Morgan & Morgan law firm founder, political activist tapped as FAMU commencement speaker
With graduation season approaching, well-known attorney, businessman and political activist John Morgan — founder of the nationally recognized law firm Morgan & Morgan — will serve “for the people” of Florida A&M University this fall as its commencement speaker in December.
The invitation came from FAMU President Larry Robinson after he saw Morgan give a speech recently, Morgan said.
“To be chosen to get to speak to these students at one of the greatest moments of their life is one of the highest honors that a person can get, because they're going to be celebrating so much,” said Morgan, 66, who lives in Orlando.
“Just to be able to be there with them for that means a great deal to me,” he added.
Morgan, who graduated from the University of Florida’s College of Law in 1983, founded Morgan & Morgan in 1988 to represent clients with cases including personal injury, labor and employment, civil rights and medical malpractice.
The law firm has over 800 attorneys across the country, including FAMU trustee and former chief judge of the 9th Judicial Circuit Belvin Perry Jr., who is currently a personal injury attorney with Morgan & Morgan and has been with the firm since 2014.
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Morgan's FAMU connections
With the firm headquartered in Orlando, FAMU’s College of Law is located across the street from Morgan’s law office, which he says he can always see when he looks outside his window. His wife, Ultima — who is also a lawyer — is a former adjunct professor at the law school.
“We are delighted to welcome John Morgan as our fall 2022 commencement speaker. John has long been a friend of FAMU and is well known for his philanthropy and support of causes that lift up the downtrodden,” Robinson said in a prepared statement.
He referred to Morgan’s financial support of medical marijuana initiatives, where he successfully led a campaign in 2016 after a first attempt failed to have the drug legalized for medical use in Florida.
Robinson also said that Morgan’s “immense contributions” to the initiative is what helped kick off FAMU’s Medical Marijuana Education and Research Initiative (MMERI), which focuses on educating communities of color in Florida about medical marijuana and the consequences of illegal use of marijuana.
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Additionally, Morgan led the campaign behind the $15 per hour wage in Florida to increase the minimum pay of employees, which was approved in 2020. He spent almost $30 million on the minimum wage and medical marijuana initiatives combined, he said.
Previous speakers during FAMU’s commencement ceremonies include former Florida Deputy Health Secretary Shamarial Roberson this summer and St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch as well as Disney Executive Sybil Crum in the spring.
Over 1,300 students graduated from FAMU in spring 2022, followed by about 450 summer graduates. Although the expected number of students graduating this fall are not yet confirmed, the class will come out of the university’s 9,027 total enrollment this semester.
FAMU's fall commencement ceremony will be held at 6 p.m., Friday, Dec. 9 at the Lawson Center on campus.
As Morgan works on preparing his speech, he says he hopes this fall’s graduating class walks away from listening to him saying “I'm ready to change the world.”
Contact Tarah Jean at tjean@tallahassee.com or follow her on twitter @tarahjean_.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Morgan & Morgan law firm founder named FAMU commencement speaker
