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Fla. Court To Rule: Can A Lawyer Be Undocumented?

VPM | By Greg Allen

Published May 9, 2012 at 7:35 AM EDT

Updated January 11, 2024

Jose Godinez-Samperio, an undocumented immigrant, passed the Florida bar exam in 2011. Now, the bar says it will admit him only with approval from the state Supreme Court.

It sounds like a typical American success story: A young boy becomes an academic standout, an Eagle Scout and high school valedictorian. Later, he attends college and then law school, all on full scholarships.

But Jose Godinez-Samperio’s story is not typical. He’s an undocumented immigrant from Mexico — and now he’s fighting to be admitted to the Florida bar.

Godinez-Samperio was just 9 years old when he came to the U.S. with his parents. They entered the country legally, but overstayed their visas and settled in the Tampa area.

They didn’t have legal papers, but Godinez-Samperio says his parents soon found work and he started going to school.

“After the first year or so, I was doing pretty well, and I got put into advanced classes very quickly,” he says. “By the time I was in middle school, I was already in honors classes.”

In high school, Godinez-Samperio excelled in his advanced placement classes.

Then he began considering what would come next.

Pursuing Law, With Private Scholarships

“It started to hit me, ‘Oh wait, but I might not be able to go to college as easily as I thought,'” Godinez-Samperio recalls thinking. “So that played a big role in me thinking about what I needed to do.”

They say bad cases make bad law. And I think I have a very good case, so I hope it will make good law.

That was when he decided to become a lawyer, Godinez-Samperio says.

Because he is an undocumented immigrant, Godinez-Samperio was unable to apply for financial aid. But he attended New College of Florida and Florida State University College of Law on privately funded scholarships.

At Florida State, Godinez-Samperio began to study under Talbot D’Alemberte, the university’s former president, past president of the American Bar Association, and one of the state’s most distinguished law professors.

D’Alemberte says Godinez-Samperio overcame many obstacles throughout his education. And through it all, he says, Godinez-Samperio was always honest — never misrepresenting his undocumented status.

“Isn’t that the kind of person we want to be a citizen?” D’Alemberte asks. “And isn’t that the kind of person we want to be a lawyer? … I’m very lucky in having a client who is really such a fine young man.”

State Supreme Court To Decide

D’Alemberte is now representing Godinez-Samperio in a case before Florida’s Supreme Court.

The Florida Board of Bar Examiners adopted a policy in 2008 that requires all applicants to offer valid citizenship or immigration papers.

Now 25, Godinez-Samperio received a waiver from the state Board of Bar Examiners to take the bar exam and passed.

But after several months of consideration, the board declined to admit him — instead referring the case to the state Supreme Court.

D’Alemberte argues that the Supreme Court, not the Board of Bar Examiners, determines who qualifies for the bar in Florida, and the court has never ruled on the issue.

“[Godinez-Samperio] complied with all the valid rules,” D’Alemberte says. “He should simply be admitted. And if the court decides to adopt a rule, they ought not to apply it retrospectively against Jose.”

Several organizations and individuals, including three former presidents of the American Bar Association, have filed briefs supporting Godinez-Samperio’s bid to be admitted to the bar.

A Divisive Issue

Thus far, no briefs have been filed by outside groups opposing Godinez-Samperio’s request.

But that doesn’t mean anti-illegal immigration activists have been silent on the issue.

William Gheen, president of the group Americans for Legal Immigration, sees the challenge to Florida’s bar admission requirements as part of a larger movement.

“Illegal immigrants are in Americans’ faces all over the place, saying, ‘I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that, and you’re not going to stop me,’ ” Gheen says.

“And that’s what this guy [Godinez-Samperio] is doing. He’s just the latest — much like the Dream Act amnesty kids who are in the streets blocking traffic,” says Gheen.

Godinez-Samperio supports the Dream Act. He decided while still in high school to become a lawyer, he says, so he could work to change the country’s immigration policies.

But when he began his quest to pass the bar, he says, he never expected to become a test case.

“But now that it happened, I’m actually very glad, because I know this case will impact a lot of people,” Godinez-Samperio says. “They say bad cases make bad law. And I think I have a very good case, so I hope it will make good law.”

While Godinez-Samperio is seeking to be admitted to the Florida bar, two other Mexican immigrants — one in New York and another in California — are pursuing similar cases.

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Greg Allen

As NPR's Miami correspondent, Greg Allen reports on the diverse issues and developments tied to the Southeast. He covers everything from breaking news to economic and political stories to arts and environmental stories. He moved into this role in 2006, after four years as NPR's Midwest correspondent.

Allen was a key part of NPR's coverage of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, providing some of the first reports on the disaster. He was on the front lines of NPR's coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, arriving in New Orleans before the storm arrived and filing on the chaos and flooding that hit the city as the levees broke. Allen's reporting played an important role in NPR's coverage of the aftermath and the rebuilding of New Orleans, as well as in coverage of the BP oil spill which brought new hardships to the Gulf coast.

More recently, he played key roles in NPR's reporting in 2018 on the devastation caused on Florida's panhandle by Hurricane Michael and on the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

As NPR's only correspondent in Florida, Allen covered the dizzying boom and bust of the state's real estate market, as well as the state's important role in the 2008 and 2016 presidential elections. He's produced stories highlighting the state's unique culture and natural beauty, from Miami's Little Havana to the Everglades.

Allen has been with NPR for three decades as an editor, executive producer, and correspondent.

Before moving into reporting, Allen served as the executive producer of NPR's national daily live call-in show, Talk of the Nation. Prior to that, Allen spent a decade at NPR's Morning Edition. As editor and senior editor, he oversaw developing stories and interviews, helped shape the program's editorial direction, and supervised the program's staff.

Before coming to NPR, Allen was a reporter with NPR member station WHYY-FM in Philadelphia from 1987 to 1990. His radio career includes working an independent producer and as a reporter/producer at NPR member station WYSO-FM in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

Allen graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1977, with a B.A. cum laude. He began his career at WXPN-FM as a student, and there he was a host and producer for a weekly folk music program that included interviews, features, and live and recorded music.

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