List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Florida

This is a list of the first minority male lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Florida. It includes the year in which the men were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are other distinctions such as the first minority men in their state to graduate from law school or become a political figure.

Firsts in Florida's history

Law degree

First African American male law graduate: W. George Allen in 1962

Lawyers

First Jewish American male: David Levy Yulee (1832)
First African American male: Harvey S. Harmon (1869)
First African American male (licensed): Matthew M. Lewey
First African American male (after Reconstruction Era): James Weldon Johnson (1897)
First Italian American male: Anthony J. DiMedio (1925)
First openly gay male: Robert Eimers (1976)
First undocumented male: Jose Godinez-Samperio (2014)

State judges

First African American male elected: James Dean (1884) in 1888
First Jewish American male (circuit court): Harry N. Sandler in 1933
First African American male (municipal court): Lawson E. Thomas (1923) in 1950
First Cuban American male: Carlos Benito Fernandez in 1961
First African American male (Florida Supreme Court): Joseph W. Hatchett (1959) in 1975
First Hispanic American male (Industrial Claims Court): Mario P. Goderich (1969) in 1975
First Jewish American male (Florida Supreme Court; justice and chief justice): Arthur J. England, Jr. (1961) in 1975 and 1978 respectively
First Hispanic American male (Seventeenth Judicial Circuit): Jose Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. (1957)
First African American male (Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court): Wilkie D. Ferguson (c. 1960s) in 1977
First Hispanic American male (Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court): Mario P. Goderich in 1978
First African American male (Fourth Judicial Circuit): Henry Lee Adams Jr. (1969) in 1979
First African American male (Third District Court of Appeal): Wilkie D. Ferguson (c. 1960s) in 1980
First Hispanic American male (Third Judicial Circuit Court): Mario P. Goderich in 1980
First African American male (Seventh Judicial Circuit): Hubert Grimes in 1988
First African American male (Chief Justice; Florida Supreme Court): Leander J. Shaw Jr. (1952) in 1990
First openly gay male: Rand Hoch in 1992
First African American male (Twelfth Judicial Circuit): Charles Williams in 1998
First Haitian American male: Fred Seraphin in 2001
First Korean American male: Sonny Im (1991) in 2002
First Hispanic American male (Florida Supreme Court): Raoul G. Cantero III (1985) in 2002
First African American male (Eighteenth Judicial Circuit): James E.C. Perry in 2003
First Hispanic American male (Seventh Judicial Circuit): Raul A. Zambrano in 2005
First Hispanic American male (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit): Adalberto Jordan (1987) in 2012

Federal judges

First African American male (Northern District Court of Florida): Stephan P. Mickle in 1970
First Hispanic American male (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida): Jose Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. (1957) in 1978
First openly gay African American male (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida): Darrin P. Gayles (1993) in 2014
First openly gay male (U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida): Mac McCoy in 2015
First South Asian American male (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida): Anuraag Singhal (1989) in 2019

Attorney General of Florida

First Jewish American male: Robert L. Shevin in 1971

Assistant Attorney General of Florida

First African American male: Charles F. Wilson in 1963

United States Attorney

First Cuban American male (Southern District of Florida): Roberto Martinez
First Haitian American male (Southern District of Florida): Markenzy Lapointe in 2023

State Attorney

First Hispanic American male: E.J. Salcines

Assistant State Attorney

First African American male (Second Judicial Circuit): Roosevelt Randolph
First African American male (Chief Assistant State Attorney; Fourth Judicial Circuit): Brian J. Davis (1980) in 1994

Public Defender

First Hispanic American male elected: Carlos J. Martinez in 2008

Assistant Public Defender

First African American male: Delano Stewart in 1966

Florida Bar Association

First African American male admitted (post-Reconstruction Era): James Weldon Johnson (1897)
First Jewish American male president: Burton Young in 1970
First Hispanic American male (Cuban descent) president: Stephen Zack in 1989
First Cuban-born male president: Frank Angones in 2007
First African American male president: Eugene K. Pettis in 2013

