Please join your Criminal Law Section friends and colleagues at the Signia by Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek for our events during the Annual Florida Bar Convention.

Thursday, June 20
6:30-8:30 PM:  Membership Reception & Awards Ceremony (Jackson)

Friday, June 21
8:30 AM-12 PM:  Executive Council Meeting (Dade)
12:30-2 PM: Selig I. Goldin Award and Joint Luncheon with Criminal Procedure Rules Committee (Florida Ballroom F)

The Honorable Stanford Blake will receive the Criminal Law Section’s 2024 Selig I. Goldin Memorial Award. After 22 years as a highly respected judge who presided over many high-profile trials and complex cases, he now serves as a mediator. Stan has been honored by the Family Bar with the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers “Jurist of the Year” and by the Civil Bar with the Judge Steve Levine Award for Fairness, Integrity and Professionalism. He received many other awards while on the Bench including, but not limited to, the Judge William Hoeveler Lifetime Achievement Award, the Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Award for Judicial Excellence, the Conference of Circuit Judges Chair’s Award, the Justice Gerald Kogan Judicial Distinction Award, the Alan Schwartz Judicial Excellence Award, the League of Prosecutors Justice Award and the University of Miami Law Alumni Achievement Award. He was also honored to receive the highest bar approval rating ever of the Dade County Bar Association of almost 99% exceptionally qualified/qualified in 2012.

Stan has always been involved with teaching. He has been an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law teaching Litigation Skills for nearly 20 years and teaches at the New Judge’s mandatory program yearly. Stan has also been a regular instructor for the Circuit Court Conference and Advanced Judicial Studies during his tenure on the Bench. He was a presenter for the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts 48th Annual Conference and a lecturer for the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. for a national symposium on indigent defense in the United States.

Stanford Blake has also served our community for many years. He was the President of the Board of Directors of the Haven School for the Developmentally Disadvantaged President of the Kiwanis Club of Biscayne Bay as well as a Board Member of Lauren’s Kids. Having donated a kidney to his brother in 1996, Stan became active in the Transplant Foundation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This year, the Criminal Law Section will award four $2,500 cash scholarships. The annual scholarships are awarded to students or law school graduates who have shown dedication to and interest in the criminal justice system as trial and appellate practitioners.

Emma Hirschy is a recent Florida State University of Law graduate, where she was President of the Association for Criminal Justice, Secretary and Advocate for the Trial Team, and Secretary of the Federal Bar Association. She was honored as the 2023 Trial Team Best 2L Advocate and the 2023 Georgetown White Collar Crime Trial Competition Outstanding Advocate. She has worked a legal intern for the Milwaukee Justice Center and as a senior law clerk for the Pumphrey Law Firm in Tallahassee. Emma also has worked full-time as a Certified Legal Intern at the Second Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office, and after passing the bar exam will transition into a role there as an Assistant State Attorney.

Sarah Tanner is a recent Thomas M. Cooley Law School graduate and will take the bar exam in July. She will serve as an Assistant State Attorney for in the 13th Judicial Circuit, where she has worked as a Certified Legal Intern. During law school, she was the Executive Managing Editor for the Thomas M. Cooley Law Review and an Affiliate Student Representative for The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division. She earned several scholarships:  the Thomas M. Cooley Law Review Dawn C. Beachnau Award, the Thomas M. Cooley Alumni Memorial Scholarship, and the Thomas M. Cooley Merit-Based Scholarship. Sarah is a member of the Hillsborough County Bar Association, the Florida Association for Women Lawyers,  and the Federal Bar Association.

Fabrizia Wade is a recent Florida State University College of Law graduate, where she was a member of the Association for Criminal Justice and the Black Law Student Association. She also served as President of the FSU College of Law Trial Team, where she was named Trial Team Best 3L Advocate. Fabrizia participated in the FSU Alumni Affairs Office Spring Fundathon all three years of her law school career and has volunteered for Legal Services of North Florida and the Institute for Family Violence Studies. She received an FSU College of Law Office of Student Affairs Outstanding Pro Bono Hour Award for completing more than 40 pro bono hours. After passing the bar exam, she will become an Assistant State Attorney in the Fourth Judicial Circuit.

Arianna Diaz Wightman is a recent University of Miami School of Law graduate. During law school, she participated in the Miami Law ACLU, OUTLaw, and Trial Team, and received a Marcos A. Vazquez Scholarship. She worked as a Certified Legal Intern at the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office, and after passing the bar exam will return to the Defender’s Office as a full-time attorney. She has worked as a Guardian ad Litem in the Miami-Dade Guardian ad Litem Office, a law clerk for the Prisoners Legal Advocacy Network in New York and Your Insurance Attorney, PLLC in Miami, and a pre-litigation legal assistant for Marin, Eljaiek, Lopez, and Martinez, P.L. in Miami.