H. Scott Fingerhut |

Bio

Now in his 32nd year as a trial lawyer and 21st year of full-time law teaching, H. SCOTT FINGERHUT devotes himself in court to criminal defense, trial and appeal, and representing applicants seeking admission before the Florida Board of Bar Examiners and lawyers facing Florida Bar discipline. Rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell, Scott is consistently ranked among the region’s top criminal defense lawyers, including The Best Lawyers in America.

On campus, Professor Fingerhut is a three-time Professor of the Year and two-time Pioneer Award winner at FIU College of Law in Miami, where he teaches Trial Advocacy, Criminal and Civil Pretrial Practice, and Criminal Procedure. By Dean’s appointment, Professor Fingerhut is also a Fellow of The Honors College at FIU, where he teaches two yearlong upper-level, undergraduate, pre-law seminars, Observing Ourselves: A Legal Primer for Life After Honors, and The Gathering: Great Discussions About Contemporary Law in My America.

Beyond the courthouse and campus, Scott has had the distinction of twice serving as chair of The Florida Bar Criminal Procedure Rules Committee, and has also served as chair of the Criminal Law Section of the Bar.

Currently he is a member of The Bar’s Professional Ethics Committee, the Code & Rules of Evidence Committee, and the Criminal Law Section Executive Council, also serving as the Criminal Law Section CLE chair. In addition, Scott is a member of a State of Florida Eleventh Judicial Circuit Professionalism Panel, and most recently he has been selected to serve as a subject matter expert by the Florida Board of Bar Examiners for its Practice Analysis Panel, which is tasked with revamping the Florida Bar examination.

Professor Fingerhut has chaired the Dade County Bar Association Criminal Court Committee, served as president of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers-Miami Chapter (FACDL-Miami), and was the Dade County Bar Designee to the Miami-Dade County Mayor’s Mental Health Task Force.

He has also served as a member of The Florida Bar Committee to Study the Decline in Jury Trials, The Bar’s Committee on Student Education and Admission to the Bar, The Florida Supreme Court Criminal Court Steering Committee Workgroup on Post-Conviction Relief, the Editorial Board of The Florida Bar Journal and Florida Bar News, and, by appointment of the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, the Florida Innocence Commission.

A frequent writer, lecturer, and legal commentator on ethics, liberty, and justice matters, Professor Fingerhut’s co-authored chapter, “Conflicts of Interest and Other Pitfalls for the Expert Witness,” has been twice published in Springer Publishing’s Handbook of Forensic Neuropsychology. Released in 2016 from LexisNexis is Professor Fingerhut’s Practice Guide, Florida DUI Law, which he co-authors with the extraordinary Robert S. Reiff. And most recently, Professor Fingerhut has been invited to present to lawyers across Florida – including the federal judiciary of the Eleventh Circuit -- on the need for the legal profession to save its soul and “take back truth” in an age of literal truthiness.

Scott received his undergraduate degree in American Government and Music from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and his law degree from Emory University in Atlanta, where he proudly hosted the Law Follies. Before entering private practice, he served as a prosecutor in Janet Reno’s Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office.

He is the recipient of the “Put Something Back” Pro Bono Award from the Dade County Bar, the Daniel S. Pearson-Harry W. Prebish Founders Award from FACDL-Miami, and the Steven M. Goldstein Criminal Justice Award from FACDL Statewide.

Six times Professor Fingerhut has been selected by the FIU College of Law graduating class to hood them at Commencement. And in 2019, the graduates chose him to deliver their inaugural “Last Lecture.”

H. Scott Fingerhut

Find Featured Recipients

Attorney Acceptance Form

Attorney Login