Roy Black, B.S. '67, J.D. '70, one of the most high-profile defense attorneys in the country, died at the age of 80 on Monday at his home in Coral Gables.
Black built a career defending some of the most controversial defendants in recent memory, including Jeffrey Epstein, Rush Limbaugh, William Kennedy Smith, and a long list of the accused facing all kinds of charges. Black said he took on those cases because of the lessons he learned in Jamaica and later as a public defender representing primarily Black and Hispanic people.
The other constant throughout his career was the classes he taught at the School of Law. Three years after graduating, he started teaching a workshop focused on federal evidentiary rules. That morphed into a training course on how to argue at trial, running his students through mock witness examinations and exchanges with a judge. Black said it was his favorite way of giving back to the school that launched his career.
"Roy was a tremendous friend of the law school," said Dean Emerita Patricia White. "I once asked him to give the graduation speech at the law school honors convocation. His talk was absolutely extraordinary and held everyone on the edge of their seats because of his uncanny ability to hold his listeners' attention. It was clear why he is widely regarded as one of the greatest trial lawyers of his generation."
Black taught a fall criminal evidence course for over 50 years and was set to teach in the fall semester starting in August.
"Roy was a great attorney, a very supportive alumnus, and we were pleased he was willing to share his knowledge of criminal law and trial skills with our students," said Dean Emeritus Dennis Lynch.
Black started his journey at the University of Miami with dreams of the ocean. His stepfather was British and moved the family from Jamaica to the Bahamas when Black was a boy, exposing him to island life.
He started as a chemistry major at the University. Still, he changed course when he took a series of government classes and found he loved doing research and writing about a wide variety of subjects.
As a boy, a math teacher in Jamaica had picked on Black, which may have driven his interest in law. "I grew to hate petty authority," he said in an interview in 2024. "That generated my interest in going into the law, into becoming a public interest lawyer, a public defender."
Black also served on the School of Law’s Visiting Committee and the Dean's Advisory Committee, a group that provides an external perspective while offering input on the school's strategic direction and overall objectives.
However, his greatest legacy at the School of Law was the more than 1,400 law students who took his evidence class.
“It shows what kind of man he was, and it shows what his commitment was to the law and to making the profession better,” said Interim Dean Patricia S. Abril during an interview. “He did it very quietly. He did it for the love of the students and the love of the law. He never failed us, and he never failed our students.”
"I can't imagine anyone would dispute that Roy Black was one of the greatest trial lawyers of his time," said Scott Sundby, professor of criminal law and the Robert C. Josefsberg Chair in Criminal Justice Advocacy. "Reading a transcript of a Roy Black trial is like taking a master class on trial technique. That he gave back to UM by sharing his wisdom with our students was a gift beyond value. I always told my students, if you can take a class with Roy Black, it's like learning basketball from Michael Jordan; you'd be insane not to jump at the chance."
To honor the extraordinary life and legacy of Roy Black—whose deep passion for uplifting students shaped generations—please consider a donation to student scholarships at the University of Miami School of Law and continue the impact he so powerfully championed.
