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Professor Mitchell recalls Bishop Hollifield’s advocacy in restoring FAMU College of Law
Summary
On Legal Connections, Professor Mitchell described how Bishop Hollifield, a Harvard Law graduate and university general counsel, campaigned to win support from the Florida Bar, the Florida Board of Bar Examiners and other stakeholders that helped return the FAMU College of Law after its 1968 closure.
Professor Mitchell told listeners on Legal Connections that Bishop Hollifield played a central, behind-the-scenes role in persuading organizations and officials to support the return of the Florida A&M University College of Law, which had been closed by the board of control in 1968 and was reestablished near the end of President Dr. Frederick Humphre’s tenure around 2000.
"He tapped him to say, ‘you're going to make the case for me to get the return of the [FAMU] College of Law,'" Mitchell said, describing Hollifield as one of the few senior administrators President Humphre kept on staff and as a Harvard Law graduate who served as the university’s first general counsel under Dr. Walter Smith.
Mitchell said Hollifield’s advocacy extended beyond legal argument; he repeatedly made the case to the Florida Bar, the Florida Board of Bar Examiners, the National Bar Association and alumni groups that could influence the law school's reinstatement. "Anybody that would listen, alumni, and made the case for us to get the law school returned," Mitchell said.
Mitchell also credited Hollifield with important athletic-administration work that helped raise FAMU’s profile. He recounted that Hollifield appealed to the NCAA to secure Division 1A status and eligibility for the playoff system, work Mitchell linked to FAMU’s 1978 national-championship recognition.
Speaking from personal experience, Mitchell described meeting Hollifield as a young student and later working in the general counsel’s office. "He wasn't a faculty member, but he was definitely a teacher," Mitchell said, calling Hollifield a mentor who "always looked out for everybody in the office and made it a great place to work and a great place to learn."
Mitchell said the law school’s board of trustees recognized Hollifield’s decades of advocacy when Chair Devon Given presented him with the board’s first chairman’s award and placed his portrait at the College of Law. According to Mitchell, Given told him the award responded to a sense that Hollifield and other outstanding alumni had been overlooked.
Mitchell closed by highlighting lesser-known aspects of Hollifield’s biography that shaped his commitment to legal education: early admission to FAMU from high school, rigorous coursework under university leaders, and a campus record of academic distinction. He also recounted a childhood civil-rights protest in Tallahassee that led, by one vote, to integration of the Dade Street Community Center pool and said Hollifield went on to co‑found the Black Law Students Association at Harvard Law School.
The interview concluded with the host thanking Mitchell for sharing the history and the program noting that the university’s story of rebuilding the law school included "unsung heroes" such as Hollifield.
