Bernard Perlmutter, with Whitney Untiedt, chair-elect of the Public Interest Section of The Florida Bar

UM News

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (June 29, 2017)—For the second time in his career, Miami Law’s Bernard Perlmutter, a longtime champion of Florida’s most vulnerable children, has received The Florida Bar’s Honorable Hugh S. Glickstein Child Advocacy Award for his many contributions to child law.

“Professor Perlmutter has been at the forefront of advocating for children’s rights for decades, and Florida’s most vulnerable children have benefitted greatly from his work,” the bar said in announcing the award bestowed by its Children’s Rights Committee of the Public Interest Law Section.

A professor of clinical legal education who 20 years ago founded and co-directs Miami Law’s Children & Youth Law Clinic, Perlmutter has represented thousands of abused, abandoned and neglected children, taught countless students to be their advocates, and helped advance and protect child rights by litigating numerous federal and state court class action lawsuits seeking reform of Florida’s foster care system. He was involved in the landmark Florida Supreme Court case that established due process protections, including the right to an attorney and a pre-commitment hearing, for foster children committed by the state to psychiatric facilities.

He’s also been involved in cases challenging the death penalty for juvenile defendants and the shackling of children in juvenile court, and for protecting children’s medical privacy rights in juvenile and family court hearings.

A member of the Florida Bar Commission on the Legal Needs of Children, he has served on the boards of directors of Florida’s Children First, the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, the National Association of Counsel for Children Law Office Project Advisory Board, among others.

In addition to the Glickstein Award, which Perlmutter received in 2002, he has received many other honors for his advocacy, including the National Association of Counsel for Children’s Outstanding Legal Advocacy Award, the Clinical Legal Education Association’s Award for Excellence in a Public Interest Law Case or Project, the C. Clyde Atkins Civil Liberties Award from the Greater Miami Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the inaugural Miami-Dade County Children’s Trust Champion for Children Award, and the Mental Health Advocate of the Year Award from the Florida Statewide Advocacy Council.