Stephan Pierre Mickle (June 18, 1944 – January 26, 2021) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida The United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida (in case citations, N.D. Fla.) is a federal court in the Eleventh Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appea ...

Education

Mickle was born in

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New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. In 1965, he received his

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in political science. He was the first Black undergraduate student to graduate from the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

. In 1966, he received his Master of Education from the University of Florida. Additionally, he received his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the Fredric G. Levin College of Law at the University of Florida in 1970. He was the second Black student to graduate from the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law.

Career

Mickle worked briefly as an

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in the Office of Legal Services at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 1970 and in

private practice Private practice may refer to: *Private sector practice **Practice of law In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiati ...

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. He returned to Gainesville in 1971, when he became an adjunct professor at the University of Florida College of Law, a post he still held, and entered private practice as the first

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

lawyer in

Alachua County Alachua County ( ) is a county in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 278,468. The county seat is Gainesville, the home of the University of Florida since 1906, when the campus ope ...

. Mickle was also a special assistant

public defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...

for the Eighth Judicial Circuit in 1974. Mickle was a judge on the Alachua

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from 1979 to 1984 and was a circuit judge in Florida's Eighth Judicial Circuit from 1984 to 1992. He served as a judge of the

Florida First District Court of Appeal The Florida First District Court of Appeal, also known as the First DCA, is headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, the state capital. It is unique among the five Florida District Courts of Appeal in that, much like the U.S. Court of Appeals for th ...

from 1993 to 1998.

Federal judicial service

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Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

nominated Mickle to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida on January 27, 1998, to the seat vacated by Maurice M. Paul.

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by the

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on May 14, 1998, he received commission on May 22, 1998. He served as Chief Judge from 2009 to 2011. He assumed senior status on June 22, 2011. He died on January 26, 2021.

Honors

Mickle was the first Black man to receive the University of Florida's Distinguished Alumnus Award, in 1999. In January 2022, the Alachua County criminal courthouse was renamed for the late Judge, as the Judge Stephen P. Mickle, Sr. Courthouse.

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mickle, Stephan P. 1944 births 2021 deaths University of Florida alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton Judges of the Florida District Courts of Appeal African-American judges Public defenders Lawyers from New York City Florida state court judges 20th-century American judges Fredric G. Levin College of Law alumni 21st-century American judges 21st-century African-American lawyers