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Derek Matthews gives next generation of Cooley Law School students a start in legal profession in Tampa

Derek Matthews gives next generation of Cooley Law School students a start in legal profession in Tampa

Derek Matthews (Vinson Class, 2017) is no stranger to giving back to Cooley Law School in the Tampa Bay region. Outside of legal practice, Matthews sponsors the annual Cooley Alumni Golf Outing in Tampa and participates in alumni events and mentoring programs to build relationships with faculty and fellow graduates.

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  • Update: The Liberty Bell Award
    Update: The Liberty Bell Award

    Update: The Liberty Bell Award

    Earlier this year, Distinguished Professor Emeritus Otto Stockmeyer blogged about the liberty bell award. Here's an update.

  • Joseph Garrido: Civilian Path Leads Back to Helping Veterans as Attorney
    Joseph Garrido: Civilian Path Leads Back to Helping Veterans as Attorney

    Joseph Garrido: Civilian Path Leads Back to Helping Veterans as Attorney

    Marine Corps veteran Joseph Garrido knew he needed to find a meaningful new civilian path when he left the military. At the time, though, he wasn't quite sure what path that would take. What he discovered was his calling pointed straight to his passion for helping veterans, especially those who were wounded during their time of service.

  • Hala Alkattan: If you are really paying attention, you can't NOT care
    Hala Alkattan: If you are really paying attention, you can't NOT care

    Hala Alkattan: If you are really paying attention, you can't NOT care

    Even while Cooley student Hala Alkattan was working on her undergraduate degree, she knew she wanted to help people. At the time she wanted to do something for the Syrian refugees that were coming into Tampa. Little things to make life better for them. From that spark of an idea, the small non-profit, "turned into something huge," as Alkattan says.

  • Update: Corporate Annual Reports – Plain-Language Progress?
    Update: Corporate Annual Reports – Plain-Language Progress?

    Update: Corporate Annual Reports – Plain-Language Progress?

    Last year at about this time, I wrote this in a blog post, “Corporate Annual Reports – Plain-English’s Last Frontier?”

  • Ydelmis Cutino: Comfortable in the Fast Lane
    Ydelmis Cutino: Comfortable in the Fast Lane

    Ydelmis Cutino: Comfortable in the Fast Lane

    Cooley Law School student Ydelmis Cutino never backs away from hard work, in fact she embraces it. She's on a path to be lawyer, and the sooner the better.

  • Lauren Simasko High Court Dreams
    Lauren Simasko High Court Dreams

    Lauren Simasko High Court Dreams

    Read how Cooley Law School student Lauren Simasko came to realize that she not only wanted to be a lawyer, she wanted to be in the courtroom. Read Simasko's Legal News story by Sheila Pursglove below.

  • Quadfecta: Federal Grant Awards Support Cooley's Innocence Project
    Quadfecta: Federal Grant Awards Support Cooley's Innocence Project

    Quadfecta: Federal Grant Awards Support Cooley's Innocence Project

    Quadfecta. Noun. A set of four wins at related events. The Cooley Innocence Project not only was the recipient of one federal grant in support of the vital work being done by the clinic, but ultimately received four total federal grants this year to continue to right the wrongs in our criminal justice system.

  • #BrianBanks Movie Reminder of Two Cooley Connections
    #BrianBanks Movie Reminder of Two Cooley Connections

    #BrianBanks Movie Reminder of Two Cooley Connections

    Some of you may have already watched the movie and true story about Brian Banks. It recently opened in theaters, but a quick trailer captures the wrenching heartache of how, in 2002, a seventeen-year-old Brian Banks was wrongfully convicted of rape.

  • Cooley Law Professors Explain High Crimes and Misdemeanors
    Cooley Law Professors Explain High Crimes and Misdemeanors

    Cooley Law Professors Explain High Crimes and Misdemeanors

    As congress explores the potential impeachment of U.S. President Donald J. Trump, lawmakers and citizens are struggling with, or have misconceptions about, what the law really means by high crimes and misdemeanors.