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Harold “Tom” L. Sebring

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(1898-1968)

Harold 'Tom' L. Sebring

Perhaps no other UFLaw grad has such a varied background: highly decorated World War I combat soldier, star college athlete in three sports, lawyer, football referee, Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice, law school dean, War Trials judge and head coach of University of Florida track, boxing and football teams (while earning his law degree). Harold “Tom” Sebring was regarded as “a creative, brilliant innovator” as Gator football coach, and his 1925 team finished 8-2 (best record in school history to that time). His last year of coaching, ’27, the Gators finished 7-3 (beating Alabama and Auburn on the road), and he recruited the starters for the ‘28 team that would finish 8-1 and lead the nation in scoring. Eighteen years later, while serving on the Florida Supreme Court – after a distinguished career as a practicing attorney and Circuit Judge – Sebring was appointed as a judge in the Nuremberg Trial of Nazi war criminals.

Born 1898, in Olanthe, KS. Married Elise Bishop of Gainesville, FL, and they had one child: Harold L. Sebring Jr.

College Education / Achievements

  • B.S. Kansas State College, 1923 (formerly Kansas State Agricultural College). Freshman Class President, Senior Class Vice-President, letterman in football / track / boxing, first team. All Missouri Valley Conference 1921-22, named to “Kansas State Aggies All-Time Football Team.”
  • J.D. University of Florida, 1928
  • Honorary Degrees: Kansas State, Tampa, Stetson Universities
  • Designated Distinguished Alumnus, University of Florida, 1969

Legal Experience

  • Practiced law in Miami and Jacksonville
  • Appointed Judge, Eighth Judicial Circuit, 1933 (served until 1943)
  • Florida Supreme Court Justice, 1943-55; Chief Justice, 1951-53
  • Drafted Appellate Rules of Florida, assisted in drafting Florida Rules of Civil Procedure; member, three Florida Constitutional Revisions Committees: member, National Conference; Chief Justices’ Committee on state/federal jurisdiction in habeas corpus proceedings
    • Member, Nazi War Crimes Tribunal, Nuremburg, Germany, 1946-47 (appointed by President Harry S Truman)

Non-Legal Achievements

  • World War I (decorated for gallantry by both U.S. and French governments)
  • Dean, Stetson University College of Law, 1955-68
  • Head Coach, University of Florida football, track and boxing teams (while attending law school)

Associations / Organizations / Honors

  • Stetson University Law School designates Sebring Memorial Courtroom in his honor (Sebring was first Dean at Stetson Law’s Gulfport, FL, campus)
  • Florida Blue Key (Honorary)

Published: June 26th, 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.