Stevan T. Northcutt

Appointed by Governor Lawton Chiles, Jr., for a term beginning January 6, 1997, Judge Northcutt is the longest-tenured judge in the Second District’s history. The voters of the district retained him in office in the general elections of 1998, 2004, 2010, 2016, and 2022.

Judge Northcutt attended the University of South Florida in Tampa, where he received a B.A. degree in mass communications in 1975. He earned his J.D. degree from the Florida State University College of Law in 1978.

In 1976 Judge Northcutt was awarded a Florida Legislative Fellowship, and for the next two years he served on the staff of the Florida House Judiciary Committee. From 1978 to 1986 Judge Northcutt practiced law, ultimately as a partner, with Levine, Freedman, Hirsch & Levinson, P.A., in Tampa. From 1986 to 1997 he was a shareholder in Levine, Hirsch, Segall & Northcutt, P.A., in Tampa.

Throughout his career as an attorney, Judge Northcutt concentrated his practice in the field of appellate advocacy, both civil and criminal, state and federal. He developed a statewide practice, and he lectured and published on topics related to appellate practice and family law. He served on the Appellate Court Rules Committee of The Florida Bar for over twenty years. He was a charter member of the Appellate Practice and Advocacy Section of The Florida Bar and was the first chairman of the section's Civil Appellate Practice Committee.

Other of Judge Northcutt's professional activities have included service on The Florida Bar Family Law Rules Committee, membership in The Florida Bar Public Interest Section and the Florida Academy of Public Interest Lawyers, service on The Florida Bar's Journal-News Editorial Board, and membership on The Florida Bar's Young Lawyers' Section Legislation Committee. He is a member of the Hillsborough County Bar Association and has served on its Family Law Section Executive Council, on its Appellate Court Liaison Committee, and in its Appellate Practice Section. Judge Northcutt has participated as a master of the bar and of the bench variously in the William Glenn Terrell Inn of Court (now the J. Clifford Cheatwood Inn of Court), the Family Law Inn of Court, and the Bruce R. Jacobs-Chris W. Altenbernd Inn of Court, all located in Tampa.

Judge Northcutt's civic activities have included appointments to the Hillsborough County Commission's Charter Review Board and the Commission's Citizen's Advisory Committee, as well as the Arts Council of Hillsborough County and the Law Library Board of Hillsborough County. He was a board member and president of the private non-profit Older Adult Services, Inc., of Tampa, and he served as a board member and chairman (1994-96) of Hospice of Hillsborough, Inc. (now Lifepath Hospice, Inc.).