Judge Gill Freeman

Judicial Profiles
By
Guest Author David C. Miller *

Judge Gill Freeman

Judge Gill Freeman was a new lawyer in 1981 when another associate asked for help with a project for the Miami chapter of relatively young organization called the Florida Association of Women Lawyers (FAWL).   They needed a third person on a panel interviewing two candidates for judge.   One was a woman and one was a man – and the man, Judge Freeman said, was clearly more qualified.   Judge Freeman told her colleagues that FAWL should endorse the better candidate without regard to gender.   Her stand caused a meeting of the board of directors.   The eventual endorsement:   the man.

Judge Freeman presides over the Eleventh Judicial Circuit’s business court, which   opened its doors in January 2007.   A look at her resume shows involvement and leadership in groups such as FAWL (of which she became president), the National Association of Women’s Bar Associations, the Florida Supreme Court Gender Bias Implementation Commission, and others.   Yet, she said, “I’m not limited to women’s issues.”   What issues, then?   “Fairness issues,” she said, noting that she has served on what is now called the Florida Supreme Court’s Standing Committee on Fairness and Diversity since 1996, and as its chair since 1999.

Judge Freeman did not start out wanting to be a judge or even a lawyer.   Her first love was teaching.   Raised on Long Island and in Connecticut, Judge Freeman spent two years at the University of Wisconsin before transferring to Temple University, graduating in 1970.   She married a business school student, who, when charting his career, noted that the three states where the most money was earned and spent were California, Texas, and Florida.   Based on the reasoning that California would someday fall into the ocean, and Texas was a desert, Florida became the destination.

Her husband chose to pursue a degree in law, while Judge Freeman began her teaching career at Miami Northwestern High School.   Judge Freeman was among the very first white teachers at the school, which integrated its faculty the first year she taught.   She taught for the next five and one-half years, earning a Master’s degree in education – guidance counseling, to be specific.   However, there were no counseling jobs to be had when she received her degree.   So, with the encouragement of her husband she decided to enroll in night courses at the University of Miami School of Law.   By teaching during the day and attending class at night, Judge Freeman obtained her J.D. cum laude in 1977, and began her legal career as a commercial litigator at Walton, Lantaff, Schroeder & Carson.

After some years of practice, Judge Freeman began to think about seeking the bench.   Serving as a judge appealed to her partly because, as a judge, “I get to decide,” she said.   “I decided I’d had enough fighting,” she said, and that she was better suited to preside.   In 1997, Governor Lawton Chiles appointed Judge Freeman to a vacant seat on the Circuit Court and she was elected the next year.   She has served in the Criminal, Civil, and Family divisions.

When Chief Judge Joseph Farina let it be known that he was considering the establishment of Business Court in the Circuit, Judge Freeman told him she was interested.   Time passed and then, one day, Judge Farina asked whether she was still interested.   A few days later, she had the job.   “Oh, my God,” she recalled thinking.   “What did I get into?”  

What she got into, besides “a lot of work,” was only the second business court in the state and one of only a few across the country.   The idea was to develop a court division with special expertise and efficiency in handling complex business litigation, litigation that often inordinately tied up judges in general jurisdiction.  

Business court under Judge Freeman is a “judge-driven” court rather than being “lawyer-driven.”   Judge Freeman orders a case management conference early in every matter and, when that conference is over, the lawyers have a discovery plan and trial date.   Judge Freeman has a current caseload of about 350 cases, a number she would like to see go down to about 300.  

 “I have a high percentage of the really complex business cases,” she said.   The cases are complicated, generate a lot of briefing, and a lot of paper.   “Every time you have a hearing, a notebook walks in the door,” she said.

Judge Freeman recommends that lawyers carefully analyze their cases when considering whether to use the Business Court.   The highly structured and memorandum-heavy style of litigation can be more costly in the short run.   She compares the structure to that of the paper-driven federal court litigation.   However, she said, the overall cost of litigating a complex case in Business Court can be lower, because the cases are typically resolved sooner.

Judge Freeman’s most gratifying moments on the bench have come when litigants have realized that she understands their issues because, she said, for the judicial system to work, “people have got to believe that they’re going to get a fair shake.”  

Top 10 Ways To Curry Favor With The Judge

Officer Mike Cotter has served as bailiff in Judge Gill Freeman’s court since her first day as a judge.   On their tenth anniversary, at a celebratory lunch, he presented a document to her that proved his acute powers of courtroom observation. She immediately endorsed it, and this document is posted at the door of her chambers.

10.        Relax … what are the odds that two judges in a row will find you ‘in contempt’?

9.          Never take responsibility for doing anything wrong … that’s what secretaries are for.

8.          Pre-trial and mediation orders are only invitations and don’t need to be complied with unless convenient.

7.          If all else fails … threaten the court with an appeal … that’ll intimidate ‘em!

6.          No need to really know your case … the judge admires attorneys who ‘wing it’.

5.          Keep repeating your point … the court didn’t ‘get it’ the first 5 times and will finally give in.

4.          Push the envelope … judges will appreciate you expanding their tolerance limits.

3.          The hearing time is only a suggestion … get there whenever you feel like it.

2.          It’s perfectly ok to refer to your secretary as ‘my girl’.

1.          Never hesitate to interrupt the judge … after all, your point is more important.