Hispanic Bar seeks scholarship candidates
The Hispanic Bar Association of Northeast Florida is beginning to review applicants to receive scholarships from Florida Coastal School of Law. The scholarships will be awarded through the Mayor’s Hispanic Advisory Board at its fall scholarship luncheon. Four law school awards of $1,000 each will be awarded to Hispanic students based on a 3.5 or better Grade Point Average and on community involvement and financial need.
The HBA is also inviting all judges and magistrates to join as honorary members, and given the menu at the HBA’s Oct. 11, fall luncheon, the members of the judiciary may want to consider it. The annual luncheon is scheduled for noon at the Duval County Courthouse in the Chief Judge’s Chambers. Lunch includes arroz con pollo, plantains, salad, flan for dessert and Cuban coffee. The accompanying program will break down the judicial nomination process in the Fourth Judicial Circuit.
Local joins Million Dollar Advocates
Local attorney Hugh Cotney has joined the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, a national trial lawyers group. The organization was founded in 1993 and has grown to about 3,000 members. Membership is limited to attorneys who have won million-dollar-plus verdicts, awards and settlements. Cotney, a graduate of University of Florida Law School, specializes in personal injury, wrongful death and product liability.
Rogers Towers aids Mississippi victims of Katrina
What started as Rogers Towers attorney Doug Burnett’s effort to help relatives affected by Hurricane Katrina grew into a Rogers Towers mission that helped the residents of Delisle, Miss. Many of the Delisle residents lost their homes in the storm, prompting Burnett to begin collecting donations. What began as a small-scale initiative snowballed as the firm’s attorneys, staff and even clients began donating cash, food, water, electric generators and other necessities that totaled more than $10,000. Burnett delivered the goods to Delisle Sept. 3 via a delivery truck rented by the firm.
Kelo v. New London: How will it affect Florida?
A statewide series of workshops disseminating the effects of the landmark Supreme Court decision Kelo v. City of New London will come to Jacksonville Nov. 18. The Court’s decision held that a local government could seize land or transfer its ownership to another party with economic development as the compelling motive. The half-day workshop discusses possible effects in Florida. It’s sponsored by Florida State University’s John Scott Dailey Florida Institute of Government, the Florida Association of Counties, the Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association and Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions. The local host will be the University of North Florida’s Center for Public and International Policy. For further information, contact the John Scott Dailey Institute at (850) 487-1870.