Chief Fourth DCA Judge Spencer D. Levine. Courtesy photo.

Judge Spencer D. Levine became chief of the Fourth District Court of Appeal Monday, taking the baton from Judge Jonathan Gerber.

As chief judge, Levine will be the highest-ranking member of the court, responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations and working with the clerk of the court to keep up with administrative tasks.

Levine has served on the Fourth DCA since 2009, when then-Gov. Charlie Crist appointed him to the appellate bench. Voters have since elected to retain Levine twice, in 2010 and 2016.

Before rising to the bench, Levine was chief operating officer for Broward Health. He's also served as director of the Florida Attorney General's Medicaid fraud control unit and general counsel to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.

Levine began his career in the 1980s as an assistant state attorney for Palm Beach County, where he headed the economic crimes division and the organized crime and official corruption unit.

Levine has chaired the Education Committee for the Florida Conference of District Court of Appeal Judges, the Florida Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee and the Florida Bar Grievance Committee. He's also served as editor-in-chief of Duke Law's scholarly journal Judicature, and in 2015 the Craig S. Barnard American Inn of Court named him “outstanding jurist.”

He holds a bachelor's degree from New York University, a law degree from the University of Miami School of Law and a master of laws in judicial studies from Duke Law.

Levine's term as chief will end in 2021, while his term on the DCA bench expires in 2023.

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