15
A LUMNI S U C C E S S
STETSON L AWYER
ALUMNI
SUCCESS STORIES
34 YEARS ON THE BENCH:
JUDGE LYNN TEPPER J.D. ’77
The Honorable Judge Lynn Tepper J.D. ’77 found her
passion for the law while trying to start a dinner theater
in the summer of 1974 after her graduation from Bard
College Annandale-on-Hudson in anticipation of the 1980
Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York
“During the contract negotiations, we felt like we were being
taken advantage of and I thought, ‘If I go to law school, no one
will ever take advantage of me
again,’” she said.
With a B.A. in drama/dance,
Tepper initially thought she would
pursue entertainment law. “Then I
took a trial class and I knew - this
is for me,” she said.
After graduating from Stetson,
Tepper clerked for Chief
Bankruptcy Judge Alexander L.
Paskay in the Middle District of
Florida. She then worked as an
assistant public defender and later
Judge Lynn Tepper
started her own practice. She grew involved in the local community,
serving as a board member, and later president, of what
grew into BayCare. She also re-started the East Pasco American
Cancer Society Board. After four years in private practice, Tepper
became the first female judge elected to the Pasco County Court.
Tepper implemented the first supervised county court probation.
She started a night traffic court for citizens who worked during
the court’s usual hours.
After four years as a Pasco County Judge, Tepper ran unopposed
for the seat in the 6th Circuit Court which she has held since
1989. In the late 1990s, Judge Tepper began presiding over an
unfunded Unified Family Court. In 2001, the Circuit received
one of two sizable grants from the Florida Supreme Court to
implement UFC.
“Before Unified Family Court, in one courthouse or one county,
you could have four different rulings on one family’s issue,”
Tepper said.
For nearly a decade, Judge Tepper has kept her courtroom
trauma-informed. Trauma-informed care is a specialized
approach that involves recognizing, understanding and responding
to the long-lasting effects of trauma to help the individual
cope with the underlying issues that may lead to illegal, risk-taking
and coping behaviors, prevent re-traumatization by the
“system” and recidivism.
In 2012, her courtroom was selected as one of only six in the
nation for the Project O.N.E. Program from the National
Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.
Currently, Tepper uses the Adverse Childhood Experiences
(ACEs) study in her courtroom to better understand the children,
families, delinquent youth and defendants who come
through her courtroom and to assure that the buried trauma at
the root of the behavior is addressed through evidence-based
assessments and referrals. ACEs impacts social, emotional and
cognitive development. The ACEs study measures the impact of
exposure to childhood emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, and
household dysfunction during childhood.
Judge Tepper travels around the country explaining the importance
of a trauma-informed approach like Project O.N.E. and the
ease with which systems and courts can collaborate to implement
it. She has been featured on Nightline, the Oprah Winfrey Show,
the Montel Williams Show, and CNN. Tepper also helped
develop Florida’s protocols for domestic violence clemency
waivers after being appointed to the Battered Women’s Clemency
Panels, which she chaired.
After 34 years on the bench, Judge Tepper is set to retire at the
end of her term this year. She said she plans to continue teaching
and writing about her approach to justice within the courts and
communities.
B Y R ACHEL W I S E
Then I took a trial class and I knew —
this is for me
— Lynn Tepper