Past Bar Presidents Ed Blumberg and Miles McGrane to highlight 50-Year Member and Senior Counselor Luncheon
Edward Blumberg
In 1975, as the Vietnam War came to a close, Microsoft was founded, and “Jaws” swam into theaters, more than 700 Florida attorneys were just beginning their legal careers. A half a century later, those same lawyers will be honored for 50-years of service during the Annual Florida Bar Convention on June 27 in Boca Raton.
Miles A. McGrane III
Former Florida Bar Presidents Edward R. Blumberg and Miles A. McGrane III will be the featured speakers at the annual 50-Year Member and Senior Counselor Luncheon beginning at 12:30 p.m. at the Boca Raton Resort. Blumberg and McGrane are both 50-year members this year.
Outgoing Florida Bar President Roland Sanchez-Medina, Jr., will open the event, Sterling Hill will sing the National Anthem, 50-year honoree Julius “Jay” Zschau will lead the Pledge of Allegiance, and Leroy Smith, director of Professional Development at The Florida Bar, will give the invocation.
Blumberg is president of the Miami trial law firm of Deutsch Blumberg & Caballero with a statewide practice in the areas of medical malpractice, products liability, and catastrophic personal injury cases. He received a BA degree from the University of Georgia and a JD from the College of William and Mary School of Law. He has served as Bar president in 1997-98. He also serves as a member of the Board of Governors, a member of the board of directors of The Florida Bar Foundation, and as a member of the House of Delegates of the ABA. He is past chair of the board of the National Judicial College and served on its board of trustees.
Blumberg is board certified in civil trial law by the National Board of Trial Advocacy as well as The Florida Bar. He is also a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, the American Association for Justice, and the Florida Justice Association. He regularly provides continuing legal education to lawyers and has recently lectured in the areas of jury selection, insurance bad faith, and utilization of expert witnesses. He has published in the fields of torts, trial practice, and professionalism in Matthew Bender and Bloomberg/BNA.
He has received numerous awards including the Anti-Defamation League Jurisprudence Award, the International B’nai B’rith Great American Traditions Award, and the Miami-Dade Bar Circle of Excellence Award for the specialty of personal injury.
McGrane served as Bar president in 2003-04, is a mediator for Salmon & Dulberg Dispute Resolution and principal of McGrane Law Firm in Ft. Lauderdale. During his term as Bar president, he championed the legal needs of children, funding for state courts and civil legal services, and protection of the judiciary as an independent Third Branch of government.
After graduating from the Junior College of Broward County (now Broward College), McGrane earned a business degree from Florida Atlantic University where he was elected president of the student body. He completed a JD at Samford University Cumberland School of Law.
McGrane’s many years of involvement in Florida’s legal profession include serving on the Florida Board of Bar Examiners, as chair of the Judicial Qualifications Commission, and as a member of the House of Delegates of the ABA. He is active in the national, state, and local American Board of Trial Advocates and the Spellman-Hoeveler Inns of Court, and has received gubernatorial and Florida Supreme Court appointments to numerous commissions and committees. His professional service also includes being on the boards of The Florida Bar Foundation (now FFLA) and the Dade County Bar Association, and he is a longstanding supporter of Legal Services of Greater Miami and Broward Legal Aid.
Both 50-year members of The Florida Bar and senior counselors will be recognized during the event. The senior counselors program recognizes current active and inactive Florida Bar members in good standing who have practiced law for 50 years or more and have not previously been recognized by The Florida Bar for this accomplishment.
