The Honorable Laurel M. Isicoff is a landmark figure in the South Florida legal community. After earning her J.D. cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law in 1982, she spent over 20 years in private practice—including 14 years as a shareholder at Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton—specializing in commercial bankruptcy and SEC receiverships. In 2006, she was appointed to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida, and in 2016, she made history as the court's first female Chief Judge.
A passionate advocate for education and equity, Judge Isicoff helped design the Bankruptcy Assistance Clinic at St. Thomas Law and has served as a dedicated mentor to students in Miami Law’s Eleanor R. Cristol and Judge A. Jay Cristol Bankruptcy Pro Bono Assistance Clinic. Her commitment to public service is reflected in her leadership of the Bankruptcy Bar Association’s Pro Bono Task Force and her induction into the American College of Bankruptcy. As she prepares to retire this summer, the University of Miami School of Law will host a "Celebration of Service" in her honor on June 5, 2026, at the Law Library, recognizing her 20 years of distinguished leadership and her unwavering dedication to expanding access to justice.
What aspects of the curriculum or faculty had the most significant impact on your legal education and career trajectory?
I was fortunate to take different classes in different areas of the law. Those collective classes developed my overall sense of the law. Those classes in which I excelled in particular—Trust and Estates with Professor Gaubatz, and Corporate Tax with Professor Manning—were in fields that I did not pursue. However, I will be forever grateful that I learned, finally, the degrees of consanguinity.
How did your education at the University of Miami School of Law prepare you for your career?
The professors that I had assured that I learned to think like a lawyer—to explore, consider and question. At the same time, those same professors gave me concrete foundations to practice. For example, Professor Alloway’s Evidence class provided me with basics that I never forgot, even after more than 40 years out of law school. As I judge I have been very disappointed in the lack of understanding of evidence demonstrated by many of the lawyers who appeared before me.
What opportunities or connections did you gain at the law school, and how did they influence your career?
The most important connections I made in law school were my friends. My first job, and, until I became a judge, the job for which I was most grateful (and I was grateful for them all) was clerking for the Honorable Daniel S. Pearson on the Third District Court of Appeal. I was introduced to Judge Pearson through friends that I had met in law school—Tom Hall, who went on to serve as Clerk of the Florida Supreme Court; Sandra Barker, with whom I had the privilege of clerking with Judge Pearson; and Sara Herald, who also served on the Court at that time. Those friends, especially Sandra Barker, who is responsible for my becoming a bankruptcy lawyer, and many others who I met in law school, were mentors and inspirations to me as I went through my legal career.
