M-DCPS ANNOUNCES THE JAMES OTIS LECTURE SERIES AT MDC NORTH CAMPUS

MIAMI – The Miami Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), in cooperation with Miami-Dade County Public Schools and Miami Dade College (MDC) – North Campus, is sponsoring the James Otis Lecture Series for 300 senior high school law education students on Tuesday, Nov. 8, from 9 a.m. - noon in the Lehman Theatre at MDC’s North Campus. The address is 11380 N.W. 27th Ave., 5000 Building, Miami, FL 33167.  The program’s focus is the U.S. Constitution.

Named for James Otis Jr., a patriot and one of the most influential lawyers in America’s early colonial days, the lecture series will provide students with the opportunity to hear presentations by Judge Ivan Fernandez of the Third District Court of Appeals and Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William Thomas.

Tod Aronovitz, Esq., Chairman of ABOTA’s James Otis Lecture Series and past president of the Florida Bar, will lead a discussion on the First Amendment and how it affects daily life.

ABOTA created the lecture series to educate and inspire students across the nation to have knowledge of and respect for the Constitution. In 1761, Otis was an advocate-general who argued before the British crown against illegal searches of homes and businesses with the now famous sentence: “A man’s home is his castle.”  He challenged oppressive laws and his arguments set the foundation for the Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights, which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause.

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