McLin Burnsed Scholarship Fund in Honor of Walter S. McLin III and R. Dewey Burnsed

This fund was established in 2008 by McLin & Burnsed, P.A. to honor the firm’s two founding partners, Walter S. McLin III and R. Dewey Burnsed, both of whom passed away in 2007.

Burnsed earned his bachelor’s degree in agricultural and life sciences in 1960 and his juris doctor in 1965 from the University of Florida. In 1965, Burnsed moved to Leesburg to practice law. While at McLin, Burnsed, Morrison and Johnson, P.A., Burnsed became the City Attorney of Leesburg from 1968 to 1973. He was admitted to practice before the Florida Supreme Court in 1970 and resumed his position as City Attorney in 1976. Burnsed was also the president of the Lake County Bar Association from 1972 to 1973 and was also a member of the Board of Governors of the Young Lawyers Section of the Florida Bar. In 1975, he returned to UF as a professorial lecturer in legal ethics.

McLin graduated from Stetson University, then served for two years as a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He earned his juris doctor from UF and was also admitted to practice before the Florida Supreme Court in 1962. He was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1970. He initiated and was National Chairman of the American Bar Committee for legal aide to POW/MIA families of the Vietnam War. He was Chairman of the Florida Board of Business Regulation, President of the Lake County Bar Association, member of the Board of Governors of the Young Lawyers Section of the Florida Bar and an organizing member of The Florida Law Network. In his later years, after extensive research, McLin wrote a syllabus and taught college-level courses on the subject, “The Most Significant Events of World War II.” A college scholarship, awarded annually to a deserving graduating senior at The Villages Charter School, has been established in his memor