The School of Law’s recent graduating class includes students from various backgrounds. Two graduates, Thomas S. Pudas and Elizabeth Ruiz Navarro, have used their previous work experience to guide their legal studies and career paths.
Thomas S. Pudas planned his path to a Juris Doctor by building on his experience as a tax accountant and as a Military Intelligence Officer in the U.S. Army Reserve. He holds a Master of Accounting from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and worked at KPMG before law school. While studying, he continued his military service and chose to pursue an LL.M. in Taxation with his J.D. This allowed him to combine his accounting background with legal training in tax, trusts, and estates.
At the University of Miami, Pudas served as a staff editor for the Law Review. He wrote an article about KPMG’s approval to practice law in Arizona, which discussed alternative business structures in the legal field. After graduation, he will join Gunster, a law firm in West Palm Beach, where he will work on tax and estate planning cases…