About the Everglades Litigation Collection

The University of Miami School of Law Library possesses an extensive collection of Everglades litigation documents. This collection is housed in the Archives and Special Collections room on the fourth floor of the Law Library building. The curator, Alberto F. Montero Valdes, can be reached at (305) 284-4093 or at everglades@law.miami.edu.        

This enormous collection of legal and scientific material was donated to the Law School on July 26, 1994, by the United States Attorney's Office. The present collection represents the materials gathered during the course of close to fifty lawsuits filed in state and federal fora over water quality issues involving the Florida Everglades in which the federal government was involved.

This site has been developed to provide the general public with an understanding of the legal, scientific and public policy issues surrounding the preservation and stewardship of one of nature's unique ecosystems.

Culled from the Law Library's Archives and Special Collection's Everglades Litigation Collection, the site's contents present only a sample of its holdings.  This repository is the largest known collection of legal documents concerning the preservation and restoration of the Everglades available to the public.

Site Layout

 Site map  
 

Collection Highlights:

The Everglades Litigation Collection contains over one million pages of pleadings, deposition and hearing transcripts, exhibits, scientific data and agency reports; one million microfilm reel frames covering extensive document productions in the federal and state actions.  A 100 megabyte, 150,000 record, bibliographic database which indexes over three quarters of the material produced during litigation is undergoing technical upgrades and will soon be available for searching.

We are in the process of converting 31 megabytes of deposition & hearing transcript files to HTML.  In the future 153 megabytes of scientific data produced during discovery relating to hydrology, nutrient loading, statistical analysis, remote sensing, restoration, economic analysis, and other issues will also be made available.

3,119 slides, 50 video tapes, hundreds of maps and photographs, 20,000 pages of news and magazine articles round out the rest of the collection's contents.

While, it would be impossible to make the entire contents of the collection available on-line, we are attempting to provide a representative sample of the pleadings, transcripts, exhibits, and other documents that would provide a balanced overview of the position's of the diverse interests involved in Everglades-related litigation.

To see our on-line material, go to our Contents or Documents sections. We thank you for visiting our site.  If you have any questions or suggestions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Research Protocols

Presently, the Collection is available for use by students, faculty and the general public at the Law Library. Appointments are required to be made at least 24 hours in advance.

The Collection's database will soon be accessible again for on-line searching. This web site is part of the  Law Library'commitment to make selected parts of the Collection available on-line.  Please visit regularly as  new material will be posted regularly.                         

If you would like to make an appointment, have any questions, and would like to know more about the Collection, please contact the Everglades Litigation Internet Project Director, at (305) 284-4093 or  everglades@law.miami.edu.        

Credit:    Image from collection holdings.