My Platform Statement.

The 13th Circuit deserves another proven leader on The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division (“YLD”) Board of Governors – who understands the needs of young lawyers. As an attorney who is actively involved in numerous local voluntary bar associations and other professional organizations, I believe I can effectively represent the needs of my fellow young lawyers in the Tampa Bay Area. My local leadership involvement includes my time as the immediate past Co-Chair of the Hillsborough County Bar Association (“HCBA”) YLD Membership Committee (2017-2018), a past member of the HCBA YLD Law Week Committee (2016-2017), and the YLD Chair of Hillsborough Association for Woman Lawyers (“HAWL”) for the past two years. I am also actively involved with the Tampa Bay Chapter of the Federal Bar Association (“FBA”), Stetson University College of Law Tampa Bay Alumni Leadership Committee, Southeastern Women in Financial Services (“SWIFS”), Tampa Bay Business Journal Elite, and Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, Emerging Leaders of Tampa Bay.

Serving my peers through The Florida Bar is truly a passion of mine. Not only have I been privileged to serve on The Florida Bar YLD Board of Governors for the past two years as an appointed Governor, I have also previously served from 2013-2016 on The Florida Bar YLD Law Student Division Board of Governors as the Public Relations Chair on the executive board and as the Stetson University College of Law Chapter President. Now, with a vacancy opening up in the 13th Circuit for the YLD Board, I have decided to run for an elected seat and seek your support.

The legal profession can be a daunting one for many young lawyers. Between the competitive job market, learning to be a lawyer, building a book of business, the crippling debt that most lawyers graduate with, the challenges faced by our government lawyers, and the stresses and emotional toll that many legal jobs and life take, it is imperative that we continue to look for ways to address these issues and strive to improve our profession and make the lives of young lawyers easier.

The Florida Bar YLD does exactly that by advocating for young lawyers and creating resources that enhance young lawyers’ lives. As the first lawyer in my family, the attorneys and resources that were provided to me as I began my legal career were invaluable and I am dedicated to paying it forward by continuing to work on providing innovative and practical resources for young lawyers to tackle the issues our profession faces.

In my first two years of practice, I substantially assisted with producing The Legal Accelerator, a project created and spearheaded by Past YLD President Zack Zuroweste. This successful project was aimed at providing short video clips to young lawyers, via a simple search engine, like google, to answer many typical questions they have in the first few years of practice on anything from professional development and wellness to substantive legal questions and ethics questions. Creative new ways to bring practical resources, like The Legal Accelerator, are how we can continue to improve our profession, and I am dedicated to seeing more of these types of resources come to fruition.

It would be an honor and privilege to continue to represent  your interests on The Florida Bar YLD Board of Governors. Please feel free to leave a comment to me about the issues most important to you.