Block

Robert “Bobby” Block is the executive director of the Florida First Amendment Foundation. Block has had a four-decade career in journalism, including contributing to the Wall Street Journal’s coverage of 9/11, which earned a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News in 2002. He co-authored the book “Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security,” which was a 2006 Washington Post Book of the Year and has reported on various conflicts across the globe, including the civil war in El Salvador, the Rwandan genocide in 1994, and the executions of more than 8,000 men and boys by Serbian forces in a Bosnian village in 1995. He also traveled the globe tracking terrorist financing after 9/11. During Block’s first year at the helm of the Florida First Amendment Foundation, he expanded the Foundation’s mission beyond its traditional role of protecting government transparency and public records access to defend individual rights of expression and other First Amendment issues. In addition to the Wall Street Journal, Block has reported for the Tribune Company, Reuters, and the Independent of London, and has contributed to the New York Review of Books. He has also worked for SpaceX, the Center for Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the Angaza Foundation for African Reporting, and ran his business consultancy, Hurricane Communications Inc.

Justice Canady

Justice Charles T. Canady was born in Lakeland, Florida, in 1954. He received his B.A. from Haverford College in 1976 and his J.D. from the Yale Law School in 1979.

Justice Canady practiced law with the firm of Holland and Knight in Lakeland from 1979 through 1982. He practiced with the firm of Lane, Trohn, et al., from 1983 through 1992. From November 1984 to November 1990, Justice Canady served three terms in the Florida House of Representatives, and from January 1993 to January 2001, he served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Throughout his service in Congress, Justice Canady was a member of the House Judiciary Committee. For three terms, January 1995 to January 2001, Justice Canady was the chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution. Upon leaving Congress, Justice Canady became General Counsel to Gov. Jeb Bush. He was appointed by Gov. Bush to the Second District Court of Appeal for a term beginning November 20, 2002.

On August 28, 2008, Justice Canady was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by Gov. Charlie Crist and took office September 8, 2008. He served as Florida’s 54th chief justice from July 2010 through June 2012. He was elected by his colleagues to serve as chief justice for a second time starting July 1, 2018, and a third time starting July 1, 2020.

Chew

Benjamin “Ben” Chew is a partner in the Business Trial Practice Group in the Washington, D.C. office of Sheppard Mullin. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the most prestigious, invitation-only society of senior trial counsel in the U.S. A multifaceted litigator, he represents clients in complex commercial litigation and arbitrations in the District of Columbia, Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, New York, California and throughout the United States and internationally. He handles diverse commercial disputes, including defamation cases. Chew is ranked in Chambers High Net Worth for Defamation/Reputation Management, and The Legal 500 named him a "Recommended Lawyer" for Media and Entertainment: Litigation. Benchmark Litigation named Ben a "Top Trial Lawyer," a "Litigation Star" and “Entertainment Litigator of the Year for 2023,” and the National Law Journal named him a "Sports/Gaming/Entertainment Law Trailblazer." Chew appears regularly as a legal commentator on CNN, the Law Crime and Court TV. He also serves as a trial advocacy instructor at Harvard Law School.

Justice Couriel

Justice John D. Couriel is the 90th justice of the Florida Supreme Court. Justice Couriel was born in Miami, Florida in 1978.  Justice Couriel received his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Harvard College in 2000 and his law degree from Harvard Law School in 2003. He clerked for the Hon. John D. Bates of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before joining Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York. His practice there included securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy matters, and investigations. In 2009, he became an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. He prosecuted hundreds of federal offenses, including international money laundering, public integrity, healthcare fraud, and human trafficking crimes. In 2013, he joined Kobre & Kim LLP, where he specialized in cross-border disputes and investigations relating to financial products and services, asset recovery, and government enforcement defense, with an emphasis on clients in Latin America.

Justice Couriel is a native speaker of Spanish. His parents emigrated from Cuba in the 1960s, his father as one of approximately 14,000 unaccompanied minors welcomed to the United States as part of Operation Pedro Pan. He was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by Gov. Ron DeSantis on June 1, 2020.

Fineout

Gary Fineout has covered Florida politics and policy including the Legislature and courts for the past three decades. He has written about the past five governors and his reporting about lobbyists and legislators led to one of the nation’s strictest gift bans. He has been with POLITICO since 2019 and before that worked for The Miami Herald and The Associated Press. His work has also appeared in The New York Times.

