Roy Black is an American civil and criminal defense attorney who has an estimated net worth of $85 million dollars. Black is most widely recognized for two high profile cases in which he was the defense attorney for William Kennedy Smith and Rush Limbaugh, respectively. Other celebrities whom Roy has represented include “Cheers” and “Frasier” star Kelsey Grammer, singer Justin Bieber, billionaire/sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, artist Peter Max, “Girls Gone Wild” creator Joe Francis, and auto racing driver Helio Castroneves.
Roy has appeared on the reality series “The Law Firm,” and he is married to Lea Black, who starred on Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Miami” from 2011 to 2013. Black is currently a partner at Black, Srebnick, Kornspan & Stumpf, “a premier criminal defense and civil trial law firm” based in Miami, and since 1973, he has served as an adjunct instructor of advanced criminal evidence at his alma mater, the University of Miami School of Law.
Early Life: Roy Black was born on February 17, 1945, in New York City. Roy’s parents split up soon after his birth, and in 1951, his mother remarried to an auto executive. The family moved to Connecticut and later Jamaica. Black attended the University of Miami, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967, and he earned a Juris Doctor at the University of Miami School of Law in 1970. As a UM student, Roy joined the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, Zeta Epsilon chapter. When Black took the Florida Bar Exam, he earned the highest possible score, and he spent five years working as a public defender before entering private practice.
Career: Black has been featured in “The Best Lawyers in America®” every year since 1987, and he has appeared on “The Today Show” as NBC’s legal analyst. He published the book “Black’s Law” in 1999 and has earned the nickname “The Professor” for his “erudition and dedication to education.” Roy was involved in the acquittal of William Kennedy Smith on charges of rape and of Helio Castroneves on income tax evasion charges, and he has received numerous awards, such as the William R. Butler Community Service Award (University of Miami, 2005), Criminal Justice Award (Dade County Bar Association, 1991), and Person of the Year (“Daily Business Review,” 2014). Roy received a Lifetime Achievement Award from “Daily Business Review” in 2015, and he is a member of the Miami-Dade County Bar Association, American Bar Association, International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Personal Life: Roy married Lisa Lea Haller on October 7, 1994. He met Lea when she was a juror in the 1991 William Kennedy Smith trial, and they ran into each other nine months later, after Black had separated from his second wife, Naomi Morris Black, who is the mother of his daughter Nora. He asked Lea to dinner, and though she was in a relationship at the time, she accepted, thinking they were “going to reminisce about the trial.” Six months later, Lea broke up with her boyfriend and began a relationship with Roy. The couple has a son, RJ, who has appeared on “The Real Housewives of Miami.”
Real Estate: In 2011, Roy and Lea paid $7.1 million for a 10,636 square foot mansion in Miami. They put the waterfront home (which they’ve never actually lived in) on the market for $34 million in June 2021. In 2004, the couple purchased a 3,536 square foot Hollywood Hills home for $1.76 million, and they listed it for sale in 2016 with an asking price of $2.895 million. Roy and Lea have also owned homes in Coral Gables and Key Largo as well as a larger Hollywood Hills estate.
| Net Worth: | $85 Million |
| Date of Birth: | Feb 17, 1945 (77 years old) |
| Gender: | Male |
| Profession: | Lawyer |
| Nationality: | United States of America |