University of Miami College of Law
Law Alumnus R. Fred Lewis, JD’72, has been elected Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court. By unanimous vote, the Justices of the Florida Supreme Court elected Justice R. Fred Lewis as the 52nd Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court. His inaugural ceremony has been tentatively scheduled for Friday, June 30, 2006. He officially takes office July 1, 2006. Lewis received his undergraduate degree from Florida Southern College of Lakeland, in 1969, and his law degree, with honors, from the University of Miami School of Law in 1972. After a brief tour in the U.S. Army, Justice Lewis went into private practice in Miami, specializing in civil trial and appellate litigation. While in Miami he became an advocate in issues facing children and the handicapped. He often provided pro bono legal services to families with impaired children and cancer patients seeking proper treatment for multiple conditions. The late Governor Lawton Chiles appointed Justice Lewis to the Florida Supreme Court in December 1998.
Stetson University College of Law
A student team from Stetson University College of Law won silver in the world wide Second annual Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot competition April 13 in Vienna. It was the second time Stetson Law placed in the grand finals during the award’s history. In March 2005, Stetson was the first American law school since 1996 to win the Vis Moot competition. A team from Queen Mary University in London won first place this year. Stetson Law’s moot team of Kathryn Christian, Marina Braginskaya, Jared Dolan, Hugh Higgins, Garett Raines and Adam Williams competed against 157 teams from 50 countries. Williams and Christian received honorable mention for best oralist and the college placed third for best respondent’s memorandum. The Stetson Law moot team completed months of competitions in Vienna for Vis moot. They placed first in the Leuven Vis pre-moot competition April 5 at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. Ten universities competed in the pre-moot including teams from South Africa, New Zealand and Europe.