History
The College of Law was founded in 1909. It was first housed in Thomas Hall, and then in Bryan Hall from 1914 to 1969. The college desegregated on September 15, 1958, with the admission of its first African-American student, and its faculty was desegregated shortly thereafter. In 1969, the college moved to its current location in Holland Hall, which is named after the former Florida Governor, U.S. Senator, and alumnus Spessard L. Holland (LL.B. '16). Holland Hall is located in the northwest section of the university's campus. In 1984, Bruton-Geer Hall, named after the parents of alumnus Judge James D. Bruton (LL.B. '33) and his wife Quintilla Geer Bruton, was added to the law school complex.
The College of Law was renamed the Levin College of Law in 1999 after prominent Pensacola trial lawyer and alumnus Fredric G. Levin (J.D. '61), who donated $10 million to the college, a sum that was matched by a $10 million grant from the state of Florida to create a $20 million endowment.
The College of Law underwent a major renovation between 2004 and 2005, creating new academic space and expanding the law library, which was named the Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center after the former Florida Governor, U.S. Senator, and alumnus Lawton Chiles (LL.B. '55). The renovated Legal Information Center is now among the largest law libraries in the Southeast. A large elegant reading room within the Legal Information Center was named for former Florida Supreme Court Justice, university president and alumnus Stephen C. O'Connell (LL.B. '40).
In September 2005, Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor spoke at the dedication of the renovated facilities. In September 2006, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg visited the College of Law to speak and to dedicate a classroom in honor of her friend and alumnus Chesterfield Smith (LL.B. '48). In August 2008, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts judged the college's Moot Court Competition, along with three other Federal Appellate Judges. That same semester, Associate Justice John Paul Stevens conducted a "conversation" with the student body, where the law students had an opportunity to ask Justice Stevens questions regarding his past decisions.
A new courtroom facility was completed in 2009. The facility, which was made possible by an additional $2 million donation from the Levin family, is named the Martin Levin Advocacy Center in honor of UF Law alumnus Martin H. Levin (J.D. '88). The facility is 20,000 gross square feet, two stories tall, and includes a state of the art courtroom. The new courtroom is designed to incorporate new technology to allow students to understand the role of technology in modern practice. Construction began on the second phase of the building (the second floor) in the Fall 2010 and was completed in Fall 2011. The second floor will include offices and meeting/seminar rooms.
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)