2020 Inductees

To permanently honor outstanding and notable alumni of the University of Florida Levin College of Law and their contributions to the state and University, the Law Center Association Board of Trustees established the Heritage of Leadership Recognition Society. The Selection Committee determined the initial classes of inductees, barring exceptional circumstances, would be honored posthumously.

Class of 2020

W. George Allen (1936-2019)

Class of 1962. In 1962, W. George Allen became the first African American to earn a degree from a previously all-white institution of higher education in Florida. Throughout his five decades of practicing law, he was a leader in the fight for diversity, dignity, and civil rights, including a lawsuit that resulted in the desegregation of Broward County and Hendry County public schools.

Fifty years after UF began integration in 1958, Allen was recognized at the “Celebration of Firsts” honoring the first African American graduates. In 2012, Allen was a special guest at the Levin College of Law’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of his graduation, where students announced their organization would be named the W. George Allen Chapter of the Black Law Students Association.

He received numerous awards for his professional and civic contributions, including UF’s Distinguished Alumnus Award, and served on the UF Foundation Board of Directors. Allen’s autobiography, Where the Bus Stops, highlights his life’s mission of fighting for justice.

Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte (1933-2019)

Class of 1962. After being named UF’s Outstanding Law Graduate, Talbot D’Alemberte began a distinguished career in private practice, including time with Steel Hector & Davis and Hunton & Williams. Among his many career highlights, he petitioned the Florida Supreme Court to allow television coverage of civil and criminal trials, the first state in the nation to do so.

Throughout his life, he was dedicated to public and professional service. D’Alemberte represented Dade County in the Florida House of Representatives before becoming Dean of FSU Law and later serving as President of Florida State University. He is one of UF Law’s five alumni to serve as president of the American Bar Association.

He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Florida Supreme Court Historical Society, the Tobias Simon Pro Bono Award from the Florida Supreme Court, and the Rule of Law Award from the International Bar Association. He was recognized by the Secretary of State as a “Great Floridian” and received UF’s Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Andrew C. Hall (1944-2019)

Class of 1968. Andrew C. Hall was born in Warsaw, Poland, during WWII and survived the Holocaust before immigrating to America. Following graduation from law school, he clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Joe Eaton in Miami and later formed what would become Hall Lamb Hall & Leto where he focused on complex commercial litigation.

He became known as the “Anti-Terror Attorney” after taking several cases related to state-sponsored terrorism. Through his advocacy, the families of U.S. service members killed and injured in the U.S.S. Cole bombing in 2000 won a $316 million judgment against Sudan. He also won a $2.8 million judgment against the Cuban government on behalf of a Cuban exile whose family was harmed by the Castro regime.

Hall was an advocate for the Jewish community and Holocaust remembrance, including service as chair of the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach and the Miami-Broward Chapter of the American Jewish Committee. He was named UF Law’s inaugural Outstanding Alumnus Award recipient in 2018.

Rachelle Bergeron Hammerling (1986-2019)

Class of 2010. Rachelle L. Bergeron Hammerling’s lifelong goal was to fight human trafficking for the FBI. She studied abroad in South Africa and worked as a legal intern in Beijing and New York at the UN’s World International Property Organization. She created a youth outreach program focused on identifying potential sex trafficking clients for Sanctuary for Families.

She later joined The Internal Justice Mission in Bangalore, India, fighting human trafficking. In 2015, she accepted a position as the Assistant Attorney General in Yap State, a cluster of islands in Micronesia. After being promoted Acting Attorney General, she quickly became known as a crusader for human rights, particularly the rights of victims of human trafficking.

Two months prior to her planned return to the United States, she was assassinated in connection with her work as the island’s chief prosecutor. She was committed to the rule of law and passionate about being the voice for the voiceless whom she served with unwavering courage and compassion.

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.