TALLAHASSEE—The law firm of Pennington Moore Wilkinson Bell & Dunbar has taken the lead in funding the William and Catherine VanDercreek Professorship at the Florida State University College of Law. 

The professorship is a collaborative effort of all the lawyers at Pennington Moore, the VanDercreeks and select alumni. It will allow the law school to recruit or retain an exceptionally productive legal scholar. 

The VanDercreeks and alumni John W. Frost II, Kenneth L. Connor and James M. Corrigan also made generous contributions to the $170,000 endowment. Additional alumni have indicated they also will support the professorship. 

In a letter accompanying a $50,000 check to the endowment, Cynthia Tuniclifff, president of the Pennington Moore law firm, said: “This amount represents a commitment of over $1,500 from each of the Pennington lawyers, many of whom are not FSU law school graduates. It is given by each of us in appreciation for the law school and in recognition of what it means to Florida’s legal community.” 

William VanDercreek taught civil procedure and complex litigation courses and at the College of Law from 1968 until his retirement in 1993. He was Moot Court advisor for twenty-five years and now is professor emeritus. 

Frost, a graduate of the College of Law’s 1969 charter class, is a partner in the Bartow firm of Frost Tamayo Sessums & Aranda, P.A. In 1993, Frost was the first graduate to endow a professorship, and since has been generous in his support of the law school, establishing a scholarship, creating the Frost Moot Court Endowment and enhancing the John W. and Ashley E. Frost Endowed Professorship. 

Connor is a 1972 graduate and former president of the Family Research Council. He practices at Wilkes & McHugh in Leesburg, Virginia. And Corrigan, who graduated in 1973, practices law in Pensacola at his law firm of James M. Corrigan, P.A. 

“We are extremely grateful for this generous support of our faculty productivity,” says Dean Don Weidner.