Salesia Smith-Gordon donates $200,000 to FSU Law

Salesia V. Smith-Gordon of West Palm Beach has made a $200,000 gift to the Florida State University College of Law, the first Black alumna to make a donation this large.

In honor of the gift, Smith-Gordon will have her portrait installed in the FSU Law Rotunda in September.

The $200,000 endowed gift will be used to support cultural diversity programs and scholarships for Black law students who will attend FSU College of Law for years to come.

“I have benefited greatly from the education I received while a student at FSU Law and opportunities as an alumna,” said Smith-Gordon, a personal injury trial attorney and legal analyst on Dan Abram’s Law & Crime Network. “As an African American female lawyer, I felt it was of the utmost importance to find a way to help ensure that Black students, especially women, had the support and resources needed for academic success.”

Smith-Gordon’s portrait will be unveiled September 29 at 3 p.m. She will be the first Black law alumna to grace the walls of the FSU Law Rotunda.

Smith-Gordon’s mother, Jeraldine Williams (Smith), is a 1981 FSU Law graduate, making the pair the first mother-daughter duo to graduate from FSU’s College of Law.

“I couldn’t think of a better way to end my tenure as president of the FSU College of Law’s Black Alumni Network than to give back in such a meaningful way,” Smith-Gordon said.

A life member of the National Bar Association, a Florida Justice Association Eagle, and an ABA Fellow, Smith-Gordon serves the profession in a myriad of ways, including co-founding and serving as inaugural president of the FSU College of Law Black Alumni Network.