According to her bio, Judge Milian is the first Latina judge to host a nationally syndicated television court show. Originally from Queens, NY, Milian moved to Miami with her family when she was eight years old. Milian received her undergraduate degree at the University of Miami, where she graduated summa cum laude with a 4.0 grade average.
She then attended Georgetown Law School, where she earned her law degree and graduated cum laude at the age of 23. Milian, of Cuban descent, is fluent in Spanish. She spent a year working at Harvard Law School, where she served as director of training for the Guatemala Project. She was responsible for training the Guatemalan trial judiciary, defense and prosecution bar in investigatory and trial techniques.
Florida Governor Jeb Bush appointed Milian to the Miami-Dade Circuit Court in 1999, where she served in the Criminal Division. Prior to that, she spent five years in the Miami-Dade County Court in the Domestic Violence Court, Criminal and Civil divisions. She was appointed to the County Court by then-Governor Lawton Chiles. Before serving in the County Court, Milian worked from 1984 to 1994 as an Assistant State Attorney for the Dade County State Attorney's Office, personally appointed by Janet Reno.
Miami Law alumnus Alex Ferrer, who hosts the nationally syndicated courtroom show Judge Alex, was born in Havana and immigrated to the United States with his family as an infant. At 19, Ferrer joined the Coral Gables Police Department as an officer, one of the youngest in Florida. He sold diamonds on the side. At 24, he left the police to study at Miami Law, where he became a member of the Law Review before graduating in 1986.He attended Miami Law fulltime while working as a police officer. "I would go to law school in the daytime, from 8 in the morning until 4 and then I'd put on my uniform and I'd patrol from 4:30 to 12:30," he said. "But you know, in police work, if you arrest somebody at the end of the shift you're stuck there until 2 in the morning doing paperwork and transporting them and all that stuff. So, very often I wouldn't get home until 3 a.m. and then be back in class at 8."
In 1995, at the age of 34, he was elected judge, making him the youngest Circuit Court Judge in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, where he was a Family and Criminal division judge for ten years. A licensed pilot, he also is a sculptor, scuba diver and golf player, and runs marathons.
Thane Rosenbaum will serve as moderator. Rosenbaum is a professor of human rights, legal humanities, and law and literature at Fordham University School of Law and Director of the Forum on Law, Culture & Society. He is an essayist, and the author of the novels, The Golems of Gotham, Second Hand Smoke, and the novel-in-stories, Elijah Visible.
The Law Alumni and Development Office are presenting the event.
Miami Law Alumni to Present Hurricanes: Order in the Court
University of Miami
Coral Gables, FL 33124
305-284-2211