Ranaldo Allen (2L)

It may seem quite remarkable to have completed two summer associate positions and a Supreme Court Externship all before graduating law school, but for Ranaldo Allen (2L) this only seems natural.

Allen, 25, said he has always been an engaged student who appreciates the opportunities to hone his skills by staying actively involved throughout the law school and legal community. Originally from Jacksonville and the first in his family to graduate from college, Allen knew from an early age that being an attorney was the path he wanted to take.

“I have always known that I wanted to do trial work,” Allen said. And it is quite evident that Allen has not let much get in the way of his dream.

Before entering law school Allen worked in Washington, D.C. for the Environmental Protection Agency as a strategic workforce planning consultant for the human resources department, and he spent this past summer working as a summer associate for Gary, Williams, Parenti, Finney, Lewis, McManus, Watson & Sperando in Stuart, Fla.

This summer Allen will be working as a summer associate for Rogers Towers in Jacksonville before heading to Tallahassee for his fall semester to clerk for the Florida Supreme Court.

While in law school Allen served as a senator for UF Student Government and was elected president of the Graduate Student Council. He is also a member of the Black Law Students Association and was part of both the student recruitment team and student ambassadors.

Allen is an active member of UF’s Trial Team and was selected as the “Spring 2008 Best Advocate” for his outstanding performance in the spring 2008 Final Four Competition.

In 2007, he was selected as one of six UF law students who were granted the opportunity to become a member of the Chester Bell Inn of Court in Jacksonville, a program designed as a mentoring opportunity for law students to network with lawyers and judges around the area through monthly meetings.

Each of the regular meetings, occurring six to eight times a year, consist of dinner with all members of the Inn followed by an educational component, in which the members of the Inn demonstrate and discuss issues, techniques, problems and ethics of trial advocacy, said Linda Calvert Hanson, Assistant Dean for Career Services. Students who are invited to participate in the Inn are included as an integral part of all Inn activities.

“This is a great networking opportunity and was also incredibly informative because you are hearing from federal judges and really the best trial and appellate lawyers in the area,” Allen said. “They are constantly giving great tips on every aspect of trial work.”

For more information about applications for the Chester Bell Inn of Court, contact Kim Tyson in Career Services at tysonk@law.ufl.edu. The application deadline is April 10 at 5 p.m.

Stephan Mickle (JD70)

Stephan P. Mickle (JD 70) pulled into the driveway of his parents’ house as a young man ready to sell his beloved red Chevy Malibu.

Selling this car marked the defining moment when Mickle’s parents realized he was serious about attending law school and no longer wanted to be a social studies teacher, his mother Catherine said. This decision to sell his car undeniably helped pave the way for Mickle’s unprecedented career.

Since then, a decade of service as a U.S. Federal Judge in the Northern District of Florida has been just one of Mickle’s many contributions to the legal system — contributions the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations honored at the Hilton University of Florida Conference Center on March 28.

The CSRRR celebrated Judge Mickle’s outstanding leadership and service to the community during its spring 2008 lecture series, which brought together many of the university’s most prestigious alumni. Those in attendance included the first black student to receive a UF Law degree, W. George Allen (JD 62), the first black student to graduate from UF Medical School, Dr. Reuben Brigety (MD 70) and President J. Bernard Machen.

“I am very proud to see this day because I always knew that it was in Stephan to be great and to help his fellow man,” Allen said. “He has accomplished so much, but I expected it of him and everyone else did as well. He has not disappointed any of us. In fact, he has lived up to what we expected and more so.”

Mickle is truly a man of firsts who has gained the respect of his peers, co-workers and the legal community for being an outstanding judge. He was the first black student to graduate from UF with a bachelor’s in political science and his wife, Evelyn Moore Mickle, was the first black student to graduate from UF’s nursing school. After being the second black student to graduate from UF law, Mickle joined the UF faculty as an assistant professor while also becoming the first black attorney to establish a law practice in Gainesville, Fla. Mickle was the first black man to receive UF’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1999.

After having his own private law practice for seven years, Mickle became the first black county judge for Alachua County and has been a judge ever since. He served as a judge in Florida’s Eighth Judicial Circuit in 1984 before becoming the first and only black lawyer from the Eighth Judicial Court appointed to the First District Court of Appeals.

“In September of 2009, I will have been a judge for 30 years,” Mickle said at the program. “During that time, I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly, yet every day I go to work and I look for the good in people.”

In 1998, President Clinton nominated Mickle to the federal bench, which the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed.

Mickle has always been a leader and advocate for equal justice but has overcome diversity with honor while climbing the ranks as a judge.

“He is living proof that diversity produces excellence,” said UF Professor Elizabeth Rowe.

Katheryn Russell-Brown, director for the CSRRR, presented a plaque to Judge Mickle as a symbol of his time at UF as a student and educator and to honor him for bearing witness of the changing times at the university since 1962.

“I really appreciate all that the center and law school has done, and it’s the kind of thing I feel humbled by,” said Mickle. “I am thinking to myself that, ‘I did this stuff,’ but it didn’t seem as significant at the time and now I can see what they are talking about.”

More than 100 UF Law students were honored at this year’s Pro Bono and Community Service Brunch for their dedication in serving others.

More than 100 UF Law students were honored at this year’s Pro Bono and Community Service Brunch for their dedication in serving others.

The event was held to applaud the efforts of students who went above and beyond what is expected of the typical law student. The students honored dedicated at least 35 hours in their respective programs.

“I think it’s not only an outstanding opportunity to provide to under-served populations, it’s a testimony to the responsibility and dedication of our students,” said Assistant Dean for Career Services Linda Calvert Hanson.