Flemming

Paul Flemming is the director of the Florida Supreme Court Public Information Office. He moved into that position in March 2022 after working as PIO for the Office of the State Courts Administrator for five years. Previously, he was a reporter and editor for newspapers in Missouri and Florida. He came to Tallahassee in 2004 and worked as bureau chief, leading state coverage for four newspapers and in cooperation with three television stations. Before joining the state courts system, he worked in the Florida Legislature for two years.

Garcia

Jason Garcia is a leading corporate accountability journalist in Florida. The winner of multiple state and national awards, Garcia is the author of “Big Profits, Tiny Taxes,” which exposed how corporations dodge Florida taxes and how policymakers could stop it, and a series of stories in 2021 tracing the dark money spent in a statewide scheme to sway key Senate elections through the use of “ghost candidates.” He spent 20 years with the Orlando Sentinel and Florida Trend magazine covering the intersection of business and politics. He’s now the publisher of Seeking Rents, a newsletter and podcast about Florida politics that explores the ways big businesses and other special interests bend public policy in their favor. Seeking Rents has more than 6,000 subscribers, including elected officials and senior leaders across state government.

Glorioso

Alexandra "Alex" Glorioso has been reporting on politics and policy in Florida since the 2016 presidential election. She's covered Tallahassee as a staff writer for the Naples Daily News, Politico and the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times. Her reporting has led to the resignations of two major state senators for sexual misconduct, and a grand jury investigation of a charity spearheaded by first lady Casey DeSantis. She has beat breast cancer twice.

Justice Grosshans

Justice Jamie Rutland Grosshans was appointed as the 91st Justice of the Florida Supreme Court on September 14, 2020 by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Previously she was appointed to the Fifth District Court of Appeal by Gov. Rick Scott. Prior to her appointment to the appellate court, she served as an Orange County Court judge in the Ninth Judicial Circuit, where she presided over criminal and civil matters.

Justice Grosshans was raised in Brookhaven, Mississippi and graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Law. During law school, she clerked for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Mississippi. Following admittance to The Florida Bar, she served as an assistant state attorney for the Ninth Circuit in both the misdemeanor and felony divisions, where she tried numerous criminal jury trials. Justice Grosshans later entered private practice and founded her own law firm, where she focused primarily on family law and criminal defense matters. She also served as an adjunct professor at Valencia College, frequently volunteered as a guardian ad litem, and offered her time in numerous pro bono cases.

Justice Grosshans regularly speaks to lawyers, law students, and community organizations on topics such as challenges in the practice of law, the role of the judicial branch, civics, professionalism, and ethics in the legal profession.

Harle

Denise Mayo Harle is a clinical professor and director of the First Amendment Clinic at FSU College of Law, where she leads student advocacy and litigation on free speech, religious liberty, assembly, petition, and press freedom issues. Her teaching and scholarship focus on constitutional law, appellate practice, and First Amendment rights. Before entering academia, Harle was a partner at Shutts & Bowen LLP in Tallahassee, where she was a member of the firm’s Appellate Practice Group and Constitutional Law Practice Area. She also previously practiced public-interest law with a nationally renowned legal nonprofit focused on free speech and religious freedom, and served as deputy solicitor general in the Office of the Florida Attorney General. Harle has briefed and argued high-profile cases involving significant constitutional issues and questions of statutory interpretation in both state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.

Hinson

Shaneé L. Hinson is the chief branch discipline counsel for The Florida Bar Tallahassee Branch Office. Her branch handles disciplinary matters arising out of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 8th and 14th judicial circuits, as wells as matters involving out of state attorneys admitted in Florida. She began her legal career as a staff attorney at Legal Services of North Florida handling family law, adoption, guardianship and landlord/tenant cases. She has been employed at The Florida Bar almost two decades. She previously served as senior attorney in the Attorney Consumer Assistance Program (ACAP), Bar counsel for the 2nd Judicial Circuit, and as the statewide advertising counsel. She holds a law degree from Florida State University and a bachelor’s and master’s of Education degree from Florida A&M University.

Karp

The power of words to change lives has been an animating force in David Karp’s career, first as a journalist for Florida’s leading newspaper and then as a lawyer who focuses on appeals and representing content creators in First Amendment and defamation cases. As an appellate lawyer, Karp brings a decade of experience as a professional writer and editor to the craft of writing briefs and persuading courts. He has handled appeals in federal and state courts on a range of issues: class actions, bad faith insurance cases, real property disputes, personal injury cases, and constitutional challenges to state and local laws. He also represents clients in class actions and complex commercial cases in the trial court, helping frame issues for summary judgment and dismissal, and serving as an integral part of a trial team. David’s experience as a journalist has drawn him to defend clients sued for defamation and related torts. He is a past chair of The Florida Bar Media and Communications Law Committee and writes and speaks about First Amendment law.

