Board of Directors
Robert A. Rush
Alan Bookman - ↑ top
Alan Bookman joined the Southern Legal Counsel Board in September 2002. He is a Director with Emmanuel, Sheppard & Condon in Pensacola, Florida, and is one of the firm's senior attorneys practicing in the areas of real estate law, probate and guardianship law, and commercial litigation. He began his law career with the U.S. Army's Judge Advocate General Corp., where he served in a variety of legal capacities, including Senior Defense Counsel and Chief of Military Justice. Mr. Bookman is board certified in real estate law by The Florida Bar and is a Certified Civil Trial Mediator.
Mr. Bookman was the 57th President of The Florida Bar, serving in 2005-2006, and remains an active member today. He served on The Florida Bar Foundation’s Board of Directors from 1984 to 1990 and was the Assistant Treasurer for 1983-1984. He has been a member of the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association since 2004. He also is a former President of the Escambia-Santa Rosa Bar Association, Northwest Florida Legal Services and the Escambia County Legal Aid Society. He is an active member of many other civic and professional organizations.
Mr. Bookman received his undergraduate degree from Tulane University in 1969 and his law degree from Tulane University School of Law in 1971. He was licensed by the Louisiana Bar in 1971 and The Florida Bar in 1973, and is admitted to practice in all state courts in Florida and Louisiana, the Federal District Courts of the Eastern District of Louisiana and the Middle and Northern Districts of Florida and the United States Supreme Court.
Benjamin L. Crump - ↑ top
Benjamin L. Crump joined Southern Legal Counsel’s Board of Directors in 2009. He is a principal with the Tallahassee firm of Parks & Crump, LLC. Mr. Crump has been recognized for his generous contributions to those in need, excellence in the legal profession and personal service to the community. Recently, Mr. Crump received the distinction as the first African-American to be named Philanthropist of the Year from the Association of Fundraising Professionals in recognition of his donation of $1,000,000 to the Legal Services of North Florida. Together with his law partner, he has endowed scholarships at Florida A&M University, Livingston College, and Florida State University for minority law students, as well as a scholarship at Bethune Cookman College.
Having overcome very humble beginnings in rural North Carolina, Mr. Crump has quickly become one of the most recognizable and successful lawyers in America. He has extensive experience litigating complicated legal matters in state and federal courts, including the United States District Courts for the Southern, Middle and Northern Districts of Florida, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the Southern District of Mississippi, the Combined District of South Carolina, the Northern District of Texas and the Florida Supreme Court. He and his law partner, Daryl Parks, have provided legal representation and recovered large awards on behalf of their clients in some of the most high profile cases in the United States. Florida Trend Magazine named Mr. Crump one of the state's "Legal Elite" for his tenacious and courageous representation of his clients and living up to his reputation for taking on cases that may seem hopeless or unprofitable to other attorneys. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund awarded Mr. Crump the Bootstrap Award to honor his enduring pursuit of justice, outstanding advocacy on behalf of many who are without means of redress and for leaving footprints on the sands of time for others to follow.
Mr. Crump was appointed as the first Board Chairman of the Florida's Big Bend Fair Housing Center, Inc., a Federal Grant organization dedicated to the eradication of housing discrimination. He was recently elected as the Board Chairman of the Internationally Renowned Boys Choir of Tallahassee and serves as the immediate past President of the National Black Alumni Association for Florida State University. Mr. Crump is a Life Member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the NAACP, and a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, Michael R. Moore Lodge 764, P.H.A. Mr. Crump is a Past President of the Tallahassee Barristers Association and the Virgil Hawkins Florida Chapter of the National Bar Association. Currently, he is serving as the first African-American Chairman of the Board of Directors for the FSU College of Law Alumni Association, the Vice-President of the Federal Bar Association for the Northern District of Florida, a member of the American Bar Association, The Florida Justice Association and the William Stafford Inns of Court.
He received his Bachelor's degree in 1992 in Criminal Justice from Florida State University, where he served as two-term Black Student Union President, President of the Order of Omega and the inaugural President of the Burning Spear. He then earned his Juris Doctorate from the FSU College of Law in 1995.
