The positions were vacated when former County Judges Victor Hulslander and Mary Day Coker were recently appointed to the 8th Judicial Circuit Court bench.
Thirty attorneys applied to be considered for the vacancies and 15 of them were interviewed by the 8th Judicial Circuit Nominating Commission on Monday. The commission narrowed the field to six candidates following the interviews. Now Crist and his staff will review the qualifications of the final six candidates and select two to fill the judicial vacancies.
Commission chairman Brian S. Kramer said the following names were being submitted to Crist.
– Tania Alavia, a former assistant public defender who has also worked in a civil law practice and now runs a private practice in Marion County focused on criminal defense.
– Dean Galigani, a former assistant public defender and currently managing partner of Galigani and Robertson, a law firm that specializes in criminal defense and also handles some civil matters and family law.
– Rob Groeb, a former assistant state attorney who also worked in the area of landlord-tenant law and government housing before accepting his current positions as the lawyer for the Gainesville Housing Authority.
– Davide Krieder, an assistant state attorney.
– Meshon Rawls, a former assistant public defender and currently professor at professor at the Levin College of Law at the University of Florida.
– Kevin Robertson – a former assistant state attorney and currently Galigani’s partner in the law firm of Galigani and Robertson which specializes in criminal defense and also handles some civil matters and family law.