Beginning in just a couple of weeks, FlaLaw will include a series of stories titled Career Corner. The purpose of this new feature is to give UF Law students insight, advice and information about career paths other UF Law grads have taken.

We will explore a diverse range of careers and we want your feedback on what types of information you would like to learn in these stories. We are planning to ask 10 standard questions of subjects that will shed light on how they got into their careers, what is fulfilling about them, what the biggest challenges are and what they would tell students who are interested in pursuing a similar career.

We would like to know what questions you would ask if you had the chance. We will take all your questions into consideration and use the most popular or useful ones.

Send your questions to Matt Walker in the UF Law Communications Office at mlwalker@law.ufl.edu by Monday, Jan. 16.

The event, “Race Talk in the Age of Obama,” will be a timely and provocative panel discussion by contributors to the December 2011 issue of the University of Florida Journal of Law and Public Policy.

Representing diverse race, gender and academic perspectives, panelists will discuss how they confront race at a time when many claim America is now a post-racial society.

In light of the historic election of President Barack Obama, how does race matter? How should we engage in everyday conversations about race at work, at school and informally? What are the potential risks and benefits? What are the consequences of not talking about race? What is “critical citizenship” and how does it impact public policy and our work as students, lawyers and educators?

Panelists will include: Professor Jonathan R. Cohen, professor of law, University of Florida; Michelle D. Deardorff, professor of political science, Jackson State University, Jackson, Miss.; Angela Mae Kupenda, professor of law, Mississippi College School of Law, Jackson, Miss.; Professor Kenneth B. Nunn, professor of law, University of Florida; and Professor Sharon E. Rush, Irving Cypen Professor of Law, University of Florida.

Contact Melissa Bamba with questions at 273-0614 or bamba@law.ufl.edu.

Pettis will be sworn in as president-elect in June 2012 when fellow UF Law alum Gwynne Young (JD 74) becomes The Florida Bar president. When Pettis takes over the office in 2013 he will make history as the first African-American president of the Florida Bar. Similarly, another UF Law grad — former ABA President Stephen N. Zack — made history by becoming the first Hispanic-American to lead The Florida Bar in 1989.

Pettis specializes in medical malpractice, personal injury, commercial litigation and employment law, and has been practicing since 1985. He is a founding partner at Haliczer, Pettis & Schwamm in Fort Lauderdale. During his tenure as president, Pettis said judicial funding will be high on his list of priorities.

“I will continue the advancement of identifying a long-term, predictable source of court funding so that every Floridian will be assured access to our courts,” he said. “We must also appreciate that an effective judicial system also includes well-funded court clerks, state attorneys’ offices and public defenders, which all contribute to our quality of life and democracy.”

Pettis also emphasized the importance of promoting diversity within the legal profession. He said there has been an ongoing dialogue of diversity over the past decade, but there have been questions of whether or it has translated into a “real measurable change.”

“I will work at every level of the bar, through sections, voluntary bars, standing committees and the governor’s office, on JNC and judicial appointments to achieve inclusion of all sectors of our profession,” Pettis said. “I truly believe the strength of the bar rests in the whole; together, there is benefit for us all.”

Finally, Pettis said the recent economic downturn has had a significant impact on legal aid organizations.

“We must recognize an obligation to strive for equal access to an availability of legal services for all Floridians in need. The Florida Bar, through its Florida Bar Foundation, must meet the call in the coming years.”

A member of the bar’s governing board since 2005, Pettis currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors and is reviewing the bar’s disciplinary system as co-chair of the Hawkins Commission.

Pettis has also been an active alum and loyal donor at UF Law over the years.

Last year, Pettis and his wife Sheila established the Eugene Pettis Family BLSA Academic Support Endowment to help support Black Law School Association activities that can enrich the academic experience of BLSA members. He is also the chairman of UF’s Heritage of Leadership committee and a member of UF Law’s Board of Trustees.

As The Florida Bar president, Pettis will join a number of UF Law alumni who have led the bar in recent years including John G. White III (JD 83), immediate past President Mayanne Downs (JD 87), current President Scott Hawkins (JD 83) and president-elect, Gwynne Young.

“I have always held high my pride of being a Florida Gator and the Gator Nation,” Pettis said. “But never have I experienced the breadth of the Gator Nation than when I was campaigning across this state. The reach of UF Law covers every corner of this state. I look forward to continuing the tradition of leadership of UF Law within the bar. It speaks volumes of the quality of education UF Law provides when you note that I will be the fifth UF Law alum out of the past six to serve as president of The Florida Bar.”

Law students joined 3L Sarah Moore to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and Moore's niece, who was diagnosed at the age of 2 with a rare form of T-cell lymphoma.

Lauren Moore’s been through two rounds of chemotherapy and is now undergoing her third round, a 52-day aggressive treatment span that brings her back to the hospital every other weekend. She needs a bone marrow transplant for which none of her immediate family can provide a match. And Lauren’s immune system is so weak she can’t be around her peers.

Lauren is 2.

“She knows more words about doctors and health,” Lauren’s aunt Sarah Moore (3L) said. “She knows a stethoscope listens to hearts. She knows so many words from being in the hospital. She doesn’t know any different.”

Doctors diagnosed Lauren with a rare form of T-cell lymphoma after Lauren and her family were in New Smyrna Beach this summer. Family members noticed her lymph nodes were swollen and took her to the doctor. Doctors thought Lauren had an ear infection and prescribed her antibiotics.

No one suspected what was to come.

“It went from an ear infection to cancer in 11 days,” Moore said.

Moore, one of the University of Florida Levin College of Law’s John Marshall Bar Association’s (JMBA) vice presidents, knew she had to do what she could.

Beginning in September, just about a month after doctors diagnosed her niece with cancer, Moore began raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s largest annual fundraiser, the Light the Night Walk, a brief walk illuminated by individual walkers carrying specific-colored balloons.

Moore and JMBA lit the night with red balloons.

Red balloons are reserved for those who are supporters of people with cancer.

By her last count, JMBA and her team had raised more than $12,500 for the society, largely through online donations, social media postings, in-class announcements and her dad, who matched all donations until Dec. 31.

Moore said she approached the other executive board members of JMBA to begin donating money to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society because she believes this organization does the most for lymphoma research.

And when protocol and research is so sparse for treating a 2-year-old with cancer, research becomes extra meaningful.

“My niece has already taken two research drugs the FDA just approved,” Moore said. “The research they’re doing is really going to save people’s lives.”

And while Moore is graduating this year, she hopes JMBA and the rest of the UF Law community continue to support the organization she hopes will save her niece.

“We get kind of wrapped up in what our lives are as law students,” she said. “My niece getting sick has really given me perspective on what’s important in life.”

Those who wish to participate in 2012′s Light the Night Walk should sign up online athttp://www.lightthenight.org/register/.