From 1974 to 1976, Ed Foster was a force on the\u00a0nationally recognized Florida Technological\u00a0University debate team.<\/p>\n
During those years, he\u00a0paired up with fellow debaters Dave Larkin and\u00a0later Pat Jerome to attack the intercollegiate\u00a0forensics circuit. \u00a0Attending around 14\u00a0tournaments a year, Ed estimates that he and his
\npartners made it to the elimination rounds in at\u00a0least 10 of those showings each season. He and\u00a0Jerome won the Southeast District Tournament\u00a0during the \u201975-\u201976 season and consequently\u00a0earned a trip to the National Debate Tournament\u00a0in 1976.<\/p>\n
\u201cDebate did help me enormously in polishing my\u00a0speaking and argument skills, and in introducing
\nme to a whole cast of characters \u2212 teammates,\u00a0opponents and coaches from across the nation, and
\n[coach] Jeff Butler \u2212 whose differing\u00a0backgrounds, cultures, experiences, worldviews,\u00a0and personalities opened up whole new vistas\u00a0to this Alabama-born, Ocoee-bred, naive young kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
After going on to the University of Florida to attain a\u00a0law degree in 1979, Ed became an attorney and
\nshareholder at the Akerman Senterfitt firm; a\u00a0position he still holds today. He resides a mere
\nfour miles from his forensics alma mater in\u00a0Oviedo, Fla.<\/p>\n
“In a very real sense, debate has been responsible\u00a0for much of the professional success I have enjoyed
\nin my career as a commercial litigation\u00a0attorney. When I interviewed at Akerman \u2212 now\u00a0one of America’s 200 largest law firms \u2212 while still\u00a0in law school, my debate experience caught the\u00a0eye of one of our senior partners, who had\u00a0himself been a college debater some years\u00a0before. My debate experience and success, and\u00a0the fact that his old partner, Tenny Williams, was\u00a0the coach at Wake Forest and knew me and\u00a0apparently spoke well of me, cemented the firm’s\u00a0decision to hire me all those years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From 1974 to 1976, Ed Foster was a force on the\u00a0nationally recognized Florida Technological\u00a0University debate team. During those years, he\u00a0paired up with fellow debaters Dave Larkin and\u00a0later Pat Jerome to attack the intercollegiate\u00a0forensics circuit. \u00a0Attending around 14\u00a0tournaments a year, Ed estimates that he and his partners made it to the elimination rounds in at\u00a0least 10 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[31,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni-news","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n