Legal Eagle helps FIU grads soar.

Legal Eagle helps FIU grads soar. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Despite a longstanding appreciation for education, Alex Acosta wasinitially uncertain what career move most appealed to him following theelection of President Obama. After all, he was clearly positioned tojoin, if he wanted to, any one of many prestigious law firms This list of the world's largest law firms by revenue is taken from The Lawyer and The American Lawyer and is ordered by 2006 revenue:[1] Clifford Chance, ��1,030.2m – International law firm (headquartered in the UK); Linklaters, ��935. as aninfluential partner, having become a budding superstar in law andpolitics through high-profile jobs as a Republican appointee APPOINTEE. A person who is appointed or selected for a particular purpose; as the appointee under a power, is the person who is to receive the benefit of the trust or power. . Instead, Acosta parlayed his numerous connections into boostingopportunities for students rather than for himself. As FloridaInternational University Florida International University,primarily at University Park, Miami; coeducational; chartered 1965, opened 1972. A research university, it has 18 colleges and schools and many specialized centers and institutes, including those in biomedical engineering, database law dean since July 2009, he has helpedgraduates secure jobs in a sputtering A popular method for adhering thin films onto a substrate. Sputtering is done by bombarding a target material with a charged gas (typically argon) which releases atoms in the target that coats the nearby substrate. It all takes place inside a magnetron vacuum chamber under low pressure. economy and simultaneously raisedpublic and industry awareness of an emerging law school that turns adecade old next year. "I love the students," says Acosta, a Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (colloquially, Harvard Law or HLS) is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard Law is considered one of the most prestigious law schools in the United States. graduate who was formerly U.S. Attorney for the Southern District ofFlorida and the first Hispanic to serve as an assistant attorney generalin Washington, D.C., where he headed the Justice Department's civilrights division. "The faculty is tremendously supportive, and Iabsolutely made the right choice coming here." Acosta and his predecessor, Leonard Strickman, who remains onfaculty, have battled the shrinking job market by expanding FIU FIU Florida International UniversityFIU Financial Intelligence UnitFIU Fingerprint Identification Unit (Sony)FIU Fire Investigation UnitFIU Fraud Investigation Unit (UK)FIU Facsimile Interface Unit careerservices to make more counselors available and by inviting morepractitioners to campus to meet students. Acosta has designated oneschool staff member as director of externships, rather than combiningthis role with others, meaning more students are placed in offices suchas county attorney and public defender public defender,governmental official who represents indigent persons accused of crime. U.S. Supreme Court decisions expanding the right to counsel to pretrial proceedings and holding that a person cannot be sentenced to even one day in jail unless a lawyer was while those offices grow familiarwith the FIU law school brand. Acosta has not hesitated to personally call upon some of the manyattorneys, judges and agency officials he knew in his pre-FIU years toask them to seriously consider his students for clerkships, summerassociate positions and full-time jobs. In law school halls, he has quickly cultivated a reputation as akind of den father who welcomes students to his office on short noticeto help them polish resumes and hone interviewing skills. "If the dean does this, it signals to the rest of the lawschool what the priority is," says Acosta, who taught as an adjunctat George Mason University's law school and clerked for SupremeCourt Justice Samuel Alito Jr. when he served on the U.S. Court ofAppeals for the Third Circuit. Ethnic minorities made up 59 percent of school enrollment lastfall, one of the highest ratios nationally. The fact that 88 percent of2010 graduates were employed in the legal profession within nine monthsafter graduation is not lost upon FIU provost Dr. Douglas Wartzok, whocalls Acosta "an excellent leader and strategic thinker whoprovides a clear vision." Meanwhile, Acosta has increased travel funds for faculty to attendconferences, which further advances scholarship and promotes FIU. Also,the entering class was scaled back by one-third to 170 students lastfall to better ensure personalized teaching and learning environments. Such low-key actions contrast with the headline-grabbing aspects ofsome of Acosta's previous jobs. As assistant attorney general, here-opened the investigation into the murder of Emmett Till; as U.S.Attorney, his prosecutors won historic cases such as that againstlobbyist Jack Abramoff on fraud charges. Nonetheless, education holds a soft spot within Acosta, whosemother, a legal assistant and mortgage title closer, and salesman fatherworked hard to finance their son's schooling. "My motherworked 40 years without attending college herself," he says."It definitely sensitized me to the value of education."