This Month in Key West

November has remained busy for Leesfield & Partners in Key West events. 

Over the weekend in the Keys, Leesfield & Partners attorneys Justin B. Shapiro, Carlos A. Fabano and Evan Robinson attended the career celebration and retirement party for 16th Judicial Circuit Judge Luis Garcia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Judge Garcia served with distinction in Monroe County for over 18 years,” said the firm’s Founder and Managing Partner, Ira Leesfield. “We congratulate him on this milestone and are happy we could participate in sponsoring the event to celebrate him.” 

His retirement from the bench marks him as one of the Florida Keys’ longest-sitting judges. Judge Garcia has held this position since he was appointed to the Monroe County Circuit Court by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in October 2000. Since he was elected to the position in 2002, he has run unopposed. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis sent in June 2024, Judge Garcia said the last 24 years as a Monroe County Circuit Judge have been “the greatest honor and privilege” of his life.  

“I am grateful to the citizens of the Florida Keys for having allowed me to represent them in this position since my appointment in October of 2000,” he said in the letter. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 38th Monroe County Bar Association CLE Luncheon Sponsored by Leesfield & Partners

On Wednesday, Nov. 6, the annual Monroe County Bar Association’s CLE Luncheon sponsored by Leesfield & Partners will take place at First Flight Island Restaurant and Brewery. The luncheon is complementary and will feature a talk from guest speaker, the Honorable Edwin A. Scales III, a judge from the Third District Court of Appeals. The luncheon has been a long-standing tradition in Key West, attracting some of the area’s most-celebrated and lauded legal professionals for the last 38 years. 

This year’s event is sold out with an even larger crowd than what was expected on the CLE event’s original scheduling on Oct. 9, which had to be rescheduled due to Hurricane Milton, a storm that barreled through Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 3 Hurricane. Due to the uncertain danger as the storm approached, Mr. Leesfield and officials from the Monroe County Bar Association made the difficult decision to postpone the event. 

In the storm’s wake, Mr. Leesfield has contributed to supporting victims of Hurricane Milton across the state via his charitable organization, The Leesfield Family Foundation. Historically, The Leesfield Family Foundation has stepped up to provide disaster relief for those displaced by natural disasters. In the past, The Leesfield Family Foundation has contributed to organizations dedicated to providing relief efforts to storm victims in Houston and Louisiana as well as to victims of the tragic Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, which ended in the deaths of at least 49 people and the injury of more than a dozen others in 2016.

This Thanksgiving, The Leesfield Family Foundation will also contribute to Key West food banks. 

The Dexter Butler Scholarship

In the coming months, Leesfield & Partners and the Leesfield Family Foundation will announce the launch of the Dexter Butler Scholarship, a college scholarship in honor of a beloved Key West High School teacher and basketball coach who died in March 2024. The scholarship will be officially announced at a KWHS basketball home game and will go to a member of the basketball team to help pay for college. The $5,000 scholarship was originated out of a desire to keep alive the example of hard work, helpfulness and kindness that Dexter Butler displayed for his students. 

Applicants must be a KWHS basketball player going to college, have at least a 2.5 GPA and have completed at least 100 community service hours as well as submit a short essay explaining how they live out the example of Dexter Butler in their everyday lives. 

“I have known the Butler family for my entire 45 years working in Key West,” Mr. Leesfield said previously about the Butlers and the scholarship. “There is no finer family in the community who has done more for high school athletic programs. Dexter Butler was a true role model.”