Notable Alumni

Former Executive Director

A native Floridian, Marcia K. Cypen was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and raised in Miami. She came from a family of lawyers--her father, uncle, and three cousins all practiced law together. Yet she was a child of the sixties with a passion for social justice, not private practice. She found her home at Legal Services of Greater Miami, Inc. in the summer of 1974 after her first year of law school, when Legal Services was only eight years old. Marcia devoted her professional career to Legal Services for more than 40 years until she retired as Executive Director in 2017. She now serves as Executive Director Emeritus and continues to provide leadership for the organization.

Former Staff Attorney

Bruce Rogow, the Founding Professor of Nova Southeastern University Law Center in Fort Lauderdale, began his Florida career as one of the original staff lawyers with Legal Services of Greater Miami in 1966. Rogow came to Legal Services of Greater Miami from Mississippi where, for two years, he was staff counsel for the Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee in Jackson, Mississippi, representing civil rights workers in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. Rogow became the Assistant Director of Legal Services of Greater Miami and, along with its talented group of young lawyers, created a law office known both for representation of individuals and for “law reform.”

Former Staff Attorney

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.Gwendolyn Sawyer Cherry was born in Miami, Florida in 1923. Gwendolyn was a member of the first group of staff attorneys who initially served at Legal Services of Greater Miami in 1966. She was the first Black woman to pass the Florida Bar exam. A true trailblazer, Gwendolyn was Miami-Dade County's first Black female attorney and the first African American woman elected to the Florida House of Representatives. She served four terms advocating for and introducing legislation on behalf of women and minorities before her untimely death in 1979.