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Clara Backus Floyd Gehan

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Clara Backus Floyd Gehan
In 1933 Clara Backus Floyd Gehan was the first woman to graduate from the University of Florida College of Law. She continued her accomplishment by practicing law, dedicating her life to public service and serving as a dedicated member to her lifelong Gainesville community.

After earning her bachelor’s degree from Brenau College, Gehan returned home to teach Latin at Gainesville High School. However, she had her sights set on continuing her education. At the time, women were not allowed to attend the University of Florida if the same courses were offered at the Florida State College for Women in Tallahassee. Women were also discouraged from attending UF College of Law, even though they were legally allowed. But after a chance encounter with a law professor and permission from a dean, Gehan decided to pursue a law degree at UF.

Gehan’s first day as a law student was a school-wide event. Two lines of male students formed in front of the building where Gehan was to enter for class. Despite the attention and discrimination, Gehan graduated with honors and was given the Harrison Award for the highest overall average.

The first legal position Gehan accepted in Jacksonville was initially unpaid. After a short time she returned to Gainesville to work at Baxter & Clayton for 10 years. In 1943, Gehan married Frederick Gehan, a UF graduate, and the two moved to Utah, where he was stationed during the war. During this time, Gehan gave birth to her only child, Julia, who also graduated from UF.

Gehan returned to Gainesville to practice law with two different firms before she set up her own practice in 1963, becoming the first woman lawyer locally. Her practice focused on real property and probate law, but her real mission was to assist the poor. Gehan’s commitment to community service was strongly influenced by her father, Dr. George Floyd of Hawthorne, the only doctor in his region in the early part of the 20th century who was dedicated to helping others.

According to Gehan, the most challenging and interesting work she ever pursued was with the Gainesville Advisory Bi-Racial Committee, which helped to desegregate local Gainesville businesses.

She was actively involved in the establishment of the Storefront Legal Aid Service, the predecessor to the Three Rivers Legal Services, Inc., a Gainesville legal clinic providing service for low-income residents. She was also instrumental in founding the Legal Aid and Defender Clinic at the College of Law in 1968.

In addition to holding the title as president and director of the Eighth Judicial Circuit Bar Association, Gehan was involved in many community organizations and boards including the Junior League of Gainesville, Gainesville Women’s Club, League of Women’s Voters, Phi Mu Sorority, Phi Alpha Delta Legal Fraternity and Phi Kappa Phi Honorary Fraternity.

Gehan was received numerous awards, including the Gainesville Outstanding Woman Award, the Headline Award from the Women in Communication, Distinguished Alumna Award from Brenau College, Distinguished Alumna Award from the University of Florida, The Florida Bar Pro Bono Award by the Supreme Court of Florida, and the Florida Supreme Court Pro Bono Publico Award.

In one final act of service, Gehan bequeathed the Floyd-Gehan Scholarship Fund for deserving Alachua County residents to attend the University of Florida College of Law. She is survived by many nieces and nephews.

Published: June 27th, 2014

Category: Alumni

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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.