Jesse H. Diner- ↑ top
Jesse H. Diner joined the Southern Legal Counsel Board in August 2011. He is a shareholder in Atkinson, Diner, Stone, Mankuta & Ploucha, P.A., which will merge with Fowler White Boggs by May 2012. Diner focuses his practice on resolving commercial disputes. During a career that spans more than 37 years, Diner has advised and represented clients in a wide range of business matters, including real estate, probate, financial and other commercial disputes.
As a strategic advisor, Diner draws on his experience as a corporate and real estate lawyer, as well as a litigator, to resolve each dispute in the client’s best interest– in or out of the courtroom. Diner is also an arbitrator, with more than 25 years experience in commercial and construction disputes.
A South Florida native, Diner earned a bachelor of arts degree from Gettysburg College in 1969 and his juris doctorate from St. John's University Law School in 1972, where he served as editor of Notes and Comments for the school's Law Review. He authored the note, “Procedural Due Process in Peno-Correctional Institutions: Progression and Regression,” in St. John's University Law Review (1971). He served as an attorney in the New York Regional Counsel’s Office of the United States Small Business Administration, prior to moving to Florida and entering private practice.
Diner is a past president of The Florida Bar, Chaired the Florida Bar Committee on Court Funding, and is a past president of Legal Aid Service of Broward County and the Broward County Bar Association. He is admitted to practice in New York and Florida, before the U.S. District Court for the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida, the U.S. Court of Appeals in the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits, the U.S. Tax Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Dr. Vivian Hobbs - ↑ top
Dr. Vivian Hobbs has served on Southern Legal Counsel’s Board of Directors since 2004. She is currently an Associate Professor of English and Humanities for the College of Arts and Sciences at Florida A&M University. She graduated from Florida A&M University in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English. She received her Master of Arts in Classical and Modern Humanities from Florida State University in 1983. She received a Doctorate of Philosophy in Victorian Literature from Florida State University in 1997.
The Florida Supreme Court appointed Dr. Hobbs to The Florida Bar Board of Governors in 2001. She Chaired the BOG's Citizen Forum and participated in the following committees: Discipline Review, Mediation Grievance, Executive Advisory Committee to the President, Chief Justice's Pro Bono Awards, Judicial Qualifying, and Communications Committee. She assisted The Florida Bar in other activities, including presenting to the Florida Legislature on the Bar's behalf. In 2001, she received The Florida Bar Outstanding Service Award.
Since 1981, Dr. Hobbs has worked at Florida A&M University in a variety of instructional and administrative positions. Prior to that, she was an English instructor at a number of educational facilities in Alabama, Florida and Maryland. She taught a variety of subjects including Advanced Placement English, Humanities, English as a Second Language, Talented & Gifted English, British Literature and American Literature.
William Kalish - ↑ top
William Kalish joined the Southern Legal Counsel Board of Directors in 2006, and was elected Chair in January 2012. He is a shareholder and leads the Tax Group of the Tampa Office of Akerman Senterfitt.
He graduated with honors from the George Washington University (J.D. 1970) and received a B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh (1967). He was named to the Best Lawyers in America, to Florida's Legal Elite by Florida Trend and as a Florida Super Lawyer. He is a Board Certified Tax Lawyer and Certified Circuit Mediator and a member of the Florida and District of Columbia Bars.
Mr. Kalish is a former member of The Florida Bar Board of Governors from 1998 to 2002 and from 2005 to 2009. He is a current Emeritus member and former Chair of the Florida Board of Bar Examiners. He is Chair of the Hillsborough County Bar Peer Review Committee. He is a current trustee and former Chair of the Hillsborough County Bar Foundation. He is a master, a former President and former Treasurer of J. Clifford Cheatwood American Inn of Court. He is a former member and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation. He is a member of the St. Joseph's - Baptist Hospital Finance Committee. He is a Fellow of the american College of Tax Counsel. He has lectured on various tax and business topics, including business and estate planning, tax controversies and health care issues.
Barbara Bolton Litten - ↑ top
Barbara Bolton Litten joined the Southern Legal Counsel Board of Directors in 2005 and clerked for SLC while attending law school at the University of Florida. She is a principal in the West Palm Beach office of Squire Sanders (US) L.L.P. and focuses her practice on litigation. She concentrates on complex and multidistrict, products liability, ERISA, and commercial matters and, for the past decade, has primarily defended claims in federal and multidistrict litigation against sellers of prescription medications, over-the-counter products and medical devices. Ms. Litten also counsels both corporate and media clients on libel and privacy defense as well as access to public records and open meetings.
