Quince honored with Selig I. Goldin Memorial Award
Justice Peggy Quince: 'I just ask all of you to remember that whether our client is guilty or not, we owe it to our profession to abide by all the rules and standards in our representation, and we do all that we can to make sure that our system functions in a way that protects and defends all of the citizens of this state.'
Retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Peggy A. Quince, the first Black woman to head any branch of Florida government, is the latest recipient of the Selig I. Goldin Memorial Award, the Criminal Law Section’s highest honor.
Declaring herself a proud section member since 1980, the Virginia native and death penalty expert was honored June 27 at a luncheon ceremony in a Boca Raton ballroom at the Annual Florida Bar Convention packed with family and friends.
“I’ve known some of the people in this room for longer than I want to admit,” she said with a smile, before pointing to her closely cropped head of gray hair. “But I can’t not admit it, because you can see how long I’ve been around.”
Quince called it humbling to have her name associated with the late Gainesville criminal defense attorney Selig I Goldin, the award’s namesake.
“He was a giant in the criminal law arena and was taken from us much too soon,” Quince said. “But his legacy of zeal and dedication to justice, and competence and compassion, lives on today, and certainly has lived on in the recipients of this award.”
Quince said it was an honor to join such an exclusive circle, and went on to name several past recipients, including a former U.S. attorney general, a former Supreme Court justice, a former Florida Bar president, a former Second Judicial Circuit public defender, and two prominent criminal defense attorneys.
“I feel humbled to be part of a group that includes Janet Reno, I feel humbled to be a part of a group that includes Ben Overton, and Hank Coxe, and Nancy Daniels, and Ben Kuehne, Robert Josefsberg, and so many others — because all of them have demonstrated the same kind of commitment and dedication to the criminal law that Selig Goldin demonstrated,” Quince said.
A prodigy who graduated law school at 23, Goldin was known for never refusing clients based on the unpopularity of their cases, or their inability to pay. A former section leader, Goldin has long been remembered as the epitome of “competence, service, and compassion.”
In a glowing introduction, Administrative Law Judge June McKinney called Quince “one of the greatest and most important figures in Florida’s legal history.”
McKinney recalled how Quince was raised by a single father in Virginia before going on to earn a zoology degree from Howard University in 1970, and a J.D. from Catholic University of America.
After a five-year stint in general private practice in Virginia and Florida, Quince joined the Criminal Division of the Florida Attorney General’s Office in 1980, McKinney said.
“She was in the Attorney General’s Office for 13 years, in the Criminal Appeals Division, and because of her leadership, she became the bureau chief,” McKinney said. “And for the last three years of her tenure there, she became an expert in death penalty cases and post-conviction cases.”
That expertise shaped much of Quince’s service when, in 1993, she became the first Black woman appointed to a Florida appellate court — the Second District Court of Appeal, McKinney said.
Former Gov. Lawton Chiles’ death in office added another asterisk to Quince’s career, giving Chiles, and former Gov. Jeb Bush shared credit for appointing the first Black woman to the Florida Supreme Court in 1998.
In 2008, Quince became chief justice, marking another milestone, McKinney said.
“We have to really think about that, that made her the leader of the third branch of government of the state of Florida, first Black woman to do that,” she said. “So, at that time, that means she would have been over five district courts of appeal, 20 circuit courts, and 67 county courts in Florida.”
Quince retired from the Supreme Court in 2019, and soon joined the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Conviction Review Unit, McKinney said.
“She made recommendations, was the evidence proper, and should it stay? Should this person be exonerated, should they receive a new trial?”
In recent years, Quince has been a passionate advocate for democracy and equal justice, McKinney said.
“Now in her retirement, she uses her voice, her scholarly expertise, nationally, in her vigilant pursuit to rectify inequalities.”
In a brief acceptance speech, Quince urged audience members to aspire to Goldin’s example to “make sure that our criminal justice system survives.”
“I just ask all of you to remember that whether our client is guilty or not, we owe it to our profession to abide by all the rules and standards in our representation, and we do all that we can to make sure that our system functions in a way that protects and defends all of the citizens of this state.”
