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Yolanda Cash Jackson (JD 90) Delivers Commencement Address

Yolanda Cash Jackson (JD 90), Shareholder at Becker & Poliakoff, delivered the UF Law Spring Commencement Address on Friday, May 17, 2019 at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. The event was livestreamed. 

Yolanda Cash Jackson from the UF Law Class of 1990 is among the power elite when it comes to lawyer-lobbyists in our State Capitol. Her nontraditional path to becoming a lawyer who influences state policy at the highest levels is a model for new lawyers seeking meaning in their law practice. Ms. Jackson knows political leaders by their first name and changes people’s lives through institutional and programmatic initiatives.

Ms. Jackson learned early in her career about the shared benefit of giving back to the community. She learned how community involvement is more than helping your community; it’s also about helping yourself. Through her active involvement in organizations as diverse and prestigious as the University of Florida Foundation, the Levin College of Law’s Law Center Association Board of Trustees, the Orange Bowl Committee, Delta Sigma Theta National Social Action Committee, Urban League and the National Bar Association, Ms. Jackson has established a reputation for fairness, integrity, dedication and trust. She strives to exemplify those profound qualities every day working on behalf of her clients, many of whom have been with her for more than 10 years. Clients rave about her commitment to client service and praise her effectiveness in Tallahassee.

Ms. Jackson’s nontraditional path took her through many areas of law, including family law and litigation, before she found her passion in lobbying and policy. The constant presence in her career, however, has been giving back through non-profit and service organizations. Although her awards are too numerous to mention, Ms. Jackson has been recognized by national organizations such as the National Bar Association for Outstanding Service and by local organizations including the Junior League. Her community commitment knows no boundaries. The Miami Herald named her one of only 50 statewide influencers for 2020 election coverage, and the Daily Business Review named her a “Most Effective Lawyer” in 2018. The Children of Inmates inducted her into the League of Superheroes, the only non-elected, non-government official to be inducted for the third time.

Last but certainly not least, Ms. Jackson has risen to the highest ranks in her own law firm, serving as one of only seven shareholders who form the Becker Management Committee, charged with overseeing all aspects of firm policy, operations and strategic growth. Becker is a multi-practice commercial law firm with attorneys, lobbyists and other professionals in offices throughout Florida and the East Coast.

Ms. Jackson has leveraged her strengths and stayed true to her ideals to create a personally meaningful and civically impactful legal career that adds tremendous value to her clients, her firm and her community.

For more information about commencement logistics, visit: https://www.law.ufl.edu/commencement. 

Published: May 3rd, 2019

Category: 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.