Jacksonville, Florida, United States
Experienced and accomplished public sector attorney; Effective written and oral advocate; Synthesizes disparate data points into patterns and “big pictures;" Crisis strategy and management advisor; Candidly explains legal consequences; Guides and consults on regulatory strategies; Thrives in diverse workplaces
• Tries administrative hearings and arbitrations; tried dozens of administrative actions (including licensing, background screening, personnel appeals, medicaid institutional care program eligibility hearings, and union arbitration practice) to agency final order; Represented agency in appeals, including All Saints Early Learning and Community Care Center v. DCF, 145 So. 3d 974 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014); Presiding Officer in administrative hearings not heard before Administrative Law Judges; Recommended order affirmed with opinion in Sanders v. DCF, 118 So. 3d 899 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013) • Legal counsel for regulation and licensing of programs in substance abuse and mental health; foster care licensing; and child care regulation. • Manages lawyers and administrative assistants; represents, advises, and interacts with client teams without regard to as to race, age, economic status, religion, disability, and gender • Teamed with management and union to ensure compliance with applicable state and federal ethics, employment, and civil rights laws, including ADA, FLSA, Title VII, FMLA, and collective bargaining agreements; worked to resolve conflict, and avoided the need for arbitration
• Taught Administrative Law, using federal Administrative Procedures Act as a baseline for students to understand concepts of adjudication, rule-making, due process, and judicial review as applied to actions of administrative agencies.
• Attorney for 1992 Florida Senate Reapportionment Committee. • Assisted in federal litigation in which legality of Florida Senate redistricting plan was upheld by United States Supreme Court, Johnson v. DeGrandy, 512 U.S. 997 (1994). • Staff attorney for senate president Gwen Margolis
• Specialized in local government finance practice including home rule, infrastructure financings, and intergovernmental investment trusts for county surplus funds and short-term liquidity; Identified as Nationally Recognized Bond Counsel in The Bond Buyer’s Municipal Marketplace relevant editions (the “Red Book”) • Advised counties and school districts on implementing school concurrency; Collaborated with planners and other experts to develop impact-based methodologies for new development to contribute capital costs for educational impacts
• General Counsel to County Commission of urbanized county of 300,000 • Crisis and emergency management including legal and decisional support to elected officials for financial misconduct by County Comptroller that threatened county’s ability to pay current expenses; hurricane threats and cleanup; federal criminal and regulatory investigations of county solid waste facility • Rebuilt in-house legal office to fourteen legal and paralegal professionals. Attorneys I promoted or recruited to my staff became, throughout Florida: one judge, four city attorneys, three county attorneys, and first-ever female president of Pensacola Country Club • Significant reported decisions include Frankenmuth Mut. Ins. Co. v. Magaha, 769 So.2d 1012 (Fla. 2000)