While other local media virtually ignored University of West Florida Trustee Chair Rebecca Matthews’s insistence on hiring Lawson Huck Gonzalez (LHG) over the objection of UWF General Counsel Susan Woolf, WUSF and the Orlando Sentinel recently picked up the story, adding more depth to my original reporting. Garrett Shanley of WUSF’s “Fresh Take Florida” contacted me to help with his reporting.
- WUSF reports that Lawson Huck Gonzalez earned millions in contracts when Interim UWF President Manny Diaz ran the Education Department under Gov. Ron DeSantis. Diaz fired Woolf after she requested a discussion and vote by the board of trustees before hiring an outside law firm to assist Matthews and the Harry Roy Membership Committee, also known as the UWF President Search Committee. Shanley reported that at least one firm recommended by Woolf had billing rates half as expensive as LHG.
He also reported that UWF finalized its $100,000 agreement with LHS on Aug. 11 but backdated it to Aug. 1 – the day I reported that Matthews met with Gonzalez and two attorneys from his firm to “discuss the search and next steps.” The UWF employee who fulfilled my public record request for Matthews’ calendar was put on paid leave and has since left the university.
- Per the contract, Gonzalez and his attorneys must attend all committee meetings, present on Florida’s Sunshine Laws and “[ensure] all non-disclosure agreements are executed.” At the search committee’s first public meeting in August, partner Jason Gonzalez offered a brief introduction, while another attorney from his firm gave a three-minute overview of state confidentiality laws. Shanley reported that UWF’s human resources chief spent 13 minutes delivering a more detailed presentation on the same content earlier in the meeting.
Shanley wrote: “Founded in 2023, Lawson Huck Gonzalez has quickly built a lucrative roster of state contracts, collecting $10.5 million in just over two years – including $2.5 million from the Education Department under Diaz. The firm is currently defending Diaz and the state in a pending American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit challenging the 2023 state law banning diversity spending and restricting college curriculum. The Education Department paid a flat $600,000 legal fee to Lawson Huck Gonzalez for that case.”
Read UWF’s conservative makeover: DeSantis-linked firm at center of sudden ouster of top lawyer.
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