Krell Davis

Jennifer Krell Davis joined The Florida Bar Public Information Office in 2001, after graduating law school and working as a staff attorney for the Florida House of Representatives, to assist with special projects. She moved on to the Florida Chamber of Commerce as communications director where she led messaging efforts for legislative advocacy, and political and grassroots outreach. From there she became communications director for the Florida Department of State, covering the arts, elections, corporations, and historical divisions as well as the 2008 Presidential Election. After that she served as press secretary for the Office of the Florida Attorney General and then vice president of Public Affairs for the Florida Ports Council, the professional association for Florida’s 15 public seaports. She rejoined The Florida Bar staff in 2016 as deputy director of Communications leading internal and external digital communications for the Bar. She became communications director in 2021 and Communications Division director in 2023. Davis received her undergraduate degree in English Literature from Florida State University and her law degree from the University of Florida.

Justice Jorge Labarga

Justice Jorge Labarga was born in Cuba in 1952 and arrived in the U.S. at the age of 11 where he initially lived with his family in Pahokee, Florida. He graduated from Forest Hill High School in West Palm Beach in 1972 and received both his bachelor’s (1976) and law (1979) degrees from the University of Florida.

Justice Labarga began his legal career in 1979 as an assistant public defender with the Public Defender’s Office in West Palm Beach, assigned to the appellate, misdemeanor and felony trial divisions. In 1982 he joined the State Attorney’s Office in West Palm Beach, where he tried cases ranging from theft to homicide. In 1987 he joined the firm of Cone, Wagner, Nugent, Roth, Romano & Ericksen P.A., and specialized in personal injury trial work. In 1992 Justice Labarga participated in founding the law firm of Roth, Duncan & Labarga P.A., in West Palm Beach, where he continued to specialize in personal injury litigation and criminal defense.

Gov. Lawton Chiles appointed Justice Labarga to the Circuit Court of the 15th Judicial Circuit, in and for Palm Beach County, in 1996. In that capacity he served in the family, civil and criminal divisions. He also served as the administrative judge of the civil division.

In December 2008 Justice Labarga was appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist to the Fourth District Court of Appeal. On January 6, 2009, he took office on the Florida Supreme Court after appointment by Gov. Crist. He is the 84th Justice to take office at the Florida Supreme Court since statehood was granted in 1845. On July 1, 2014, he became the 56th Chief Justice of Florida – the first Cuban American to lead the state judicial branch. He held that office for two terms until June 2018, the first chief justice to serve consecutive terms in a century.

Lake

James "Jim" Lake is a partner at Thomas & LoCicero, where his practice focuses on media law, intellectual property and business litigation. He represents clients in state and federal courts and the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, and he frequently renders advice on newsgathering, trademark, and copyright matters. His clients include media, financial, retail, agricultural and staffing companies and well-known authors. He has litigated defamation, trademark and copyright cases, trademark opposition proceedings, reporter’s privilege disputes, demands for access to public records and meetings, domain-name proceedings and commercial disputes. Lake graduated from Washington and Lee University with honors in journalism and then worked as a reporter for The Tampa Tribune. He graduated with honors from the Washington and Lee University School of Law. He has been an adjunct professor at the Stetson University College of Law.

Mower

Lawrence Mower is a correspondent for the Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald’s Tallahassee bureau, where he covers the governor and Legislature and has led the state’s coverage of the insurance crisis. At the Las Vegas Review-Journal and The Palm Beach Post, he led a groundbreaking investigation into police shootings, uncovered a network of illegal lottery winners and discovered fraud in local elections and the drug treatment industry. His stories have led to Department of Justice investigations, changes in state law and several arrests.

Justice Muniz

Justice Carlos G. Muñiz was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by Gov. Ron DeSantis on January 22, 2019, becoming the 89th Justice since statehood was granted in 1845. Justice Muñiz was elected by his colleagues to serve as Florida’s 57th Chief Justice beginning July 1, 2022. Prior to joining the court, he served on the staff of Sec. Betsy DeVos as the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Education.

