Miami Law's Center for Ethics & Public Service will honor Judge Michael Hanzman at the 20th annual William M. Hoeveler Luncheon and Award Presentation Tuesday, November 29, 2022 at 12:30 p.m.
The prestigious prize celebrates extraordinary members of the bar and bench, nonprofit organizations, and individuals distinguished by their long-standing dedication to ethics and public service. To honor Hanzman, the law school will host an award ceremony.
Hanzman presided over the five-week civil trial stemming from the 2021 collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida that killed 98 people and left 135-unit owners dispossessed.
The judge, who once was a civil trial attorney, practiced complex commercial litigation for over 25 years before being appointed to the Circuit Court by Governor Scott in 2011. He then served five years in the Dependency Division before transferring to the Civil Division in 2016. Hanzman also served as an associate judge on the 4th District Court of Appeal in 2013, 2014, and 2017. He has published many academic articles and approximately 200 opinions/orders addressing various legal issues and is a frequent lecturer/commentator on business law matters. Before his appointment to the bench, Hanzman also served as a special master in the DuPont/Benlate and tobacco mass tort cases and mediated (or served as a private judge presiding over) hundreds of complex litigation disputes.
Founded in 1996, the Center for Ethics and Public Service is a law school-housed ethics education, experiential skills training, and community engagement program devoted to the values of ethical judgment, professional responsibility, and public service in law and society. The Center’s mission is to educate law students to serve their communities as citizen lawyers.
For 26 years, the center has served as an incubator and an accelerator for numerous public service initiatives. They include on-campus and off-campus clinics (Children and Youth Law Clinic, Community Economic Development and Design Clinic, Community Lawyering Clinic, Environmental Justice Clinic, Health Law Clinic, and Social Enterprise Clinic), programs (Brown University Institute at Brown for Environment and Society partnership, Dartmouth College Ethics Institute Internship Program, Professional Responsibility and Ethics Program, Street Law Program, and University of Miami Joint College of Arts and Sciences Program on Law, Public Policy, and Ethics), summer colloquia (University of Miami Environmental Justice, Policy, & Science), and oral histories and documentary films (Oral History and Documentary Film Project).
The Hoeveler Award was created in honor of the Honorable William M. Hoeveler, senior U.S. District Court judge and the inaugural recipient, as a lifetime achievement award for a lawyer or an organization of outstanding ethics and public service. Hoeveler died in 2017 at the age of 95.
"The center is thrilled to honor Judge Hanzman not only for his distinguished career as a legendary advocate and an eminent jurist, but also for his extraordinary leadership in resolving the Champlain Towers South Collapse Litigation. ," said Professor Anthony V. Alfieri, CEPS director and Community Equity Lab, Historic Black Church Program, and Legal Profession Program. "By any and all measures, Judge Hanzman’s career honors the highest traditions of the profession and the justly celebrated spirit of Judge Hoeveler.”
Past awardees include former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, former Florida Supreme Court Chief Judge Rosemary Barkett, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit Judge Adalberto Jordan, J.D. '87, B.A. ’84, and Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle, who has served since 1993.
The event is free and open to the public with advanced registration. The University of Miami School of Law will hold the event at the Donna E. Shalala Student Center, 3rd floor Activities Room.
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