In a nearly hour-long conversation with Dr. Case Thorp of The Collaborative, retired Justice Alan Lawson reflects on faith and the bench, the pressures judges carry, the tension between mercy and mandatory sentences, and his family’s work in Honduras.
Alan Lawson spent two decades on the bench — as a circuit trial judge in Orlando, as a judge and then Chief Judge of the Fifth District Court of Appeal, and, from 2016 until his retirement in 2022, as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida. In early 2025 he sat down with Dr. Case Thorp, host of the Nuance podcast from The Collaborative, an Orlando-based organization that encourages Christians to pursue cultural and economic renewal through their work in public life, for an episode titled “Mercy and Justice: Reflections from a Former Florida Supreme Court Justice.”
The conversation is less about doctrine than about the human weight of judging. Justice Lawson talks about how his faith shaped his understanding of judicial service as a calling; about the pressures on judges that the public rarely sees, including caseloads that leave little room for reflection; and about the tension a trial judge feels when sentencing laws leave little space for mercy in an individual case. He also describes the decision to leave the Court for private practice and, with his partners, to build a new firm.
A substantial part of the episode is devoted to Honduras. For years, Justice Lawson and his family have been involved with Mi Esperanza, a ministry that helps economically disadvantaged women build sustainable livelihoods; the episode’s notes also point listeners to Shelter Global and the Association for a More Just Society. He closes on a theme that runs through the whole conversation: that justice and mercy are not rivals, and that the church has a real role to play in addressing recidivism and the systemic inequities that keep people cycling through the courts.
For those who know Justice Lawson only from his opinions, the episode is a good introduction to the person his colleagues know — unhurried, candid about the limits of the law, and more interested in service than in title.
Listen
Mercy and Justice: Reflections from a Former Florida Supreme Court Justice with Alan Lawson — Nuance: Being Faithful in the Public Square, The Collaborative (Orlando), February 2025.
About Alan Lawson
Alan Lawson is a founding shareholder of Lawson Huck Gonzalez and a retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida. Over a thirty-five-year career he served at every level of Florida’s courts — as a circuit trial judge, as a judge and Chief Judge of the Fifth District Court of Appeal, and as a Justice of the state’s highest court — and today he guides clients through high-stakes appeals, critical motions, and complex litigation.
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