Full Name
Chief Judge Kevin Emas
Job Title
Chief Judge
Company
Third District Court of Appeal
Speaker Bio
Chief Judge Kevin Emas has the distinction of being appointed to the judiciary by three different Governors. Governor Lawton Chiles appointed Judge Emas to the Miami-Dade County Court in 1996. Five years later, Governor Jeb Bush appointed Judge Emas to the Circuit Court. On November 24, 2010, Governor Charlie Crist appointed Judge Emas to the Third District Court of Appeal.
As a member of the trial court bench, Judge Emas served in the Civil, Criminal, Domestic Violence, and Family Divisions. Prior to taking the bench, Judge Emas was an assistant public defender, a partner with Fine Jacobson Schwartz Nash Block & England, and a partner with the law firm of Thornton, Rothman & Emas.
Judge Emas has always been dedicated to legal education at all levels. For more than 20 years, Judge Emas has been a faculty member of the Florida Judicial College, teaching newly elected and newly appointed trial and appellate judges prior to their taking the bench. He has taught at numerous statewide judicial conferences, and has served as a Faculty Chair for Florida’s College of Advanced Judicial Studies. For ten years, Judge Emas taught the “Handling Capital Cases” course, an educational program Florida judges must complete before becoming eligible to preside over a death penalty case. Judge Emas also served as a faculty member of the National Judicial College, where he taught death penalty courses to civilian and military judges from across the United States.
As an adjunct faculty member of the University of Miami Law School and Florida International University College of Law, Judge Emas teaches in the Litigation Skills Program. He has coached mock trial teams at local high schools and serves as a mentor in the Justice Teaching program, helping organize Law Week presentations at elementary, middle and high schools in Miami.
Judge Emas currently serves as a member of the Judicial Qualifications Commission, an independent constitutional state agency charged with investigating allegations of judicial misconduct against Florida state court judges.
Judge Emas received his J.D. (cum laude) from the University of Miami School of Law, where he served as an editor of the University of Miami Law Review. Judge Emas received his B.A. (with honors) from the University of Florida, where he was inducted into Florida Blue Key.
Judge Emas lives in Kendall with his wife, Marilyn and they have three children-- Rachel, Erica and Sam.
As a member of the trial court bench, Judge Emas served in the Civil, Criminal, Domestic Violence, and Family Divisions. Prior to taking the bench, Judge Emas was an assistant public defender, a partner with Fine Jacobson Schwartz Nash Block & England, and a partner with the law firm of Thornton, Rothman & Emas.
Judge Emas has always been dedicated to legal education at all levels. For more than 20 years, Judge Emas has been a faculty member of the Florida Judicial College, teaching newly elected and newly appointed trial and appellate judges prior to their taking the bench. He has taught at numerous statewide judicial conferences, and has served as a Faculty Chair for Florida’s College of Advanced Judicial Studies. For ten years, Judge Emas taught the “Handling Capital Cases” course, an educational program Florida judges must complete before becoming eligible to preside over a death penalty case. Judge Emas also served as a faculty member of the National Judicial College, where he taught death penalty courses to civilian and military judges from across the United States.
As an adjunct faculty member of the University of Miami Law School and Florida International University College of Law, Judge Emas teaches in the Litigation Skills Program. He has coached mock trial teams at local high schools and serves as a mentor in the Justice Teaching program, helping organize Law Week presentations at elementary, middle and high schools in Miami.
Judge Emas currently serves as a member of the Judicial Qualifications Commission, an independent constitutional state agency charged with investigating allegations of judicial misconduct against Florida state court judges.
Judge Emas received his J.D. (cum laude) from the University of Miami School of Law, where he served as an editor of the University of Miami Law Review. Judge Emas received his B.A. (with honors) from the University of Florida, where he was inducted into Florida Blue Key.
Judge Emas lives in Kendall with his wife, Marilyn and they have three children-- Rachel, Erica and Sam.
Speaking At
Legal Professionalism
