Michael E. Allen

Michael E. Allen

a 1971 graduate of Florida State University and a 1975 graduate of Stetson University College of Law, is special counsel to the firm. He became a member of the Florida Bar in 1975 and was thereafter admitted to practice before various federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court. Mr. Allen was a prosecutor and also engaged in the private law practice in the 1970s. While in the private law practice, Mr. Allen served as president of his local bar association. He was elected Public Defender for the Second Judicial Circuit in 1980 and was reelected in 1984 and 1988. During his tenure as public defender, Mr. Allen was counsel of record in hundreds of appeals to the Florida Supreme Court and to the First District Court of Appeal and in thousands of cases in the trial courts of the Second Judicial Circuit. In the 1980s, Mr. Allen served two terms as President of the Florida Public Defenders Association. Also in the 1980s, he was a member and chairman of the Florida Criminal Justice Information Systems Council and a member of the Judicial Council of Florida, the Florida Justice Administrative Commission, and the Florida Parole and Probation Commission Qualifications Committee. Upon his appointment by Governor Bob Martinez, Mr. Allen became a judge of the First District Court of Appeal in 1990, where he served until his retirement from the bench in 2009, having authored hundreds of opinions for the court. During his tenure as an appellate judge, he served as Chief Judge of the First District Court of Appeal, President of the Florida Conference of District Court of Appeal Judges, and Chairman of Florida's District Court of Appeal Budget Commission.

Mr. Allen is the author of a treatise titled "Florida Criminal Procedure, Volume 22 of West's Florida Practice Series." He was a faculty member of the Florida College of Advanced Judicial Studies for several years and for several more years was an Adjunct Professor of Law at Florida State University College of Law. He also taught in numerous continuing legal education programs over the years.

Mr. Allen was the 1995 recipient of the L. Clayton Award for distinguished public service. He was named an Honorary Life Member of the Florida Public Defenders Association in 1989, and he became the first Honorary Member of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in 1990.