In addition to working as an attorney in the federal government and in private practice, Justice Muñiz had an extensive career in Florida state government. He served as the deputy attorney general and chief of staff to Attorney Gen. Pam Bondi; as deputy chief of staff and counsel in the Office of the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives; as general counsel of the Department of Financial Services; and as deputy general counsel to Gov. Jeb Bush.

Justice Muñiz is a graduate of the University of Virginia and of Yale Law School. After law school, he clerked for Judge José A. Cabranes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and for Judge Thomas A. Flannery of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Pierre

Faudlin Pierre is a partner at Pierre Simon, where he represents plaintiffs in civil litigation cases. He has devoted his legal practice to championing civil rights, safeguarding civil liberties, and combating government overreach. He has championed police accountability, fought against the placement of Confederate statues, and secured funding to preserve Miami's historically black library. A Miami native, Pierre was born to immigrant parents and attended public schools in the area. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and his law degree from the University of Kentucky. Following his studies, he returned to Miami to serve his community.

Portman

Jennifer Portman is deputy national editor for National Public Radio. Prior to joining NPR, she spent 30 years as a reporter and editor for daily newspapers, including managing editor for national news at USA TODAY and news director of the Tallahassee Democrat. As a reporter at the Democrat, Portman covered many high-profile murder cases, including police confidential informant Rachel Hoffman, Florida State law professor Dan Markel and most notably, real estate appraiser Mike Williams, a story she covered for more than a dozen years. She has received numerous state and national awards, including honors from the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors for reporting on the Tallahassee Police Department and by the Florida Society of Professional Journalists for her work on the undercounting and impact of domestic-violence homicides. A Los Angeles native, she is based in Tallahassee.

Rambana

Neil Rambana is a founding partner of Rambana & Ricci PLLC, which concentrates on complex immigration and criminal immigration issues and regularly represents clients before U.S. Immigration Courts around the country. AV Preeminent rate, Rambana is admitted to practice in the federal courts of the Northern, Southern and Middle Districts of Florida, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, and the U.S. Supreme Court. A member in good standing of The Florida Bar, where he chaired a grievance committee, Rambana is also a member of the Tallahassee Bar Association, American Bar Association, and the Federal Bar Association, and is is a past president of the Federal Bar Association Tallahassee Chapter and current president of the Governors Club.

Rietow

Emilie Rietow is the education and information administrator at the Florida Supreme Court. Her work in public information office includes instructing thousands of teachers, students and members of the public from throughout the state about Florida’s judicial branch of government and coordinating other civics education programs. Rietow is also responsible for website and social media content management and event planning. Prior to her position at the Court, Rietow spent several years working in The Florida Bar’s public information office and as an elementary classroom teacher in the public school system.

Robinson

Dwayne Robinson is a partner at Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton and focuses his practice on complex litigation and appeals. He has represented clients in numerous cases in both federal and state courts, including presenting oral arguments before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 11th and Second Circuits, the Florida Supreme Court, and multiple Florida District Courts of Appeal. Robinson successfully represented Miami-Dade College and Santa Fe Community College in class action lawsuits filed by students concerning COVID-19 closures. Prior to law school, he was editor-in-chief of The Independent Florida Alligator at the University of Florida, then the largest daily independent, student-run newspaper in the country. He later covered local government, politics, and the Florida legislature for The Palm Beach Post. He holds bachelor's degrees in Political Science and Journalism from the University of Florida, where he minored in Business Administration. He received his law degree magna cum laude, from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Florida Law Review.

Rossi

Gene Rossi is a shareholder with Carlton Fields in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. With nearly three decades of criminal and civil litigation experience at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Rossi leverages the skills he honed as a federal prosecutor to concentrate on matters related to white collar criminal defense and government investigations. During his DOJ career, Rossi had more than 110 federal trials (including an unprecedented 90 jury trials) in U.S. district and bankruptcy courts. He is a frequent legal commentator and trial analyst, often quoted in articles and appearing on many cable and radio shows, including CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ABC News, CBS News, Law & Crime Network, Court TV, Hill TV, and several others.

Justice Sasso

On May 23, 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Justice Meredith L. Sasso to be the 93rd justice of the Supreme Court of Florida.

She began her career in private practice, representing clients in large loss general liability, auto negligence, and complex commercial claims in state and federal courts at trial and on appeal. She also served as guardian ad litem, representing abused or neglected children.

