Jim Rosica
The head of the state’s child-advocate program has made the final cut to become a north Florida circuit judge.
The 2nd Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission announced that Alan Abramowitz and five others had been recommended to Gov. Rick Scott to fill a slot being vacated by current Judge George Reynolds III. He sits in Tallahassee.
Abramowitz, executive director of the Statewide Guardian ad Litem (GAL) Office, has applied before for an circuit judge opening in the 2nd Judicial Circuit.
This time, though, he’s a finalist.
Guardians ad litem represent the interests of children in court proceedings, especially in divorce and juvenile dependency matters. A guardian also will be named if a child is involved in or witness to a crime.
Abramowitz previously was chief legal counsel for the Department of Children and Families’ Central Florida area.
He also served as assistant general counsel for the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, and has been an assistant state attorney and assistant public defender in Florida.
Abramowitz “volunteered for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Kenya in 1994 and served in the Peace Corps in Thailand from 1990 to 1992,” his bio says.
He has a law degree from Florida State University, a master’s in public administration and sociology and a bachelor’s in psychology from Kansas State University, where he played football for the Kansas State Wildcats.
He and his wife, Jodi, have two children.
Among their many duties, circuit judges may handle felonies, civil matters worth more than $15,000, juvenile and estate cases.
The governor now has 60 days to make the appointment. Among the other finalists are:
- Eddie Evans, a longtime assistant state attorney (prosecutor) in Tallahassee,
- Robert E. Long Jr., general counsel for the Leon County Sheriff’s Office,
- Drew Parker, CFO Jeff Atwater‘s general counsel;
- Halley Stephens, a former assistant attorney general and now a medical malpractice and insurance defense lawyer in Tallahassee, and
- Amanda Wall, a Leon County administrative magistrate.
