C. Alan Lawson
Charles Alan Lawson, known professionally as Alan Lawson, (born May 12, 1961) is an attorney and jurist from Florida. He has served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Florida since 2016, when he was appointed by Governor Rick Scott. He previously was a judge on the Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal. Biography. Early life and education. Lawson was born on May 12, 1961, in Lakeland, Florida. He received an Associate of Arts degree, summa cum laude, in 1981 from Tallahassee Community College. He received a Bachelor of Science degree, summa cum laude, in 1983  from Clemson University. He received a Juris Doctor, Order of the Coif and summa cum laude, in 1987 from Florida State University College of Law. Career. He served as an associate and partner at the law firm of Steel Hector & Davis, Miami and Tallahassee, Florida, from 1987 to 1995. He served as general counsel at Verses Wear, Inc., in 1996. He served as an Assistant County Attorney, Orange County, Florida, from 1997 to 2001. He served as a Judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, from 2002 to 2005. He served as a Judge of the Florida Fifth  District Court of Appeal from 2005 to 2016 and served as Chief Judge of that Court from 2015 to 2016. Florida Supreme Court service. On December 16, 2016, Governor Rick Scott appointed Lawson to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida, to the seat vacated by Justice James E. C. Perry, who retired on December 30, 2016. He was previously nominated by the Florida Judicial Nominating Commission. His appointment became effective on December 31, 2016. Lawson was retained for a full six year term on November 6, 2018. He will face additional retention elections on November 5 , 2024 and November 5, 2030. If he is retained he would be able to serve until May 12, 2036, his seventy-fifth birthday. Lawson previously would have been required to retire on his seventieth birthday, but due to the passage of Florida Amendment 6 concurrently with Lawson's retention, the mandatory retirement age for Florida Judges was raised to seventy-five.