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For The Love Of Law

Chance for legal career in new homeland

After the Cuban Revolution, many lawyers were exiled to America and especially Florida but were unable to practice the profession for which they had trained in their homeland and to which they were deeply dedicated. At their urging in 1973, the Florida Supreme Court approved and UF Law developed a course of study to teach foreign lawyers…

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View the webcast of the lunch panel.
View the webcast of the celebration.

University of Florida Levin College of Law alumni, students, faculty and friends and their guests are invited to join us in honoring the many who pursued their dream of a legal career in our country at a very special October event: For the Love of Law: Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Cuban-American Lawyers Program. This event is free and open to the public.

In 1973, the University of Florida Levin College of Law became a pioneer in legal education by creating a program that gave Cuban lawyers in exile the opportunity to become practicing attorneys in the United States. The Cuban-American Lawyers Program allowed foreign lawyers to attend law school on a part-time basis, take the Florida Bar Examination, and if they passed the exam, enter the bar.

UF Law is commemorating the 40th anniversary of the program with a special event in Gainesville, featuring a list of prestigious speakers, including Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Jorge Labarga, UF President Kent Fuchs, UF Law Dean Laura Rosenbury and UF Distinguished Alumnus and former American Bar Association President Stephen N. Zack. “For the Love of Law: Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Cuban-American Lawyers Program,” will be at UF Law in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center on Oct. 16, 2015, from 3 to 5 p.m. with a wine and tapas reception following from 5 to 7 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public. Participants of the Cuban-American Lawyers Program and their families are especially encouraged to attend.

RSVP by filling out the form below (since space is limited we encourage you to respond at your earliest convenience).

Date: Friday, Oct. 16, 2015

Time:

  • 12-2 p.m., Luncheon and Panel Discussion, with a presentation by Osvaldo Miranda Diaz and remarks by original CALP participants and their families in the UF Law Faculty Dining Room
  • 3-5 p.m., For the Love of Law: Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Cuban-American Lawyers Program in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center Courtroom
  • 5-7 p.m., Wine and Tapas Reception in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center Courtroom Foyer, to include tours by the Latino Law Student Association, Cuban-American Bar Association and International Law Society student groups. The tours will include the new, permanent display honoring participants in the Cuban-American Lawyers Program.

Location: University of Florida Levin College of Law Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center Courtroom for program and foyer for the following wine and tapas reception. The Advocacy Center is located on the law school campus, at 411 Village Drive, Gainesville, Florida. Click here for directions.

Accommodations: For your convenience, a block of rooms has been reserved at the Hilton University of Florida Conference Center for Thursday and Friday nights, October 15 & 16, 2015. Call 1-800-HILTONS and mention the Cuban-American Lawyers Program or access the hotel group page (group code LC1015) to receive the special rate of $142 per night. Your reservations must be made by October 2, 2015, to guarantee a room at the special rate. The Hilton University of Florida Conference Center is located at 1714 SW 34th Street in Gainesville, Florida.

Parking: Parking restrictions will be lifted Friday, October 16, 2015, in the Green (see the signs) lots adjacent and to the South and East of the law school.

Special Needs: If your attendance requires any aids or services as addressed by the Americans with Disabilities Act, please notify us at least two weeks prior to the program date.

Questions: Contact UF Law Public Functions Coordinator Colleen Flage at 352-273-0615 or flage@law.ufl.edu.

Speakers will include:

  • UF President Kent Fuchs
  • UF Law Dean Laura Rosenbury
  • Former American Bar Association President (2010-11), Florida Bar President (1989-90) and UF Distinguished Alumnus Stephen N. Zack
  • Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court and UF Distinguished Alumnus Jorge Labarga
  • Cuban-American Lawyers Program (CALP) Program graduate Jose (“Pepe”) A. Villalobos, named a “Legal Legend” in 2015 by the 11th Judicial Circuit Historical Society
  • UF Law LCA Board of Trustees Chair Oscar Sanchez
  • UF Professor of Law Berta Esperanza Hernández-Truyol
  • UF Law Professor Emeritus and former CALP Program faculty member Fletcher Baldwin
  • Cuban lawyer Osvaldo Miranda Diaz, former judge on one of Cuba’s 14 commercial courts
  • Plant City Bar Association President Harley Herman, longtime Virgil Hawkins Foundation President

This event is funded through the Stephen N. Zack Law Endowment.

Published: April 15th, 2015

Category: Alumni Affairs

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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.