Stetson Lawyer; 1963 vol. 6 no. 2 May

&tetim *JjMyu&i VOLUME 6, No. 2 ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA MAY, 1963 FORTY-ONE SENIORS IN GRADUATION MARCH, JUNE 12 PERRY NICHOLS, '37, COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER; WILLIAMS AND MANN WILL RECEIVE AWARDS Thirty-one Stetson College of Law seniors will receive the degree of Bachelor of Laws from J. Ollie Edmunds, President of the University, at commencement exercises in the Great Hall, Wednesday, June 12. Participating in the public exercises, which will begin at 10:45 a.m., will be ten more seniors who are candidates for a degree at the close of the summer session in August. Perry Nichols, '37, President of the Board of Overseers of the College of Law, PERRY NICHOLS will address the graduates and receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from President Edmunds. He has chosen for his subject, "The Case of Conformity and a Receipt for Happiness." The Honorable Reginald Williams, Immediate Past President of the Florida Bar, and Sam H. Mann, prominent attorney and business executive of St. Petersburg, will be presented with Stetson's Distinguished Service Award. Distinguished Speaker Probably no other graduate of the law school has made such rapid strides in his profession as has the distinguished commencement speaker. Still under fifty years of age, Perry Nichols has established himself as one of the outstanding trial lawyers in the United States. Because of his knowledge of trial practice and procedures, he is one of the most widely-sought lecturers in the field today. In addition to having spoken at every university and to every organized bar association in Florida, he has addressed trial lawyers' associations and university students throughout the country, from San Francisco to New York. NACCA President During his years of practice, Mr. Nichols has served as President of the Dade County Bar Association. He has been appointed by two governors of Florida to the Judicial Council of Florida, and served on many committees of the Florida Bar. He organized and was the first president of the Plaintiff's Lawyers Association of Florida. His services to the legal profession, however, have by no means been confined to this state. He is, for instance, a Fellow and Director of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and Past President of the NACCA, a plaintiff's lawyers' organization consisting of over 8000 lawyers in every state in the Union. Moot Court Sponsor Mr. Nichols has evidenced great interest in legal education at the law school level. Currently he sponsors moot- court scholarship awards annually at Forida University, University of Miami and Stetson College of Law. He was the first active president of the Law Center Foundation at St. Petersburg, Inc., formerly the Stetson Law Center Foundation, a private, non-profit organization established to support legal education in Florida. Service Awards The Honorable Reginald Williams, <A who will receive one of the two Distinguished Service Awards, is, like Mr. Nichols, a past president of the Dade County Bar Association and has served on many important committees of the Florida Bar. While President of Sam H. Mann the Florida Bar last year, Mr. Williams worked for the adoption and maintenance of higher admission standards for the Bar and for measures to deal with the unauthoried practice of law. San Mann, who will be the recipient of the other Service Award, began the practice of law in St. Petersburg in 1925. He is the senior member of the firm of Mann, Harrison, Mann and Rowe, one of the largest law firms in the city, and president of the Princess Martha Hotel Company. Mr. Mann has served as Chairman of the Board of both the First National Bank in St. Petersburg and the St. Petersburg Bank and Trust Company. Graduation Breakfast Commencement exercises will be preceded at 8:00 a.m. by a breakfast in the great Hall for the graduates, their guests and special guests of the University. At the brekafast Dean Sebring will announce the members of the graduating class who have distinguished themselves by scholarship, participation in student activities, and the winning of competitive prizes and awards. Members of the class of 1913 who will receive half century diplomas this year are; Robert H. Anderson, Miami; I HBESESHM Hugh Gilbert Jones, | Arcadia; William -*» «A Beardall, Orlando; Frank H. Smith, Orlando; and Tom B. Stewart, DeLand. Alt*