Firsts in local history

Charles Wilson: First African-American male in Tampa Bay appointed to the Eleventh Circuit of Florida
Elijah Smiley: First African American male to serve as the Chief Judge of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit in Florida (2015) [Bay, Calhoun, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson and Washington Counties, Florida]
James E.C. Perry: First African American male to serve on the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit in Florida (2003) [Brevard and Seminole Counties, Florida]
Hubert Grimes: First African American male to serve on the Seventh Judicial Circuit in Florida (1988) [Flagler, Putnam, St. John's and Volusia Counties, Florida]
Stephen Everett: First African American male to serve on the Second Judicial Circuit in Florida (2019) [Franklin, Gadsden, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty and Wakulla Counties, Florida]
Stephan P. Mickle (1970): First African American male judge in Alachua County, Florida. He later became the first African American district judge of the Northern District of Florida.
Theodore R. Bowers (1962): First African American lawyer in Bay County, Florida
Jose Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. (1957): First Hispanic American male to serve on the Broward Circuit Court (1964)
Thomas J. "T.J." Reddick Jr.: First African American male to serve as a circuit court judge in Broward County, Florida (1972)
Zebedee Wright: First African American male appointed as a County Court Judge in Broward County, Florida (1982)
Robert Lee: First openly LGBT male judge in Broward County, Florida (1997)
Anuraag Singhal (1989): First South Asian American male judge in Broward County, Florida (2011)
Abraham Bellamy (1822): First male lawyer to settle in Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida
Joseph E. Lee (1873): First African American male lawyer in Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida
Francis M. Robles (c. 1890): First Hispanic American male lawyer in Hillsborough County, Florida. He would later become a judge.
M. Henry Cohen (1894) and Samuel Borchardt (1895): First Jewish American male lawyers in Hillsborough County, Florida
Peter W. Bryant (c. 1898): First African American male lawyer in Hillsborough County, Florida
George Edgecomb: First African American male judge in Hillsborough County, Florida
Ignatio C. "Nelson" Spoto: First Italian American male judge in Hillsborough County, Florida (1949)
Martin Caraballo: First Latino American male to serve as the President of the Hillsborough County Bar Association (1919)
Lanse Scriven: First African American male to serve as the President of the Hillsborough County Bar Association. He is also the first African American member of the Florida Bar Board of Governors from Hillsborough County.
Ted Taylor: First African American male lawyer in Plant City, Hillsborough County, Florida
William Castagna: First Italian American male to serve as a federal judge in Tampa, Florida
Casimiro Hernandez: First Latino American male to serve as the judge of the Ybor City Justice of the Peace Court
Armstrong Purdee: First African American male lawyer in Jackson County, Florida
James Durden: First African American male lawyer in Lake County, Florida
Isaac Anderson, Jr.: First African American male judge in Lee County, Florida (1981)
Augustus D. Aikens: First African American male judge in Leon County, Florida
Remus Allen: First African American male to serve as the Assistant Public Defender of Leon County, Florida
Layon Robinson: First African American male lawyer in Manatee County, Florida
Willie E. Gary: First African American male lawyer in Martin County, Florida
Lawson E. Thomas (1923): First African American male judge in Miami, Florida (1950) [Miami-Dade County, Florida]
Calvin Mapp: First African American male county court judge in Miami-Dade County, Florida
Carlos Benito Fernandez: First Hispanic American male lawyer and judge (1961) in Miami, Miami-Dade County, Florida
Wilkie D. Ferguson (c. 1960s): First African American male to serve on the Dade County Circuit Court (1977)
Fred Seraphin: First Haitian American male judge in Miami-Dade County, Florida (2001)
Frank Angones: First Cuban-born male to serve as the president of the Miami-Dade County Bar Association, Florida
James Dean (1884): First African American male elected as a county court judge in Monroe County, Florida (1888)
James C. Collier (c. 1950): First African American male lawyer in Orlando, Orange County, Florida
Emerson R. Thompson Jr.: First African American male judge in Orange County, Florida (1976)
Mel Martínez (1973): First Hispanic American male lawyer in Orlando, Orange County, Florida
Jose Rodriguez: First Hispanic American male to serve as a Judge of the Orange-Osceola Judicial Circuit (1987)
William Meredith "Bill" Holland Sr.: First African American male lawyer in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida
Joseph Lesser (1927): First Jewish American male lawyer in Palm Beach County, Florida
Edward Rodgers: First African American prosecutor, judge, and chief judge in Palm Beach County, Florida
Bradley Harper: First African American male elected as a Judge of the Palm Beach County Circuit Court (2016)
Luis Delgado: First Hispanic American male elected as a Judge of the Palm Beach County Circuit Court (2016)
James B. Sanderlin (1963): First African American male judge in Pinellas County, Florida
Thomas E. Stringer, Sr.: First African American male to graduate from the Stetson University College of Law (1974) [Pinellas County, Florida]
David Wilson III: First African American male lawyer in Winter Haven, Florida [Polk County, Florida]
Ralph Flowers: First African American male judge in St. Lucie County, Florida
Emerson R. Thompson Jr.: First African American male to serve as a Judge of the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach, Florida (1993) [Volusia County, Florida]