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Florida Rep. Margaret Good (JD 12) Uses Law Degree for Public Service

Margaret GoodWhen Margaret Good (JD 12) decided her state representatives weren’t effectively working on behalf of their constituents, she decided to take action.

She ran for the Florida House of Representatives District 72 seat in a February 2018 special election that was both hotly contested and highly publicized. Good prevailed and took office with just three weeks left in Tallahassee’s legislative session.

In that brief time, she brought an amendment requiring universal background checks, was appointed to the education committee, and joined the dialogue on private vs. public funding in education.

“I worked hard for my constituents in those three weeks,” said Good, who says her success was facilitated by her UF Law degree.

“I am more effective as a representative because, as a lawyer, I am familiar with reading and analyzing statutes,” Good said. “I learned many skills during my time at UF Law that serve me well in the legislature.”

Good grew up in Georgia. She received her bachelor’s in German language from the University of South Carolina in 1999 and her Master’s in Germanics from the University of Washington in 2002. After graduating, she moved to Florida and worked in Ocala – first for the United Way and then for the Florida Agricultural Center and Horse Park Authority – before deciding to pursue a different path.

“I decided to go to UF Law because it’s the best law school in Florida and because my family is from Central Florida,” Good said.

During her time on campus, she served as communications editor for the Florida Law Review, as student liaison for the American Bar Association Section of State and Local Government Law, and as law student governor for The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division Law Student Division. She also worked as a research assistant for UF Law Professor Amy Mashburn and completed an externship with Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Susan Black (JD 67) in the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

Good became a research assistant for Dr. Robert Emerson in the Warrington College of Business, drawing on her degree in German language to research and compare both German and American business law.

During her time at UF Law, Good participated in the On-Campus Interviewing program, where she met with Matthews Eastmoore, a firm of trial attorneys in Sarasota. Good was eventually hired by the firm, where she specializes in business and estate litigation, professional malpractice and personal injury.

“I explored different types of law when I was in law school, but in the end, I decided I wanted to be a litigator,” Good said. “I love research and writing, I enjoy being in the courtroom and I find the procedural aspects of cases interesting.”

During her time at the firm, she regularly engages with the Gator Law Nation. “Almost everyone at my firm went to UF either for undergraduate or law school or both,” Good said. “During my campaign, I reached out to fellow Gators throughout Florida who supported the campaign in various ways.”

Published: June 5th, 2018

Category: Alumni, News

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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.