Reginald Luster is the founder and owner of two corporations, Reginald Luster, P.A., a former civil law firm from December 2001 through December 2020, and Radiant Lands Corporation, a real estate acquisition, design, land development and investment corporation from 2005 to the present. Reginald began his practice of the law on May 11, 1988, and for 32 years he practiced law in the state courts in Florida, the three United States District Courts in Florida and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. On June 11, 2004, Reginald Luster made history when he was sworn in as president of the Jacksonville Bar Association, the first African American lawyer to be voted to that position since its founding in 1897.
Reginald Luster was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at Broward General Hospital. His father, Willie Frank Luster of Americus, Georgia, worked as a dishwasher and eventually a cook at the Yankee Clipper Hotel on Fort Lauderdale Beach. His mother, Johnnie Mae Bynes Luster, worked as a waitress at the Yankee Clipper Hotel. Willie and Mae were married on March 27, 1961. After the untimely death of his father, his mother moved him and his siblings to her birth city, Jacksonville, Florida.
Reginald Luster attended public schools in Jacksonville, Florida. During those years, he was a very focused child making the honor roll and earning academic honors each year in grade school. Reginald also enjoyed sports. He played running back on his football team, he played second baseman and outfielder on his baseball team, he played forward on his basketball team and he enjoyed hitting tennis balls with his step-father, Horace Cook, Sr., a U.S. Army veteran. Having listened to his step-father’s Jazz and R&B music over the years, Reginald’s parents purchased him, at the start of his sixth grade, a used alto saxophone which began his participation in the concert, symphonic, jazz and marching bands throughout his years in grade schools. In 1982, he graduated with academic honors in 1982 from Jean Ribault High School. Before graduation, Reginald accepted a scholarship to attend Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. While attending Florida State, Reginald Luster served as an executive intern with former Governor, and eventual United States Senator, Bob Graham. Three years after graduating from high school, in April 1985, he graduated from Florida State earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in History with honors. That fall, Reginald enrolled into the College of Law at Florida State University where he distinguished himself as a member of the Law Review and the Appellate Moot Court Team. During the summer of 1986, he studied law abroad at Oxford University, Oxford England. Two and one-half years after earning his Bachelor’s degree, in December 1987, Reginald graduated from the College of Law earning his Juris Doctor degree.
In 1988, Reginald Luster returned to Jacksonville to began his legal career as an associate attorney, and eventual shareholder and partner, with the Jacksonville insurance defense law firm of Mathews, Osborne, McNatt, Gobelman & Cobb. In 1994, Reginald was appointed by U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno as an Assistant United States Attorney with the United States Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division. In 1998, Reginald Luster made history when he was elected to the Board of Governors of the Jacksonville Bar Association, the first African American lawyer to be voted to that position since the Bar’s founding in 1897. In 2000, he worked at the Justice Department in Washington D.C. with the Civil Rights Division of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys. In 2000, Attorney General Janet Reno awarded Reginald the Director’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Furthering Equal Employment Opportunities.
In 2001, Reginald Luster returned to the private practice of law establishing Reginald Luster, P.A. He was invited to join the American Board of Trial Advocates. For more than 32 years, Reginald practiced law in the areas of Personal Injury law, Employment Discrimination law, Civil Rights law, Criminal Defense law, Insurance Law, Corporate Litigation, Trial Litigation and Appellate Litigation. On June 11, 2004, Reginald Luster made history when he was sworn in as president of the Jacksonville Bar Association, once again the first African American lawyer to be sworn in to that position. In 2005, he established Radiant Lands Corporation, a real estate acquisition, design, land development and investment corporation. On May 3, 2016, during a speech at a scholarship awards program, Reginald Luster delivered A Call to Leadership in Public Service announcing his candidacy for United States Senator from the State of Florida. Today, in addition to operating Radiant Lands Corporation, Reginald serves as a board member on charitable foundations providing college scholarships to graduating high school students.
Notable Letters
Congratulations on Becoming the President of the Jacksonville Bar Association
Reginald Luster’s Notable Appellate Decisions …
Hartland v. Allstate Ins. Co., 575 So.2d 290 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991)
Hartland v. Allstate Ins. Co., 592 So.2d 677 (Fla. 1992)
Reddick v. Globe Life and Acc. Ins. Co., 596 So.2d 435 (Fla. 1992)
Naghtin v. Jones, 629 So.2d 1109 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994)
Stepp v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 656 So.2d 494 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995)
Thomas v. Hickory Foods, Inc., 145 So.3d 203 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014)
Quiller v. Duval Cnty. Sch. Bd., 171 So.3d 745 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015)
Sanford v. Omni Hotels Mgmt. Corp. (11th Cir. 2019)