone; and Chancellor Donald Lively.
“This school is the chancellor’s brainchild and vision,” said Turner. “Florida Coastal School of Law is at the head of front-wave legal education by making it more accessible for an ever more multi-cultural and diverse society.
“The main focus is to train lawyers to practice law. The other things, I would argue, make you not only a better person, but a better lawyer.”