S P E C I A L
F E A T U R E
by Mike Hooker - Phelps Dunbar LLP
Continued from page 20
wanted to get trial experience. So that’s why I decided to make a
switch, and I got a lot of trials as a prosecutor and was able to get
some public service in.
Q: Was there any particular experience as a private
practitioner that stood out and that you enjoyed the most?
A: I always enjoyed the cases that had some kind of an
international flavor to them, including the one that you and
I worked on with the Germans. And I had a case involving a guy
who was providing television service in Saudi Arabia. Then he got
charged by the religious police for showing pornography —
Charlie’s Angels reruns. [laughs] So any kind of case that had a
little international flair always was interesting to me.
Q: You were appointed to the County bench by Governor
Bush in 2004. When and why did you decide to become a judge?
A: I didn’t have any moment when a bright light turned on.
It seemed like an interesting job to me because as lawyers we were
always specializing in one type of case, and the judges had the
option of doing a lot of different kinds of cases. That interested
me a lot.
Q: I see from your judicial profile that you served in the
Criminal Division when you were on the County Court bench.
Did your prior prosecutorial experience help prepare you for
that role?
A: Because I’d worked at the State Attorney’s Office, in
County Court I was able as a judge to hit the ground running.
I knew all the issues, I knew the lawyers, and it was a pretty easy
transition because of that background.
Continued on page 22
JAN - FEB 2020
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HCBA LAWYER
Judge Barber with his son at University of Florida.
Judge Barber playing the trombone with the
Gator Alumni Band during a UF Homecoming.
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