PBCBA BAR BULLETINS pbcba_bulletin_June 2019 | Page 8

JUDICIAL PROFILE C o r n e r Judicial Profile: Judge Paige Gillman J. HARLEY TOUFANIAN With a strong desire to continue in her public service, she declined a position as a first-year associate at Jones Foster after graduating law school to return to the State Attorney’s Office, this time accepting a position as an Assistant State Attorney at the State Attorney’s Office for the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit in Stuart, Florida. In just two years, she prosecuted a wide range of misdemeanors in county court, juvenile court, mental health court, as well as numerous felonies. She also met her husband, Jared Gillman, who was an Assistant State Attorney in the same office. Jared is currently with the firm of Saul, Ewing, Arnstein, and Lehr, LLP where he practices construction litigation. After serving as an Assistant State Attorney, Judge Gillman returned to private practice at the West Palm Beach firm of Mrachek, Fitzgerald, Rose, Konopka, Thomas & Weiss, P.A. where she practiced commercial and intellectual property litigation in state and federal court, as well as trademark litigation before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. One of the highlights of her career with Mrachek Law include winning an award of summary judgment in the Southern District, which was later affirmed with opinion by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Wanting to broaden her civil trial experience, she accepted a position as Staff Counsel for Allstate Insurance Company, where she handled in excess of 100 cases in suit and defended claims in auto and property including bodily injury, uninsured/underinsured motorist, and hurricane property. In less than two years, she tried six circuit civil jury trials to verdict. Her diverse work experience has well prepared her to be a judge by providing her with the skills necessary to manage and prioritize a large case load and to understand what it takes to get up to speed in an area of the law that is new or unfamiliar in a fast-paced environment. For the past six years, Judge Gillman served on the Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division Board of Governors, where she chaired the Law Student Division and sat on several other committees. Her notable accomplishments include launching the website, “How to Start My Law Firm”, which provided recent law school graduates and lawyers with the steps needed to open their own law firm, and creating a UMC Workshop to help new lawyers navigate the uniform motion calendar process. In 2018, Judge Gillman was the recipient of the President’s Award on the YLD Board for her many contributions to the Board. While no longer a Governor on the YLD Board of Governors, she continues to serve on The Florida Bar Judicial Nominating Procedures Committee. Judge Gillman has also been active in the Palm Beach County Bar Association, serving on the Circuit Civil Committee, as well as a former chair of the Young Lawyers Division of the Martin County Bar Association. Judge Gillman and her husband have been married for seven years and have two young children. Despite her busy schedule, she still finds the time to serve as a room parent at her children’s school and enjoyed the opportunity to speak about her service on the bench at their school’s Career Day this year. In her spare time, she also enjoys fishing and boating with her family. Since her appointment to the bench, Judge Gillman has enjoyed meeting and serving the Palm Beach County community. She is PBCBA BAR BULLETIN 8 constantly doing research to make sure she is following and applying the law as written and strives to be the most knowledgeable person in the courtroom. She is currently assigned to the county civil division. Judge Gillman looks forward to continuing to serve the community as judge and showing it the dignity and respect she feels it deserves. She always wants people who appear before her to feel respected and she will endeavor to give them her best even though it may not be their best day. Just as she has always been proud of her mother, Judge Gillman hopes her children will one day be just as proud of her service on the bench. J. Harley Toufanian is a partner at The Toufanian Law Firm, P.A. and leads the firm's marital and family law practice. She is also a Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Law Mediator. She can be reached at [email protected].