Florida Politics

Florida’s attorney general earns $100K to teach at UF. Here are 5 takeaways

U.S. Attorney of Southern District of Florida Jason A. Reding Quinones, left, stands by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, center, as speaks alongside other state law enforcement officials during a press conference at the FDLE Miami Regional Operations Center announcing a new unit focused on investigating public corruption and government spending.on Thursday, February 19, 2026, in Miami, Florida.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, at the lectern, with U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones, left, at a news conference at the FDLE Miami Regional Operations Center on Feb, 19, 2026. cjuste@miamiherald.com

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is earning $100,000 a year as an adjunct professor at the University of Florida’s law school for just two hours of weekly instruction — making him the highest-paid adjunct at UF’s Levin College of Law in decades. When pressed about the pay Thursday at a Miami press conference on public corruption, Uthmeier blamed “the left news media” and walked out.

FULL STORY: ‘Professor Uthmeier’: Inside Florida attorney general’s $100k teaching job at UF

Here are the highlights:

• Uthmeier’s $100,000 adjunct salary is eight times the median law school adjunct’s pay and pushes his total state-funded compensation to $240,000 — nearly $100,000 more than Gov. Ron DeSantis earns annually.

• A UF Board of Trustees member set the hire in motion soon after Uthmeier’s attorney general appointment last February, according to interim law school Dean Merritt McAlister, who declined to name the trustee. UF’s board is led by Mori Hosseini, one of DeSantis’ most prolific donors.

• UF’s public records office said no interchange agreement or conflict-of-interest disclosures exist for Uthmeier, despite state law and university policy requiring such documentation for employees holding two public positions.

• Uthmeier defended the pay on a podcast, citing a roughly $60,000 pay cut he took when leaving his $200,000 chief of staff role. “When you have a growing family and three kids, you’ve got to look for other ways to keep the lights on,” he said.

• A Nova Southeastern University law professor flagged “rookie adjunct mistakes” in Uthmeier’s syllabi, including a lack of detailed lesson plans and no comprehensive list of course materials — raising questions about curricular transparency.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The full story in the link at top was reported, written and edited entirely by journalists.

This story was originally published February 19, 2026 at 4:48 PM.

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