Ms. Litten is a member of The Florida Bar and the bars of the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Florida and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Ms. Litten also is a member of the Federal Bar Association and the Palm Beach County Bar Association, and served as Chair of the Media & Communications Law Committee of The Florida Bar in 2002.
Before becoming a lawyer, Ms. Litten served as executive director of Planned Parenthood Association of Southwest Florida, a non-profit family planning organization providing medical and education services to women, men and families. In addition to her current commitment to SLC, Ms. Litten serves on the Governance Committee of the Board of Directors of Hospice of Palm Beach County.
Kenneth H. (Buddy) MacKay, Jr. - ↑ top
Buddy MacKay joined Southern Legal Counsel’s Board of Directors in 2003 and served as Chair from September 2008 through December 2011. He was an adjunct professor of Law at the University of Florida College of Law from 2002 through 2004. He currently serves as a Dependency Mediator in the 5th Circuit Juvenile Court.
MacKay served in the Executive Office of the President as Special Envoy for the Americas from March 1999 until January 20, 2001.
MacKay served as Lieutenant Governor of Florida from 1990 through November 1998, and briefly as Governor upon the untimely death of Governor Lawton Chiles.
MacKay was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1982 for the first of three terms. While in Congress, he was an early leader in the effort to balance the federal government's budget. Prior to his election to the US House, MacKay was a member of the Florida State Senate from 1974 to 1980 and served the Florida House of Representatives from 1968 to 1974.
MacKay served in the US Air Force as a pilot from 1955 to 1958. He attended Davidson College and the University of Florida, graduating from the University of Florida College of Law with honors in 1961.
A third generation native of Ocala, Florida, MacKay and his wife, Anne Selph MacKay still maintain their permanent residence in the home that came into the family through his Scottish-immigrant grandfather and Jamaican-immigrant grandmother. The couple has four sons and eight grandchildren.
David Rothman - ↑ top
David Rothman joined Southern Legal Counsel’s Board of Directors in 2010. He graduated from the University of Florida College of Law in 1977 and worked as an assistant state attorney for the next three years. In 1980, Mr. Rothman and John Thornton, now a circuit court judge, opened the law firm which bears the name Rothman & Associates, P.A. The firm, which practices almost exclusively criminal defense in state and federal courts, presently has two associates, Jeanne T. Melendez and Joaquin E. Padilla. Former partners include the Honorable Federico Moreno, Chief Judge of the Southern District of Florida and Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court Judge Kevin Emas.
Mr. Rothman was President of FACDL, Statewide in 2000-2001, President of FACDL, Miami Chapter, in 1993-94 and President of the Dade County Bar Association in 1997-1998. He was elected to The Florida Bar Board of Governors in 1999 and is now in his sixth term. In each of the last six years, Mr. Rothman was selected to serve on the Executive Committee of The Board of Governors. And every year on the Board, Mr. Rothman served as a member, co-chair or chair of the Disciplinary Review Committee, which makes recommendations to the Board on all discipline cases that require review by the Board of Governors.
Since 1996, Mr. Rothman has taught litigation skills as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Miami School of Law. He is Board Certified by The Florida Bar and by the National Board of Trial Advocacy as a criminal trial attorney. He has been listed in Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers, Legal Elite and Top Lawyers.
Lansing C. Scriven - ↑ top
Lanse Scriven joined Southern Legal Counsel’s Board of Directors in 2009. He is the principal of Lansing C. Scriven, P.A. Mr. Scriven concentrates his practice in the area of business litigation, handling a diverse range of business disputes. He was recently selected by his peers as a member of Florida Trend magazine=s Legal Elite, a select group comprising the top 2% of lawyers practicing in Florida. He also has been named as a Florida Super Lawyer. Super Lawyers identifies the top 5% of Florida=s lawyers as chosen by their peers and through the independent research of Law & Politics. He is also AAV@ rated by Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating possible for ethical standards and legal ability.
