Legal Briefs (Tampa edition)

Legal Briefs (Tampa edition)

Clearwater Bar Association

installs new president

Shelly M. Johnson of Figurski & Harrill was inducted as the newest president of the Clearwater Bar Association at the group's May 14 meeting at the Harborview Center. She replaces Robert C. Dickinson III.

The association's other new officers are president-elect Susan S. Demers, spouse of Pinellas-Pasco Chief Judge David Demers; Secretary Kimberly A. Campbell; and Treasurer Peter J. Rivellini. New directors are Joseph A. Corsmeier, Donald S. Crowell, John Davis Fernandez, L. Keith Meyer and Cheryl Smith-Kahn. Continuing board members are Jeffrey A. Albinson, Jewel White Cole, Kinnear Smith, Dennis "Rep" DeLoach and Dickinson.

Carlton Fields receives

memorial tutoring award

Carlton Fields PA - one of Tampa's oldest and largest law firms - was awarded the David B. Frye Memorial Tutoring Award by SERVE, Volunteers in Education and the Hillsborough County School District for the firm's service to the students at B.C. Graham Elementary School.

For eight years, Carlton Field attorneys and support staff have spent their lunch hour one or two days a week tutoring and offering encouragement to students. Christopher Smart is the firm's liaison, handling the scheduling and recruitment of Carlton Fields tutors.

Tampa firm loses

founding member

Fourteen years after forming Bavol & Associates, the predecessor to Bavol Bush Graziano & Rice, Charles D. Bavol left the firm. It will now be known as Bush Graziano & Rice.

Bavol, a 1979 law school graduate of Wayne State University, practices insurance defense work. He has extensive national jury trial experience defending major corporations in personal injury and commercial related fields, according to the firm's Web site. He served as national trial counsel for Dow Corning Corp. in the defense of product liability cases involving the company's non-mammary medical device products.

Bavol, who was selected as a "Leading Florida Attorney, is past president of the Florida Easter Seal Society and a former executive committee member of the Tampa Downtown Partnership. He was most recently of counsel to the firm.

Stetson law school raises

money through golf tourney

Stetson University's Third Annual Tampa Bay Mad Hatter Classic Golf Tournament will raise scholarship money for law school students and other undergraduates in the Tampa Bay area.

The May 24 event begins at noon at Avila Golf and Country Club, 943 Guisando de Avila, Tampa. In the past two years, the event has raised $25,000 for needy students. Nearly 95% of all Stetson students receive scholarships and need-based aid.

For more information, (813) 688-4287.

Phelps Dunbar receives

national recognition

In the most recent issue of The Minority Law Journal, New Orleans, La.-based Phelps Dunbar received national recognition for having the highest percentage of African-American lawyers among the 250 largest law firms in the United States.

The journal reported that Phelps Dunbar led the nation with the highest percentage at 9.2%. The survey was based on data collected by The National Law Journal as part of its census of the country's 250 largest firms. About 235 firms provided minority statistics as of September 2003.

In addition, the firm was listed as a leading law firm in Louisiana and Mississippi in the 2004-2005 reference book, "Chambers USA, America's Leading Lawyers for Business."

The book is published by Chambers and Partners, an independent research-based company that selects the top attorneys based on recommendations by clients and peers.

Selection is based on research conducted and approved by the British Market Research Bureau, which audits the research annually. In-depth interviews with clients and attorneys are done over the telephone, each one lasting about 30 minutes. For the current U.S. directory, over 4,500 of these interviews were conducted covering all of the U.S. A team of 30 full-time researchers carried out research over a period of 12 months. Law firms and individual attorneys are ranked on a scale of 1-6. For more information,visit www.chambersandpartners.com.

Attorney reappointed president

of Tampa Foreign Trade Zone

Phelps Dunbar LLP Tampa attorney Timothy P. Shusta was recently re-appointed president and chairman of the Tampa Foreign Trade Zone Board Inc. Plus, he was re-elected to a two-year term as secretary of the Propeller Club Southeast Region.

The Tampa Foreign Trade Zone Board, a nonprofit corporation that administers Tampa Foreign Trade Zone No. 79 on behalf of Tampa, offers businesses the ability to defer, reduce or even eliminate customs duties on products. While the Propeller Club is a grassroots, nonprofit organization dedicated to the enhancement of all interests of the maritime community on a national and international basis. The goal of the Propeller Club is to educate legislators, as well as the public, as to the importance and necessity of waterborne commerce.

Shusta, who practices in the areas of admiralty and maritime law, insurance, business and finance, environmental law, and tort litigation, has a bachelor's degree from the University of Maine in 1974 and a law degree from Stetson University College of Law in 1984.