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UF Law Links Three Generations of Double Gators

Unruh

Pilar Harris (JD 86) hoods daughter Savannah Unruh (JD 18) during the UF Law Spring 2018 Commencement Ceremony. Photo by Matt Pendleton

When Charles Wendell Harris (BA 59, LLB 61) passed away at a young age, he was unaware two familial generations would follow in his footsteps at UF Law.

“The fact that we can have those shared experiences decades apart is just something so special,” said Savannah Unruh, Harris’s granddaughter, who graduated from UF Law in May 2018. She received her B.A. in Classical Studies from UF in 2014.

Unruh’s mother, Pilar Harris (BA 83, JD 86), currently serves as a managing attorney for Children’s Legal Services in Florida’s 19th Judicial Circuit. She was born just before her father completed his legal education at UF Law. Following his graduation in the early ‘60s, Charles Harris decided to pursue a career in criminal defense during the civil rights movement.

“My father really believed in those fundamental constitutional rights, and that really came, I think, from the University of Florida law school perspective,” Pilar Harris said. “Being around those types of people, with those college professors, that’s what really changed history.”

Watching her father’s criminal defense work influenced Pilar Harris’s career trajectory.

“I went to law school thinking that I wanted to save the world and really try to do something that would make a difference,” she said.

During her time at UF Law, Pilar Harris took a course with Professor Walter Weyrauch, who also taught Charles Harris. While Pilar Harris and Unruh have not shared any professors, they often compare law school experiences. Both women agree the education has been extremely valuable.

“I think the education you get here is really something that would serve anyone, even if they don’t necessarily think law school is for them,” Unruh said.

Another common thread? The power of the Gator Law Nation.

“It really does feel like a tangible asset to say, ‘I went to UF, I’m a Gator’,” Unruh said. “It always brings a smile to people’s faces, they are more willing to talk to you and get to know you. In my experience, being a Gator has only been an asset.”

While Unruh never had a chance to meet her grandfather, her mother talks about him often. Unruh has been told of his eloquence and stellar skills as an attorney and advocate. “He’s a huge presence in our household,” she said.

 

 

Published: May 21st, 2018

Category: News

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The Florida Constitutional Law Endowment in memory of Justice Ben F. Overton was created by Judge Karen Miller in 2013. This fund supports lectures and presentations by Justices of the Florida Supreme Court at the Fredric G. Levin College of Law.

HISTORY

Justice Overton, who earned his B.S. in 1951 and his Juris Doctor in 1952 from the University of Florida, was the first merit appointment to the Florida Supreme Court. Throughout his career he was active in legal education and served as an Adjunct Professor at the Levin College of Law through December 2012, the month of his death. Although he resided at Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, a continuing care retirement community developed in cooperation with UF, he also considered the Florida Supreme Court “home.” Among the high points of his later years was hosting Justices of the Florida Supreme Court in Gainesville and taking his class to Tallahassee to hear oral arguments at the Florida Supreme Court.
Judge Miller, who earned her B.S. cum laude from New York University in 1974 and her Juris Doctor from New York Law School in 1977, served as Chief Administrative Law Judge of the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, New York City’s business regulatory agency, before she retired to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida. Having accompanied Justice Overton on his excursions to Tallahassee and joined him in welcoming guests to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, she created the endowment in memory of Justice Overton to ensure that the Levin College of Law continues to have the funding necessary to continue and enhance the interaction between its students and the Florida Supreme Court.

 

Judge Miller remembered the event that motivated the endowment.

 

Prior to a dinner at the home of Dean Robert Jerry and Lisa Jerry shortly after Justice Overton’s death, Justice Barbara Pariente and I were discussing a suitable memorial. Justice Pariente, who had been Justice Overton’s colleague on the Florida Supreme Court and who understood the importance to him of the interaction between his students and the Court, suggested the outline of what has become the Overton lectures. Dean Jerry, who has since retired, as has Dean Emeritus Jon Mills, who assumed responsibility for implementing the Overton lectures, were very supportive from the beginning. Since Dean Mills’ retirement, Professor Timothy McClendon, who assisted both Justice Overton and Dean Mills teaching Florida Constitutional Law and who co-authored the recent Florida Constitutional Law casebook, has continued the Overton lectures with the support of Interim Dean Merritt McAlister and CGR director, Professor Danaya Wright.

Justice Overton was a devoted jurist, educator, and ethical leader of the Florida legal profession. The Overton Lecture Series brings Florida Supreme Court Justices to the University of Florida, Levin College of Law, and serves to introduce students to the inner workings of the Court. CGR and the students of the College of Law extend our deepest gratitude to Judge Karen Miller for making the Overton Lectures possible in perpetuity.

You can watch an interview for the Florida Historical Society by Mary Adkins, professor emeritus of the UF Levin College of Law, with Justice Overton here.

Justice Overton was also interviewed for the Samuel Proctor Oral History Project and a transcript of his interview is available at the Smathers Library, and here.
Justice Overton sat on the Constitution Revision Commission of 1977-78 that proposed a right to privacy in the Florida Constitution. Although it failed as part of the Constitution Revision Commission recommendations, it passed in 1980 when proposed by the legislature. The bill was co-sponsored by our very own Jon Mills. The privacy provision prevailed by greater than 60%. Justice Overton then wrote a concurrence in a critical reproductive rights case in 1989 affirming that the privacy provision of the Florida Constitution included the right to obtain an abortion. That decision was overruled in Planned Parenthood of SW and Central Florida v. Florida. You can read about the role of Justice Overton, Jon Mills – director emeritus of CGR, and the history of the 1989 case here.