In addition to his law practice, Mr. Scriven is active in bar activities and community affairs. He currently serves as a member of the Florida Bar Board of Governors, representing the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, which is Hillsborough County. He is also a Past President of the Hillsborough County Bar Association. He is also a past Chairperson of the Business Litigation Committee of the Business Law Section of The Florida Bar and a past President of the Florida Chapter of the National Bar Association, a statewide bar association representing African-American lawyers and judges in the State of Florida. Mr. Scriven served three terms as President of the George Edgecomb Bar Association, the local affiliate chapter of the National Bar Association.
Notable among the many community activities in which he has been involved are his tenure as President of the Board of Directors of the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, Inc. He is also a Past President of The Tampa Club, the first African-American to hold that post in the Club=s history. Mr. Scriven has served on the Board of Directors of Tampa General Hospital. He is a current member of the Board of Directors of the Tampa Housing Authority.
A native of Jacksonville, Florida, Mr. Scriven is a 1984 graduate of Duke University. After graduation from Duke, he attended the Florida State University College of Law, graduating with honors in 1987. While enrolled at Florida State, Mr. Scriven served as an editor for the Florida State University Law Review and was also a member of the law school's Moot Court Team. Following law school, Mr. Scriven served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Joseph W. Hatchett of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, former Chief Judge of the Circuit.
Harry L. Shorstein - ↑ top
Harry Shorstein joined the Board in 2012. Most recently, he was the five term State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit (covering Duval County, Clay County and Nassau County). In 2008, he decided not to run for a sixth term and to return to private practice as a partner with Shorstein & Lasnetski, LLC.
Mr. Shorstein attended the University of Florida for college and law school. After graduating from law school, he served as a Captain in the 3rd Marine Division in Vietnam. Upon his return, he worked as a Division Head at the Jacksonville Office of the Public Defender. After leaving that office, he spent several years as a Division Head and then Chief Assistant at the Office of the State Attorney. After the State Attorney’s Office, Mr. Shorstein served as General Counsel for the City of Jacksonville.
In 1991, Mr. Shorstein became the State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit. He held that position for almost eighteen years until deciding not run again in 2008. As the State Attorney for the Jacksonville area, he tried a variety of criminal cases, including over 30 murder cases, all of which he won. He also implemented a groundbreaking juvenile justice program that focused on rehabilitation and education that won national acclaim and was copied by prosecutors across the country. His extensive experience and accomplishments as a trial attorney have been chronicled by 60 Minutes, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, The New York Times, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report and others state, local and national media outlets. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
After over two decades of public service, Mr. Shorstein decided to return to private practice where he spent 15 years representing the rights and interests of individuals and businesses to becoming the State Attorney. In private practice, he defended clients on criminal matters in state and federal court, including complex white collar cases. He handled serious and complex wrongful death and personal injuries cases, and he represented companies in all varieties of business disputes. Another area where he has developed extensive skills and experience is in the representation of professionals in civil litigation and in front of licensing and other administrative boards.
Robert F. Spohrer - ↑ top
Robert Spohrer joined the Southern Legal Counsel Board in 2010. He is the senior partner in the firm of Spohrer & Dodd, P.L., a 10-lawyer firm in Jacksonville, Florida. Mr. Spohrer's areas of practice include complex civil litigation involving product liability, professional negligence, aviation crash cases, commercial trucking litigation, and other types of complex civil litigation. He is Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Civil Trial and Aviation Law.
Mr. Spohrer received his undergraduate and juris doctorate degrees from St. Louis University and was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1974. He is also permitted to practice before the U.S Supreme Court, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of the U.S. District Courts in Florida, and all Florida state courts. He is a Diplomate with the American Board of Trial Advocates ("ABOTA"), former Chair of the Executive Council of the Trial lawyers Section of The Florida Bar, and serves on the Middle District of Florida's Ethics Commission.
Mr. Spohrer is a member of the elite Inner Circle of Advocates (100 top trial lawyers in the United States), has been named one of the Best Lawyers in America, featured in Florida's Legal Elite by Florida Trend, and is a Florida Super Lawyer. Mr. Spohrer is an adjunct professor of law at Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville and has previously served as the school's mock trial coach. In addition to his professional associations, Mr. Spohrer's volunteer opportunities include his current position as Chairman of the Board for HandsOn Jacksonville, and a fundraising member and former Treasurer for the North Florida Council of the Boy Scouts.