Congratulations! FSCJ Paralegal Students Win Competition

Mary Alice Groves
Overall Winner

Congratulations to Florida State College at Jacksonville paralegal students Mary Alice Groves, Stephanie Mealer and Christine Lewis who received high honors in the school's first competition for students of its paralegal studies program.

Students were assigned to research a legal issue, specifically a search of electronic data on laptops and phones of travelers without reasonable suspicion or probable cause. 

Students drafted a legal memo with their findings and then sat with a panel of attorneys to discuss the findings. They were scored in research, writing and communication. 

Mary Alice Groves was the “Overall Winner,” and the runner-up for “Best Memorandum.” Stephanie Mealer was the “Overall Runner-Up.” Christine Lewis won “Best Memorandum.”

“The attorneys that judged on the final panel were impressed with the level of preparation and professionalism the students showed,” said Nick Martino, professor of paralegal studies at FSCJ.

“Although the panel discussion was only supposed to last 12 minutes, most of them went over 15 minutes as the attorneys were engaged in spirited back and forth (discussions) with the students over their research,” he said.

Following the success of this year's competition, Mr. Martino plans invite paralegal programs from other schools in Florida to participate next year.

Source Jacksonville Daily Record