Member Spotlight
Kalinthia Dillard
by Andrew Kwan
This month, I have the distinct privilege of writing about one of the Law Related Education Committee’s
former chairs, Kalinthia Dillard. Kalinthia has been a prominent attorney and force for good in our
community for over 20 years. She currently serves as Deputy Inspector General and General Counsel at
the Palm Beach County Office of Inspector General. In that role, Kalinthia provides vital legal advice to
the Inspector General and OIG staff regarding audits, investigations, and reviews relating to government
waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement within Palm Beach County and thirty-nine municipalities. She
is herself a Certified Inspector General (CIG), Certified Inspector General Auditor (CIGA), and Certified
Inspector General Investigator (CIGI).
Before joining the OIG, Kalinthia was a senior attorney for the School District of Palm Beach County,
a commercial litigator with several private law firms, and a law clerk for Judge Matthew Stevenson
(retired) at the Fourth DCA. Kalinthia earned her bachelor’s degree and JD from Clemson University
and FSU, respectively, racking up a series of achievements, book awards, and service honors.
Kalinthia and her family hail from Greenville, South Carolina. When asked who has inspired her, Kalinthia
immediately named her mom, Glenda Dillard. Glenda was a teen mother who unfortunately did not
have an opportunity to finish high school (she eventually earned a GED) or attend college. However,
Glenda was an ardent reader who always stressed the importance of education to Kalinthia and her
three sisters, all of whom ended up graduating from college and three of whom attained professional
degrees.
Kalinthia’s service to our community is, again, so extensive that I can only outline it here. She was
recognized as the 2018 Law Related Education Association Attorney of the Year for her work with civics
education. Additionally, she is the immediate past president of the West Palm Beach (FL) Chapter of
The Links, Incorporated, an organization of professional women of color who engage in education,
civic, and cultural activities that enrich the lives of women and families in Palm Beach County. Through
Kalinthia’s work with The Links, the organization raised more than $100,000 for scholarships and programs,
organized voter registration drives, mentored children in foster care, worked with the Leukemia and
Lymphoma Society to raise money to find a cure for blood cancers, and worked to decrease the
disparity in outcomes for African-American women with breast cancer.
In her spare time, Kalinthia is a world traveler, an avid reader, and a scrapbooker. Above all, she is a
devoted mother, and enjoys tending to the butterfly garden she started with her 11-year-old daughter.
Like those butterflies, we are all enriched by Kalinthia’s work in our community – thank you, Kalinthia!
If you know a member who should be featured, please let us know
by emailing [email protected]
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