Randall Challen Berg Jr. (January 17, 1949 – April 10, 2019) was an American attorney.

Biography

Berg was born to Randall Challen Berg and Margaret Baker Berg. He spent most of his childhood in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

, graduating from Robert E. Lee High School in 1967. He attended the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

, graduating in 1971 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in political science with a minor in English. He served three years in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

, stationed out of Treasure Island, California, achieving the rank of

lieutenant junior grade Lieutenant junior grade is a junior commissioned officer rank used in a number of navies. United States Lieutenant (junior grade), commonly abbreviated as LTJG or, historically, Lt. (j.g.) (as well as variants of both abbreviations), i ...

. Berg attended

George Mason University School of Law The Antonin Scalia Law School is the law school of George Mason University, Virginia's largest public research university. It is located in Arlington, Virginia, roughly west of Washington, D.C., and east-northeast of George Mason University's ...

, graduating in 1978. He married his wife Carol in 1978 and then moved to Miami to start the Florida Justice Institute (FJI). He had a son, Randall Challen Berg III, who was born in 1987. Berg was the executive director of the Florida Justice Institute, a

public interest In social science and economics, public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. While it has earlier philosophical roots and is considered to be at the core of democratic theories of government, often paired ...

law firm in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

which he established in 1978. He has conducted and been involved in numerous individual and

class action lawsuit A class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage R ...

s that strive to improve conditions in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

's prison and jails. He was chairman of the Corrections Committee of The

Florida Bar The Florida Bar is the integrated, or unified bar organization for the state of Florida. It is the third largest such bar in the United States.

, and president of the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. ...

of Florida. He served on Florida Governor Chiles' Transition Criminal Justice Task Force, and several legislative committees dealing with criminal justice and corrections issues. He has been an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

of law at the

University of Miami School of Law The University of Miami School of Law (Miami Law or UM Law) is the law school of the University of Miami, a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. Founded in 1926, it is the oldest law school in South Florida, graduating its first ...

, and directs the Volunteer Lawyers' Project for the

U.S. District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

for Florida's Southern District. He worked to develop the United States' first Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Account ( IOLTA) program in Florida, and then assisted in establishing IOLTA programs nationwide and defending its constitutionality as the executive director of the National IOLTA Clearinghouse. IOLTA has created over $5 billion nationwide to primarily fund legal services for the poor In November 2018, he and FJI were named to the Daily Business Review's 2018 Most Effective Lawyers list for their public interest work in securing treatment for prisoners infected with

hepatitis C Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. During the initial infection period, people often have mild or no symptoms. Early symptoms can include ...

. Berg retired at the end of 2018, two years after initially being diagnosed with

ALS Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and low ...

. He was proud of the 40 years of work fighting "for the rights of the downtrodden, disabled, disenfranchised and even the despised." On April 10, 2019, the Florida Justice Institute announced that Berg had died from complications of ALS. On June 8, 2023, Jacksonville University established the Randall C. Berg Jr. College of Law Deanship. This endowed deanship was given in honor of Randall by his brother Gilchrist Berg.

References

External links

Randall C. Berg Jr.
at FJI * Findla
"Randall C. Berg Jr."
FindLaw * Think Exis
"Randall Berg Quotes"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berg, Randall C. Jr. 1949 births 2019 deaths Deaths from motor neuron disease in Florida Lawyers from Jacksonville, Florida Riverside High School (Florida) alumni 20th-century American lawyers