In August 2016, Justice Sasso joined the Office of the General Counsel to Gov. Rick Scott, serving as chief deputy general counsel. In this role, she represented the governor in litigation before the Florida Supreme Court, the First District Court of Appeal, and state and federal trial courts, among other duties. In January 2019, Gov. Scott appointed her to the Fifth District Court of Appeal. Gov. DeSantis recommissioned her to the newly created Sixth District Court of Appeal on January 1, 2023, where she was elected by her colleagues to serve as its first Chief Judge.

She is a member of the American Enterprise Institute Leadership Network and the Federalist Society.

Justice Sasso was raised in Tallahassee. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Florida in 2005 and her law degree from the University of Florida in 2008, where she was a member of the Justice Campbell Thornal Moot Court board.

Saunders

Jim Saunders has been executive editor of the News Service of Florida since 2013 and has covered state government and politics in Florida since 1998. The News Service provides coverage of legislative, political, legal and regulatory issues for newspapers, television stations and radio stations throughout Florida and has a wide range of other subscribers, such as government agencies, lobbying firms, law firms and businesses. Saunders came to the News Service in 2011 after stints as Tallahassee bureau chief for The Florida Times-Union, The Daytona Beach News-Journal and Health News Florida. He moved to Florida in 1990 and worked eight years for the Times-Union in Jacksonville and St. Johns County. A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he graduated from Northwestern University and worked at The Blade newspaper in Toledo, Ohio, before moving to the Times-Union. Saunders enjoys covering legal and regulatory issues and has extensive experience in covering health care.

Snyder

David M. Snyder started his solo practice in 1995, where he helps consumers, taxpayers, and the media access information and protects their right to publish it. He is First Amendment counsel to Creative Loafing alternative newspapers and Tampa/Hillsborough County’s public access television provider, The Tampa Bay Community Network.

Snyder graduated from the University of South Florida, where he was awarded a B.A. in English. At USF, he was managing editor of The Oracle and won a Distinguished Service Award from the Department of Mass Communications. He received a J.D., summa cum laude, and graduated first in his class from Stetson University, where he was editor-in-chief of the Stetson Law Review. Snyder was a staff writer for the Clearwater Sun (1975) and St. Petersburg Times (1975-79). He also served 34 years in the Naval Reserve as a military journalist and public affairs officer, retiring at the rank of captain. Among assignments around the world, he served as U.S. Navy spokesman for Peacekeeping Forces in Beirut, Lebanon, in the months following the terrorist attacks on U.S. forces there. He was a law clerk in The New York Times Co. legal department, an associate of the New York City firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel, and a partner in Tampa law firms before starting his solo practice.

Snyder teaches/has taught Communications Law at the University of Tampa, Florida Southern College, and USF St. Petersburg. He organized The Florida Bar’s first Reporter’s Workshop in 1990, has served many terms on the Florida Bar Media & Communications Law Committee as a member, past chair and vice-chair. He also served on and chaired the Florida Bar Statewide Advertising Grievance Committee and a 13th Circuit grievance committee.

Tomasino

John A. Tomasino is the clerk of the court at the Florida Supreme Court, where he is responsible for the official files and papers of the court and assists the justices in their official duties. Prior to his appointment in 2013, Tomasino was the administrative director in the Public Defender's Office for the Second Judicial Circuit based in Tallahassee, where his duties included supervising a budget of $7.1 million and a staff of 125 employees in the counties surrounding and including Tallahassee. Tomasino was born and reared in Tampa, where he attended the University of South Florida. He attended Florida State University's College of Law, graduating in 1996.

White

C. Erica White joined the Office of State Courts Administrator (OSCA) as the general counsel in January 2019, where she is currently responsible for addressing legal issues relating to the administration of the Florida State Courts System, and for providing legal advice to the OSCA and the Florida Supreme Court. White received her bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration from Florida A & M University in 1993. After graduating from FSU College of Law in May 2001, she worked in both the private and public sector before joining OSCA. She chairs The Florida Bar Media and Communications Law Committee.

Williams

Alexander J. Williams has served as general counsel for the Judicial Qualification Commission (JQC) in Tallahassee since 2018. As general counsel, he leads the investigation and prosecution of judicial misconduct and disability cases for all Article V judges in the State of Florida. Prior to accepting a position with the JQC, Williams worked as an assistant state attorney in the Second Judicial Circuit. He is a graduate of Florida State University (2008) and the Florida International University College of Law (2012). He is a member of the Association of Judicial Disciplinary Counsel (AJDC) and presently serves on the AJDC board of directors (2020-present). In April of 2025, the JQC voted to appoint Williams to the position of executive director beginning Dec. 1, 2025.