C. Rufus Pennington III

C. Rufus Pennington III (born November 18, 1955 in Tallahassee, Florida) is an American lawyer based in Jacksonville, Florida.

Education

:

Legal career

Pennington has volunteered his services on behalf of Yemeni Omer Saeed Salem Al Daini, a detainee held in extrajudicial confinement in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps. [http://www.actl.com/AM/Template.cfm?Section=The_Bulletin&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentFileID=169 Fellows responding to need for counsel in Guantanamo cases] , "The Bulletin of the American College of American Lawyers", April 2006] [http://staugustine.com/stories/051906/religion_3837344.shtml Guantanamo topic for UU Sunday] , "St Augustine Record", May 19 2006] cite news
url=http://staugustine.com/stories/052206/news_3849024.shtml
title=Guantanamo detainment shameful, lawyer says
publisher=St Augustine Record
author=Kati Bexley
date=2006-05-22
accessdate=2008-06-30
quote= [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fstaugustine.com%2Fstories%2F052206%2Fnews_3849024.shtml&date=2008-06-30 mirror] ] Pennington is a member of the Guantanamo Bay Bar Association. [http://law.shu.edu/guantanamoteachin/page8.htm Seton Hall Law Guantanamo Teach-in] , "Guantanamo Bay Bar Association"]

Pennington was interviewed by the "St Augustine Record" on May 22 2006 about his experiences working on behalf of a Guantanamo captive.Pennington said all the lawyers who volunteered to work on behalf of the captives had to go through a security check, and post a $10,000 bond.

Pennington reported that some of the lawyers who had volunteered to work on behalf of the Guantanamo captives had received death threats.

He has also given lectures entitled "Guantanamo: Why Should We Care?" in Florida. [cite news
url=http://staugustine.com/stories/052006/news_3845661.shtml
title=Lawyer for POWs here
publisher=St. Augustine Record
date=2006-05-20
accessdate=2008-06-23
quote= [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fstaugustine.com%2Fstories%2F052006%2Fnews_3845661.shtml+&date=2008-06-23 mirror] ]

Pennington is the lead petitioner in Al Daini v. Bush.cite web
url=http://www.pegc.us/archive/OK_v_Bush/govt_resp_to_GK_20060815.pdf
title=Respondent's Response to Court's August 7, 2006 Order
date=August 15 2006
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-06-23] [cite web
url=http://natseclaw.typepad.com/natseclaw/files/Hamdan.28j.letter.pdf
title=Notice of Military Commissions Act of 2006
publisher=United States Department of Defense
date=2006-10-18
accessdate=2008-06-23
quote=] His client Omer Saeed Salem Al Daini has been variously identified as "Omar Said Salem Adayn" and "Abdul Rahman" by Guantanamo camp authorities.

Pennington has been active in the regulating of professional conduct of members of the Florida Bar.

In August 2005 Pennington submitted an eight page comment to the Florida Supreme Court to oppose the Grimes petition. [cite news
url=http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/clerk/comments/2005/05-1150_CommentsCPennington.pdf
title=Petition to Amend Rules Regulating The Florida Bar
publisher=Florida Supreme Court
author=C. Rufus Pennington III
date=2005-08-09
accessdate=2008-06-30
quote=] The controversy concerned the role lawyers should play in suggesting changes in the regulation of medical malpractice, and when they should consider themselves to be in a conflict of interest, when they have been employed by medical firms.

In April 1998
John F. Harkness, Jr. the Executive Director of the
Florida Bar Association specifically stated he would not respond to concerns Pennington had made about lawyers advertising their services. [cite news
url=http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/flsupct/92297/92297b.pdf
title= Petition to amend rules regulating the Florida Bar advertising rules
publisher=Florida Supreme Court
date=1998-04-30
author=John F. Harkness, Jr.
accessdate=2008-06-30
quote=]

Environmental work

Pennington plays a leading role in efforts to preserve the ecology of the estuaries of the Guana and Tolomata River.cite news
url=http://staugustine.com/stories/122098/gain_not_stopping.shtml
title=Gain doesn’t plan to stop
publisher=St Augustine Record
author=Brian L. Thompson
date=2007-12-02
accessdate=2008-06-30
quote= [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fstaugustine.com%2Fstories%2F122098%2Fgain_not_stopping.shtml&date=2008-06-30 mirror] ]

References