The Hon. Shari Africk Olefson is a judge for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit Court in Broward County, Florida. She was elected to the Circuit Court in 2018.
Judge Africk Olefson graduated with her B.A. in professional writing and psychology from Carnegie Mellon University in 1985. She went on to earn a J.D. from Yeshiva University, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 1988 and an LL.M. in real property, land development, and finance law from the University of Miami School of Law in 1989.
While in law school, Africk Olefson interned at the Office of the Public Defender for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit.
In 1989, she began serving as general counsel for Forecast Trading Corporation, a position she held until 1999. Africk Olefson was the director of Investor Title Service from 1999 to 2006 and became director of The Carnegie Group in 2011. She also served as a shareholder at Fowler White Boggs from 2009 to 2012. She specialized in business and commercial real estate transactions, mediations, work outs, foreclosures, regulatory compliance, and new product structuring.
She became a Board-Certified Specialist in Real Estate Law by The Florida Bar Board of Legal Specialization and Education in 1995.
Africk Olefson is the author of several books pertaining to the subjects of real estate law and economics and has appeared as a guest expert on CNN, CNBC, Fox, PBS, MSNBC, and CBS.
While on the Circuit Court, she has presided in the Juvenile Dependency Division.
Africk Olefson has been a member of the Realtors Political Advocacy Fund for over thirty years and has also served as a member of the National Association of Realtors Presidents Circle. She was born in New York.