STETSO
,IVE RS IT Y
COLLEGE
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VOLUME 7, NO. I
ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
MARCH, 1964
LAWYERS BREAKFAST, Homecoming, February 15. Left to right: E. Harris Drew, '23, Justice;
Dr. James Stewart, Dean of the Chapel; Harold L. Sebring, Dean of the College of Law; Jess
Mathas, Cleric of Circuit Court, Volusia County; and Gardner Beckett, '57, Vice President of the
Association. Mr. Beckett presided in the absence of President Hewen Lasseter, '30, who had
previous commitments. More than 100 attended, including pre-law students at Stetson University.
Richard Pearce, '50, Professor of Business Administration, Stetson University, headed the local
committee in charge of arrangements.
ALUMNI URGED TO RECRUIT FOR LEGAL PROFESSION
Best Students Turning
To Other Professions
One of the major objectives of Stetson College of Law as it prepares to
enter its second decade of service on
the St. Petersburg campus will be to interest more of the outstanding college
graduates each year to enter the legal
profession. Ever since we became a nation, the great majority of the men who
have made our laws and administered
the affairs of our government have been
lawyers. There can be no higher responsibility than this. Yet today more and
more of our promising young people are
turning to other professions, or to the
more lucrative inducements of the business world. Our continued ability adequately to discharge our obligation to
the public requires that the tide be
turned.
This in essence is what Dean Sebring
told alumni and their guests at the
Homecoming Breakfast in Deland, February 15. It was the climax of a speech
in which the Dean outlined "the first ten
years of progress at St. Petersburg,"
which has been characterized by the
building of a physical plant second to
none, a strong faculty, and a library
that is one of the best in the South.
"As Stetson lawyers," said the Dean,
"perhaps the greatest service you can
render your alma mater and your profession is to seek out the youth in your
community who have demonstrated
scholarship ability and potential leadership and interest them in the law as a
career."
James T. Brand
To alumni who knew James Tenney
Brand, the announcement of his death
on February 29, at the age of 77,
brought a sense of personal loss. His
students loved him, as he loved them
and Stetson.
Justice Brand achieved distinction
through a long and varied career as a
practicing attorney, legal writer, trial
judge, appellate court justice, and professor of law at Stetson through 1958-60.
It was while he was with the Oregon
Supreme Court that he was appointed
by President Truman to one of the military tribunals for the trial of major war
criminals.at Nuremberg. The trial of the
leading judges of the Nazi Judicial System, over which Justice Brand presided,
has been featured in television productions and was the basis of the motion
picture, "Judgment at Nuremberg."
Although not in the best of health
while at Stetson, Justice Brand drove
himself to help produce, in his own
words, "men of learning, understanding,
and loyalty to the basic principles of
our American system under law."
Message From President
It is an honor to have been elected
president of the Stetson Lawyers Association. Unfortunately, previous commitments to tho American Bar Association prevented me from meeting with
you who attended the Homecoming
Breakfast on tho DeLand campus. I am
looking forward, however, to the Association Breakfast at tho Americana
Hotel, Friday, May 8. I hope that each
and every one of you can be there for
this traditional hour of fellowship.
Siqned: Hewen Lasseter
College Obtains $2500 from Maria G. Martin Estate
Stetson College of Law has become the recipient of a $2500 bequest under
the will of Miss Maria G. Martin, who died in St. Petersburg, December 13, 1963.
The bequest is given with the understanding that the income therefrom will be used
as an annual award to the student in the law college who writes the best treatise
in the field of legal ethics.
Miss Martin was a member of the Massachusetts Bar and for many years legal
consultant, Department of Public Health, Division of Administration, of that Commonwealth. Her interest in the College of Law developed after the College was
relocated in St. Petersburg, where Miss Martin spent the winters with her sister,
Grace, who still resides here.
Wallace Storey, '59 (left), retiring president
of the Stetson Lawyers Association, and his successor in office, Hewen Lasseter, '30.
