Judge Steven Leifman: Professional Background and Legal Expertise

The Hon. Steven Leifman is a judge for the Miami-Dade County Court in Florida.

Leifman was instrumental in creating the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Criminal Mental Health Project, a program that diverts mentally ill individuals from the criminal justice system into treatment centers. He supplements his judicial duties with service as a lecturer in psychiatry at Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and a voluntary assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine. He has also served as a special advisor on criminal justice and mental health to the Florida Supreme Court (2007 to 2010).

Prior to his appointment to the bench, Leifman was a sole practitioner in his own private practice, a law firm he opened in 1997. Before that, he briefly served as a county judge for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida (1995 to 1997).

Leifman earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and government from American University in 1981. He then completed a J.D. at Florida State University College of Law in 1986. He was admitted to the State Bar of Florida in 1987.

After graduating from law school, Leifman began his legal career as an assistant public defender in the Office of the Public Defender for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit. During his tenure there, he rose through the ranks, eventually becoming Acting Chief of the County Court Division.

He is a recipient of the Productive Lives Award from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (2012) and the William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence from Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts (2015).