2023 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 2023

Justice James E. Alderman

Class of 1961. November 1, 1936 – June 10, 2021
A sixth-generation Floridian, Alderman graduated from UF Law in 1961 and returned to Fort Pierce to practice law before ascending through every level of the state judiciary as a judge. Governor Askew elevated Alderman from the Fourth DCA to the Florida Supreme Court in 1978, where he served until 1985, including two years as Chief Justice.

After retirement, Alderman returned to the family ranch and served as the President of the Florida Cattlemen’s Association.

Professor Fletcher N. Baldwin Jr.

January 5, 1933 – February 18, 2020
A graduate of UGA and Yale, Baldwin was a beloved professor at UF Law for five decades. He joined the faculty in 1962 and taught continuously in international law, constitutional law, and criminal procedure until he assumed emeritus status in 2008.

Baldwin’s scholarship expertise in international financial crimes was renowned and made him a highly respected consultant to governments throughout the world, in particular on the African continent.

In Memoriam: Professor Fletcher Baldwin

Melinda Penney Gamot

Class of 1978. February 22, 1954 — October 15, 2021
After graduating from UF Law with honors in 1978, Gamot joined Cone, Wagner, Nugent, Hazouri & Roth, where she followed Judge Rosemary Barkett as the second female lawyer to join the nationally respected trial law firm. In 1999, she founded Gamot Law Firm with her husband and daughter and spent the remainder of her career practicing marital and family law and mediating complex estate issues.

She was board certified for almost thirty years and a leader in local and state bar activities.

Richard M. Robinson

Class of 1966. June 21, 2022
Not long after graduating from UF Law in 1966, Robinson joined three other young attorneys and founded Gray Robinson in 1970. He served as shareholder of the firm’s Orlando and Gainesville offices where he practiced tax, corporate, and government finance law.

The firm grew to more than 300 attorneys in offices throughout Florida under Robinson’s leadership, and he was consistently considered one of the best lawyers in America throughout his career.

Douglas A. Wright

JD class of 1986. LLM class of 1987. June 5, 1960 – May 9, 2021
Wright earned his juris doctor with honors in 1986 and his LLM in Taxation in 1987. He spent his entire career at Holland & Knight LLP specializing in corporate law and tax planning and litigation. He served in senior management positions for twenty years and as the firm’s Operations and Finance partner for nearly a decade.

Wright was also a longtime supporter of UF’s Bob Graham Center for Public Service and a member of its Advisory Council from 2015 until 2021.

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.