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2025 Alumni Award Recipients

University of Florida Levin College of Law is thrilled to announce the 2025 UF Law Alumni Awards recipients. These awards honor distinguished Gator lawyers who exemplify the highest standards of leadership, service, and professional excellence. Learn more about each of them below.

Outstanding Public Service Award

Judge Patricia Barksdale (JD 96)

Judge Patricia Barksdale

Nominated to serve by President Barack Obama, Judge Barksdale was appointed federal magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida and has served on that court since 2013. She also served as law clerk to U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan and U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Emmett Cox. Prior to the courts, she was Counsel to CSX Transportation. Judge Barksdale earned her B.A. and J.D. from UF, and serves as a member of the Law Center Association.

Timothy “Tim” Cerio (JD 95)

Timothy Cerio

Cerio is the President, CEO, and Executive Director of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. He previously served as General Counsel to Florida Governor Rick Scott. In addition, Cerio was appointed to the State University System Board of Governors in 2017, and was appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis to the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission. He was also a member of the Florida Constitution Revision Commission. Cerio earned his B.A. and J.D. from UF, where he serves as a member of the Law Center Association.

UF Law Distinguished Service Award

Gerald “Gerry” Rosenthal ( JD 73)

Gerald Rosenthal

Rosenthal served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam and with the Florida National Guard before returning to UF to earn his J.D. in 1973. He is the Founder of Rosenthal, Levy, Simon & Sosa Attorneys at Law, and is one of the most respected workers’ compensation lawyers in the U.S. He has supported UF Law with major gifts, establishing the Gerald A. Rosenthal Chair in Labor and Employment Law in 2017, and in 2024, the Gerald A. Rosenthal Director’s Endowment for the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Clinic.

Ellen Bellet Gelberg (JD 76, LLMT 77)

Ellen Bellet Gelberg

After earning her J.D. and LL.M. in Tax from UF Law, Gelberg went on to become partner of the Miami law firm Lamont Neiman Interian & Bellet, P.A. In 2008, she established the annual Ellen Bellet Gelberg Tax Policy Lecture Series at UF Law, bringing prestigious lecturers in tax policy to visit with students and faculty on campus to foster dialogue and debate about current tax policy issues.

Outstanding Recent Alumni Award

Jennifer Dweck (JD 17)

Jennifer Dweck

Dweck is a finance associate in the New York office of Latham & Watkins, and is a member of the Banking Practice with a particular focus on acquisition financings. She holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan, and earned her J.D. from UF Law, where she also serves on the Law Alumni Council, volunteers her time to mentor students, and has taught as a compressed course instructor.

Iesha Nunes (JD 16)

Iesha Nunes

Nunes is an associate at White & Case LLP. She represents multinational technology companies in international disputes and advises on global regulatory developments that impact their businesses and products. Her practice focuses on issues such as data protection, privacy, and security. She previously served as a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck. A triple Gator, Nunes earned two bachelor’s degrees and her J.D. from UF.

Outstanding Alumni Award

Gregorio “Greg” Francis (JD 94)

Gregorio Francis

Francis earned his B.A. and J.D., where he was a Virgil Hawkins Fellow, at UF. After forming his own firm, Osborne & Francis, in 2018, he went on to lead the In Re Black Farmers Discrimination case, one of the nation’s most notable class action cases, which resulted in a $1.25 billion dollar settlement for black farmers and their descendants. In 2020, Francis helped launch the HBCU Pathway to Law Endowed Scholarship program at UF Law.

Pedro Martin (JD 78)

Pedro Martin

Martin co-founded Terra in 2001 and has since grown it into a leading South Florida real estate firm with a $5 billion portfolio, earning recognition such as the AIA’s Developer of the Year Award. His career has focused on transforming key neighborhoods through community-focused development, drawing on his background in engineering, law, and business. In addition to his professional achievements, Martin is a dedicated civic leader and philanthropist, supporting major cultural and educational institutions in the region. Martin received his B.S.I.E and J.D. from the University of Florida.

Past, Present, & Future Awards Ceremony Details

Published: May 5th, 2025

Category: News

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The Florida Constitutional Law Endowment in memory of Justice Ben F. Overton was created by Judge Karen Miller in 2013. This fund supports lectures and presentations by Justices of the Florida Supreme Court at the Fredric G. Levin College of Law.

HISTORY

Justice Overton, who earned his B.S. in 1951 and his Juris Doctor in 1952 from the University of Florida, was the first merit appointment to the Florida Supreme Court. Throughout his career he was active in legal education and served as an Adjunct Professor at the Levin College of Law through December 2012, the month of his death. Although he resided at Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, a continuing care retirement community developed in cooperation with UF, he also considered the Florida Supreme Court “home.” Among the high points of his later years was hosting Justices of the Florida Supreme Court in Gainesville and taking his class to Tallahassee to hear oral arguments at the Florida Supreme Court.
Judge Miller, who earned her B.S. cum laude from New York University in 1974 and her Juris Doctor from New York Law School in 1977, served as Chief Administrative Law Judge of the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, New York City’s business regulatory agency, before she retired to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida. Having accompanied Justice Overton on his excursions to Tallahassee and joined him in welcoming guests to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, she created the endowment in memory of Justice Overton to ensure that the Levin College of Law continues to have the funding necessary to continue and enhance the interaction between its students and the Florida Supreme Court.

 

Judge Miller remembered the event that motivated the endowment.

 

Prior to a dinner at the home of Dean Robert Jerry and Lisa Jerry shortly after Justice Overton’s death, Justice Barbara Pariente and I were discussing a suitable memorial. Justice Pariente, who had been Justice Overton’s colleague on the Florida Supreme Court and who understood the importance to him of the interaction between his students and the Court, suggested the outline of what has become the Overton lectures. Dean Jerry, who has since retired, as has Dean Emeritus Jon Mills, who assumed responsibility for implementing the Overton lectures, were very supportive from the beginning. Since Dean Mills’ retirement, Professor Timothy McClendon, who assisted both Justice Overton and Dean Mills teaching Florida Constitutional Law and who co-authored the recent Florida Constitutional Law casebook, has continued the Overton lectures with the support of Interim Dean Merritt McAlister and CGR director, Professor Danaya Wright.

Justice Overton was a devoted jurist, educator, and ethical leader of the Florida legal profession. The Overton Lecture Series brings Florida Supreme Court Justices to the University of Florida, Levin College of Law, and serves to introduce students to the inner workings of the Court. CGR and the students of the College of Law extend our deepest gratitude to Judge Karen Miller for making the Overton Lectures possible in perpetuity.

You can watch an interview for the Florida Historical Society by Mary Adkins, professor emeritus of the UF Levin College of Law, with Justice Overton here.

Justice Overton was also interviewed for the Samuel Proctor Oral History Project and a transcript of his interview is available at the Smathers Library, and here.
Justice Overton sat on the Constitution Revision Commission of 1977-78 that proposed a right to privacy in the Florida Constitution. Although it failed as part of the Constitution Revision Commission recommendations, it passed in 1980 when proposed by the legislature. The bill was co-sponsored by our very own Jon Mills. The privacy provision prevailed by greater than 60%. Justice Overton then wrote a concurrence in a critical reproductive rights case in 1989 affirming that the privacy provision of the Florida Constitution included the right to obtain an abortion. That decision was overruled in Planned Parenthood of SW and Central Florida v. Florida. You can read about the role of Justice Overton, Jon Mills – director emeritus of CGR, and the history of the 1989 case here.