History

The county law libraries in Florida were established by a Special Act of the Florida Legislature in 1937 (Laws of Florida, Chapter 17720) which prescribed a tax on members of the Bar in counties having a population of 180,000 or more, to be used for the creation of a law library in that county.

 

This legislation has been supplemented by various acts throughout the years. This act was implemented in Dade County by a rule of the Circuit Court adopted in June 1937, which placed the supervision, management and control of the library in a Board of three Trustees, appointed by the presiding Circuit Judge.

 

Current Chief Judge

The members of the Board of Trustees are appointed by the Chief Judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit.

 

Honorable Bertila Soto

Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida

Current Board of Trustees Members

 

Chair
Honorable Barbara Areces

Circuit Court Judge

 

Chair Emeritus
Honorable Gill S. Freeman

Circuit Court Judge

 

Steven Befera, Esquire

Cole, Scott & Kissane, P.A.

 

Honorable Abby Cynamon

Circuit Court Judge

 

Christine A. Gudaitis, Esquire

Ver Ploeg & Lumpkin, P.A.

 

Andrew Moss

Kutner, Rubinoff & Moss, LLP

 

Lyle E. Shapiro

Herskowitz Shapiro, PLLC

 

Victoria Mendez, Esquire

Cuban American Bar Association

 

Ameli Padron-Fragetta, Esquire

Ameli Padron-Fragetta, LLC

 

Damian Thomas, Esquire

Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. Bar Association

 

Nancy Wear, Esquire

South Miami Kendall Bar Association

 

Candis Trusty, Esquire

Markowitz Ringel Trusty & Hartog, P.A.

 

The Collection

The law library, located on the third floor of the Miami-Dade County Courthouse, houses approximately 70,000 volumes, including statutes for all 50 states, the National Reporter System, Practising Law Institute's Corporate and Commercial course handbooks, and treatises covering subjects ranging from banking to zoning. Special practice areas include aviation, automobiles, maritime/admiralty, intellectual property, real estate tax, family law, immigration, municipal government and international law. Materials are available in print and online formats.

 

Florida Archival Collection

The law library maintains an archival collection which includes Florida Statutes beginning in 1892 and Florida Session Laws beginning in 1823 through current date. This collection also includes Florida Rules of Court from 1979 and the Florida Bar Journal Directories from 1982.

 

Using The Collection

Materials can be located by consulting the online catalog, either remotely or from various terminals within the library, or by consulting with our reference staff.