Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte dedicated his long career as a lawyer and educator to championing the rule of law and defending and expanding civil and human rights in this country and around the world.
Born in Tallahassee and reared in Chattahoochee, D’Alemberte (1933-2019) was acutely aware of the contrast between the segregated society of his childhood and the actions of his hero Mahatma Gandhi and U.S. civil rights pioneers. At the age of 15, he decided he wanted to use his life to help make things better.
He went on to practice law for 57 years, and to serve as a member of the Florida House of Representatives, chair of Florida’s Constitution Revision Commission, dean of the Florida State University (FSU) College of Law, president of the American Bar Association (ABA), and president of FSU. In each post, he made significant advancements in the rule of law.
A noted First Amendment lawyer, D’Alemberte led the successful effort to establish Florida as the first state to allow television cameras in courtrooms, so the public could watch civil and criminal trials and appellate arguments. He also accepted numerous pro bono cases, including: serving as co-counsel with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in the death penalty case Barclay v. Florida (1983); taking two cases to the U.S. Supreme Court, including Herrera v. Collins (1993), where he unsuccessfully argued that a claim of actual innocence was grounds for relief from a death sentence; and winning compensation from the Florida Legislature for two men who had been wrongly convicted and imprisoned for 22 and 27 years before being freed when DNA evidence exonerated them.
Such experiences convinced D’Alemberte that the death penalty is imposed randomly, and primarily on poor people and minorities. In 2003, he helped found the Innocence Project of Florida.
D’Alemberte took to heart these words from the Oath of Admission to The Florida Bar: “I will never reject, from any consideration personal to myself, the cause of the defenseless or oppressed. . . ” As dean of the FSU Law School (1984-89), D’Alemberte instituted a pro bono requirement for graduation so law students could live out those words. He later unsuccessfully pushed the Florida Supreme Court to require all licensed lawyers to provide pro bono service.
Two events helped inspire D’Alemberte’s agenda as president of the ABA (1991-92). The arrest and brutal police beating of Rodney King, a Black man, led to establishment of the ABA Task Force on Minorities; D’Alemberte charged the group “to examine the problems of racial and ethnic inequality in our justice system and identify practical steps to stop this.” The break-up of the Soviet Union sparked creation of the Central & East European Law Initiative (CEELI), in which thousands of Americans lawyers and judges worked without pay to help the emerging democracies build constitutions, independent judiciaries, and legal systems; The Wall Street Journal called CEELI “a Peace Corps for lawyers.”
Among his accomplishments as 12th president of FSU, D’Alemberte established the College of Medicine, with a goal of producing doctors who would work in medically underserved areas, and the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights. The University website says D’Alemberte “was known for his integrity, broad vision and human warmth.”
He received many awards; among them, an Emmy from the American Academy of Television Arts & Science for his work to bring cameras into Florida courts; the Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award for “extraordinary contributions in ensuring the availability of legal services to the poor”; the ABA medal for “conspicuous service to the cause of American jurisprudence”; and the International Bar Association’s Rule of Law Award for “significant and lasting contribution to upholding the rule of law worldwide.”
D’Alemberte earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of the South (1955), served in the U.S. Navy (1955-58), did graduate study at the London School of Economics (1958-59), and received his law degree from the University of Florida (1962). He continued to teach and practice law until his death at the age of 85 in May 2019; that spring, he had taught State Constitutional Law and International Human Rights Law, while also arguing a First Amendment appeal pro bono.
After his death, former NAACP Legal Defense Fund President Elaine Jones paid tribute to D’Alemberte, saying, “Sandy D’Alemberte cared deeply about justice for ‘the least of these.’ . . . His memory will be cherished.”
