Elected County Clerk Harvey Ruvin received a prestigious bar association honor this week
Long-time Miami-Dade County Clerk Harvey Ruvin won a prestigious honor in 2020 — but had to wait almost a full year to receive the award, thanks to the pandemic.
In August 2020, Ruvin, 84, was named the winner of the American Bar Association’s Robert B. Yegge Award, an annual honor for contributions in the field of judicial administration. Ruvin, Miami-Dade’s elected clerk of the courts for the past three decades, was specifically cited for improved technology that made servicing citizen’s easier.
Ruvin said the Miami-Dade Clerk of the Court’s office is the first major judicial circuit in the country to go completely paperless and fully electronic. And, he said, his “workforce has been nothing short of heroic,” during the past year of the pandemic.
Thursday night, a full year after he was supposed to have received the honor, Ruvin was formally presented with the glass engraved trophy by ABA veteran and local defense attorney Neal Sonnett, during a live ceremony broadcast on Zoom.
“I’m pleased to accept this award on behalf of the 170 judges, magistrates and hearing officers that we collaborate with every day,” said Ruvin.
Ruvin was first elected to public office in 1968, when voters made him mayor of North Bay Village. Four years later he won a seat on what-was-then the Metro-Dade County Commission. He served there for 20 years and became president of the National Association of Counties. He won his first election as clerk of the courts in 1992 and has been re-elected five times since.
This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 10:16 AM.
