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   Talbot D'Alemberte
    850-644-1441
Talbot ("Sandy") D'Alemberte, President Emeritus of The Florida State University, served as President from January 1994 to January 2003. He teaches at the College of Law and in International Affairs at the College of Social Science.

From 1984 to 1989 D'Alemberte served as the fourth dean of the FSU College of Law. He represented Dade County in the Florida House of Representatives from 1966 to 1972 and he chaired several legislative committees including the Judiciary Committee that drafted and passed a major judicial reform constitutional amendment in 1972. During his legislative service he was recognized as the Outstanding First Term member (1967) and, in his last term, named Most Outstanding Member of the House (1972).

After leaving the Florida Legislature, he chaired the Florida Constitution Revision Commission in 1977-1978 and the Florida Commission on Ethics in 1974-75. During his active years of practice, D'Alemberte concentrated on media and public law work and his cases included the proceedings that led to the first rule allowing camera access to courtrooms, service as Chief Counsel in impeachment proceedings against three justices of the Florida Supreme Court, the first litigation involving the Copyright Act of 1976, the representation of the Florida House of Representatives in several constitutional cases, Chief Counsel for a United States Senate Banking Sub-committee investigating HUD and pro bono counsel in four death penalty cases.

D'Alemberte has been involved in human rights work including death penalty post-conviction cases and as the Chair of the Advisory Committee to the Lawyers' Committee on Human Rights (now Human Rights First). He has been on the board of directors of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. He is currently chairing an advisory committee for the ABA Section of Individual Rights project to assess the administration of capital punishment in the United States.

He has been active in the organized bar, serving as President of the American Bar Association (1991-92), President of the American Judicature Society (1982-84) and Chair of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar (1982-83). He chaired several ABA committees including chair of the first dispute resolution committee and the first election reform committee.

Awards D'Alemberte has received include the ABA Medal (2003), the International Bar Association Rule of Law Award (2005), the 2001 Wickersham Award given by the Friends of the Law Library of Congress, the 1996 American Judicature Society's Justice Award for his efforts to improve the administration of justice in the United States, the 1996 National Council of Jewish Women's Hannah G. Soloman Award, the 1993 Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers "Perry Nichols" Award, the 1993 Florida Academy of Criminal Defense Lawyers Annual Criminal Justice Award, the 1990 Jurisprudence Award from the Anti-Defamation League of South Florida, the 1987 Florida Bar Foundation medal of Honor, the 1986 National Sigma Delta Chi First Amendment Award, a National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences "Emmy" in 1985 for his work in open government, particularly in the opening of court proceedings to electronic journalists, the 1984 Florida Civil Liberties Union "Nelson Poynter" Award, and the ABA Section of Legal Education Robert J. Kutak Award and the ABA World Order Under Law Award. In 2005, he was recognized as the Volunteer of the Year by the ABA Central European and Eurasian Law Institute and he was elected Chair of the American Judicature Society in August 2005.

Born June 1, 1933, in Tallahassee, D'Alemberte was educated in public schools in Tallahassee and Chattahoochee, Florida. In 1955, he earned his Bachelor or Arts degree with honors in political science from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, and also attended summer school at FSU and the University of Virginia. After service as a naval officer aboard a destroyer for three years, D'Alemberte studied on a Rotary Foundation fellowship at the London School of Economics and Political Science. In 1962, he received his juris doctor with honors from the University of Florida where he was named to the Order of the Coif, served as president of the student bar association, was captain of the moot court team for two years, served as articles editor of the University of Florida Law Review and received the J. Hillis Miller Award as the outstanding law graduate. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa by the University of Florida chapter.

D'Alemberte has had long family connections with Florida State University. His grandfather attended the Seminary West of the Suwannee and his mother attended the Florida State College for Women, both predecessor institutions to The Florida State University.

He is the father of two grown children, Gabrielle D'Alemberte Powell, a graduate of the University of Denver Law School, now practicing in Miami and Joshua Talbot D'Alemberte, a graduate of his father's alma mater, the University of the South, a school teacher in Coconut Grove, Florida.

D'Alemberte is married to Patsy Palmer, former children's policy coordinator in Florida Governor Lawton Chiles' office. She has worked as a journalist, legislative aide, Governor's staff (Graham and Chiles)and White House staff member (Carter administration). She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri in journalism, a master's degree from the Harvard Divinity School and a master's degree in conflict resolution from Antioch University. She is in law school, now in her third year.

 

 

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