Shari Olefson
American lawyer
Shari Beth Africk-Olefson (born 1963) is an elected Broward County Circuit Court Judge. She was elected in August 2018.
She has been certified by The Florida Bar in real estate law.
Early life and education
Africk-Olefson was born in New York City and raised both in New York and Florida, where she graduated from Pine Crest School in 1981. She graduated from the Carnegie Mellon University with degrees in journalism and psychology in 1985, from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, and from the University of Miami Masters of Law program in 1989. In 2023, she received the Alumni Achievement Award from U.M. School of Law.
Following her graduation from the U.M. School of Law, Africk-Olefson studied broadcast journalism at Columbia University and earned a master's degree in psychology from Nova Southeastern University.
Career
While in law school, Africk-Olefson interned at the Broward County Public Defenders office and worked for a New York City based law firm before opening a general private practice in South Florida.
In 2002, Africk-Olefson, then president of Virtual Media Networks, filed a patent for technology to help create virtual tours of U.S. college campuses. At the time, she was not a practicing attorney.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Shari Olefson” as american lawyer. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american lawyer. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16733698. VIAF identifies the subject as 58555932. The Library of Congress control number is n2008057593. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1963, 2018, 1981 and 1985.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Shari Olefson”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Shari Olefson primary sources, Shari Olefson archive and Shari research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Shari Olefson”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Shari Olefson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.