Legal Briefs (Tampa edition)

Legal Briefs (Tampa edition)

Carlton Fields receives

'Quality of Life' award

The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division picked Tampa's Carlton Fields PA to receive the 2004 Michael K. Reese Quality of Life Award.

The humanitarian award is given annually to a person or entity that tries to balance work habits and schedules to provide a more flexible working environment and a more meaningful existence for its employees.

The division also presented a monetary award to the firm's charity of choice, the Children's Advocacy Center, a program funded through the Florida Bar Foundation's Children's Legal Services grant program.

Carlton Fields Chair Sylvia H. Walbolt accepted the award at the bar's annual meeting in Boca Raton.

Kimsey Law Group

names new partner

Edward A. Doskey was made a partner at the Kimsey Law Group, a Tampa firm specializing in workers' compensation, as well as plaintiff personal injury law, including wrongful death, medical malpractice, nursing home abuse, premises liability, products liability and bad faith litigation.

A University of Florida graduate, Doskey received his law degree from Boston College School of Law. He was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1997.

GrayRobinson recruits

Robert 'Chip' Birthisel

Former Justice Department litigator Robert "Chip" Birthisel is a new member in the Tampa office of GrayRobinson PA. He most recently worked as a partner in the Norfolk, Va., office of Williams Mullen.

A fifth-generation Floridian, Birthisel is a former trial attorney for the Justice Department's aviation and admiralty litigation section. As agency lead counsel, he litigated environmental contamination cases throughout the nation, including the Tampa Bay area. He is retired from the U.S. Coast Guard where he served as a law specialist.

At GrayRobinson, Birthisel will handle transactional and litigation matters as a member of the maritime, environmental and transportation practice groups.

A graduate of the University of San Francisco, Birthisel earned a master's degree from The Johns Hopkins University and a law degree from the University of Miami.

Stetson to hold international

environmental moot court

The secretary general of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, Peter Bridgewater, will judge Stetson University College of Law's Ninth Annual International Environmental Moot Court competition Oct. 28-30.

Law students from around the world, including eight countries, will compete in the Gulfport event, created in 1996 by Stetson Dean Darby Dickerson and Vice Dean Royal C. Gardner.

This year's hypothetical problem involves legal and policy issues associated with an alien invasive species and its impact on a wetland of national importance.

Other judges include 2nd District Court of Appeal Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington and William Thomas, a Washington, D.C., environment lawyer and former chair of the American Bar Association's International Environmental Law Committee.

Florida Bar temporarily

suspends Tampa lawyer

Attorney Anthony G. Woodward was recently suspended from the practice of law for 60 days by The Florid Bar.

Woodward, who was admitted to the bar in 1988, is accused of engaging in the practice of law that is prejudicial to the administration of justice and engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.

Lawler joins

Fowler White

Stephen M. Lawler left Groelle & Salmon PA to join Fowler White Boggs Banker as an associate. He focuses on the defense of first- and third-party tort and contract claims including auto, property, personal injury, PIP, fraud and general liability claims.

A University of South Florida graduate, he received a law degree from the University of Denver College of Law.

Fowler White is one of Florida's oldest and largest firms with more than 200 attorneys in nine offices.