Florida AG defends $100K UF teaching salary at Miami anti-corruption event

Claire Heddles and Garrett Shanley, Miami Herald on Feb 19, 2026

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Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier cut off questioning during a corruption-focused Miami press conference Thursday after reporters asked him about his substantial paycheck for just two hours of lecturing per week and an advisory role at the University of Florida law school.

Speaking from a podium emblazoned with a placard that read “Combating Public Corruption,” Uthmeier announced plans for a sweeping statewide audit of public spending in search of “bribes, kickbacks, conflicts of interest, evidence of money being spent on special interests, personal interests, personal gain.”

In response to questions from reporters afterward about his $100,000-a-year teaching stipend — which combined with his attorney general salary pushes his total state-funded compensation to $240,000 annually — the attorney general defended the importance of his work with the school.

Uthmeier said he commutes by car to UF’s main campus in Gainesville, 150 miles south of his Tallahassee residence. The university’s law school does not compensate Uthmeier for his travel expenses, the interim dean previously told the Herald/Times, but it does pay an hourly rate of $50 to $80 for extra security during the attorney general’s campus visits.

It remains unclear whether the attorney general’s office — funded by taxpayers — pays for Uthmeier’s UF commute.

When a reporter asked Thursday whether his drive was state-funded or personally funded, Uthmeier said, “Seems like this is what the left news media wants to talk about. I’m focused on fighting crime and public corruption,” and left the room.

According to Uthmeier’s remarks during the less than 15-minute-long press conference, the newly launched state corruption probe will fall under a “Public Integrity Unit” in his office and will conduct a review of “all legislative appropriations over the last couple of years, as well as expenditures, grants, procurements at the local level” in search of criminal activity. U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason Reding Quiñones was also in the room touting the new effort.

In response to an emailed question from the Herald/Times about how the new anti-corruption effort will be funded, Uthmeier’s deputy chief of staff said, “You had plenty of opportunity to ask the AG questions, but you decided you wanted to ask about a completely different topic.”

Thursday marks the first time Uthmeier has publicly addressed his employment at Florida’s flagship law school after a Herald/Times investigation found he earns a $100,000 teaching stipend for relatively light duties. He is the highest-paid adjunct instructor at UF’s Levin College of Law in at least a quarter century, the Herald/Times reported, and his compensation amounts to roughly eight times more than the median law school adjunct’s salary.

The attorney general’s office did not respond to the Herald/Times questions about Uthmeier’s campus role earlier in the week.

Uthmeier had previously defended his UF paycheck in a two-minute clip of a “Between the Lines” podcast interview released earlier on Thursday, citing a need to make up for the roughly $60,000 pay cut he took when he became the state’s top legal official last spring. Uthmeier earned about $200,000 annually as chief of staff to Gov. Ron DeSantis, until the governor tapped him as attorney general last year.

Uthmeier, 38, lives in Tallahassee with his wife and three children and reported a net worth of $1.1 million in 2024. According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, the hourly living wage for a five-person household is $53.75, or about $112,000 annually.

“When you have a growing family and three kids, you’ve got to look for other ways to keep the lights on and keep food on the table,” the attorney general said on the podcast. He also noted that he earns less than first-year lawyers at his old firm, Gray Robinson, and has rejected “multimillion-dollar offers” because of a desire to serve the “free state of Florida.”

Uthmeier also beat back charges from Florida Democrats and some Republicans that he’s merely a “guest lecturer,” pointing to his mentoring of students and helping them find career opportunities. He also advises on the law school’s new Program in Law and Government.

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