The two programs, Pro Bono and Community Service, serve similar purposes of helping others but use different avenues. The Pro Bono Project allows students the opportunity to serve those in need with legal volunteer work, and an attorney usually supervises these students. In contrast, the Community Service Project allows students to be recognized for volunteer work benefiting the community at large.

As an advocate for pro bono causes, Dean Robert Jerry commended the honorees. “The community service you have done illustrates and manifests what we stress here. As someone who gives back to the community this will be important to what you do once you leave the law school,” he said.

Among the students honored, career services also acknowledged two exceptional students as Students of the Year.

Third-year law student Andrew Comiter is one of the two students who received the Student of the Year Award. The “Double-Gator” combined his passions of baseball and helping others in the Gainesville community to earn the honor.

As a young boy growing up playing baseball he was always being coached, but while he was an accounting student at UF he had the chance to see the “flip side of things” on the baseball field by volunteering to coach with the Gainesville Babe Ruth Baseball League camps before graduating in spring 2003.

When he returned to Gainesville in 2006 to attend law school, Comiter continued his involvement with the organization. He spent four to five months and 64 hours as head coach of a baseball team for 13- to 15-year-old students. “It was time consuming but overall a lot of fun,” Comiter said.

Although he said he enjoys law school and his other involvements, including serving as president of Florida Blue Key, the change of pace from a typical day at school was a blessing. In comparison to his classes the baseball field was “fun-natured competitiveness,” he said.

Comiter viewed the prestigious award as a true honor but was more thrilled to see the difference he made in the lives of the young boys he coached. “It’s very exciting and nice. I’m just glad that it did make a difference and other people recognize it.” After graduation this May, Comiter said he plans to join the UF Law graduate tax program and focus on becoming an attorney.

The other Student of the Year award recipient was Jessica Lillesand. The Miami, Fla., native extended her study abroad experience in order to work as a legal intern at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

While studying abroad in Holland and taking classes at Leiden University in spring 2007 through UF Law’s study abroad program, she became very interested in public international law. She then applied to work for the Tribunal during the summer but enjoyed the internship so much that she decided to extend her stay through the fall.

While at the Tribunal, she worked for the defense counsel for two different defendants indicted on several charges of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war, she said. The third-year law student performed tasks from general legal research on procedural issues to preparing the case for trial.

Lillesand said she is honored to receive the award for Student of the Year but is more delighted to see attention devoted to pro bono causes. “I think it is important for all law students to experience doing some kind of pro bono, and I hope that soon a pro bono requirement will be implemented for all students as a prerequisite to being admitted to the Bar,” she said.

Although her father is an attorney, he wasn’t the only catalyst that drove her to pursue law career. “My desire to pursue a career in law came from a hope that I could help others and influence their lives in a positive manner. I think it is important to cultivate this desire early in a law student’s career, so that we can produce a more civic-minded group of practicing attorneys,” she said. “I hope I get the chance to do a lot more pro bono work wherever I end up practicing.”

While interning, Lillesand logged nearly 500 hours of pro bono work from June through November and sometimes worked 14 or 16 hours a day, especially during the trials.

After graduation this May, Lillesand said she plans to work a few years with her father’s firm in Miami and then purse a master’s degree in international relations, political science or international economics. “I’d like to eventually do some kind of policy work, effecting change at the big picture level,” she said.

Other students honored at the brunch include, Kelley Abramowich, Patricia Alten, John Austin, Emily Banks, Meredith Barrios, Matthew Belisle, Marshall Bender, Robert Braxtoon, Geoff Brougher, Timothy Buskirk, Kristin Carpenter, Nakku Chung, Seth Claytor, Kristine Coffin, Adam Cohen, Beverly Collins, Andrew Comiter, Katie Coxe, Natalie Davy, Christopher Deem, Lisa Ellison-Cherney, Sean Estes, Rebeca Feldman, Alexander Fischer, Stewart Gold, Lisa Goldberg, Megone Gordon, Jonathan Grayson, Nicole Griffin, Natalie Guerra, Jason Hall, Blake Harris, Michael Hersh, Melissa Hochmouth, Andrew Hoffman, William Holcombe, Courtney Hollen, Michael Hooi, Serena Hu, Margaret Hunt, Robert Hyte, Erica Jaffe, Christopher Jahr, Jennifer Jones, Witold Jurewicz, Christie Kelley, Scott Kennelly, Genie Key, Tariq Khan, Brent Kimball, Melanie King, Kim Koleos, Kay Lennon, Bradley Lerman, Trami LeTran, Jillian Levy, William Lewis, Brett Lieberman, Jessica Lillesand, Tracy Lizza, Michael Luongo, Sean Malvin, Christine Manning, Nessa Manten, Giannina Marin, Lauren Marks, Andrew Mayo, Bernard McManus, Kristin Mentzer, Andrew Miller, Jazil Mohammad, Jennifer Morando, Theresa Murphy, Christina Paradowski, Crystal Patterson, Christopher Pavilonis, Kristen Rassmusen, Matthew Rector, Jee Min Rhee, Lauren Riggio, Andie Ross, Stacey Schwimmer, Dena Setzer, Johann Smith, Lyndie Smith, Emily Snider, Regina St. Cyr, Jason Stark, Erin Swick, David Torre, Dana Trachtenberg, Tania Varela, Stephen Villeneuve, Steven Walter, Christian Waugh, Ryan Weeks, Jorja Williams, Erin Wolfson, Mindy Yergin, and Cynthia Zurawsky.