Cynthia Irvin

After earning my law degree from University of Florida College of Law with Honors I worked as a public interest attorney in northeast Florida for the span of my legal career. 

I began practice as an Assistant State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit in Jacksonville, Florida where I prosecuted misdemeanor, felony, and juvenile dependency cases. I subsequently served as an Assistant General for the City of Jacksonville in the tort litigation division where I litigated personal injury, insurance defense, and municipal civil service cases. I also served in various roles at Gaurdian Ad Litem Office in the representation of the best interest of abused, neglected, and abandoned children in dependency court proceedings.   

Subsequently, I spent the next 12 years of my legal career as a Professor of Clinical Skills at Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville where I continued to practice in the area of public interest while teaching and mentoring students.  My primary role as a law professor at Florida Coastal was to serve as director and supervising attorney of the Family Law Clinic where I litigated family, delinquency, dependency, and probate cases for indigent clients while supervising law students as they representated clinic clients and teaching them how to practice law.  In addition to my clinic work I taught substantive courses including Criminal Law, Pretrial Litigation Drafting, and Juvenile Justice Administration.  During my last four years at Florida Coastal, I transitioned from clinical teaching into law school administration, serving as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs where I worked with the President and Dean to manage the school’s program of academic instruction. In this role, my primary responsibilities centered on maintaining compliance with accreditation bodies and oversight agencies, and ensuring academic rigor, professionalism, and integrity within the student body.

My professional experiences have brought me full circle: I began my career as a public interest attorney where I engaged in public service until my transition into legal academia. There, I continued to serve legal clients as a law professor while developing an additonal area of legal expertise in higher education law and compliance.  My broad range of substantive experience as well as the relationships I have developed in the legal community during my 18 year legal career enhance the level and range of service that I am able to provide my clients as a private practitioner.  

In addition to the above professional experience, I manage personal investment property and recently obtained my Florida Real Estate License.  In my spare time. I also enjoy reading, travel, the beach, and spending time with my family, friends and collie/sheppard mix.