PBCBA BAR BULLETINS PBCBA Bulletin - March 2020 | Page 3
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Run the World (Girls)
Circuit Court Judges for the Fifteenth
Judicial Circuit.
Proof that we’ve seen vast improvements
in the number of female leaders in our
legal community is evidenced by the
fact that we currently have ten female
presidents of Palm Beach County voluntary
bar associations. Please let me introduce
the other nine to you:
Jessica Callow
2019-20 PBCBA President
We can thank Beyoncé for giving us
the earworm of a song that shares its
name with the title of this President’s
Message. However, we can thank the
female leaders in Palm Beach County’s
legal community for paving a path
that led to almost all the voluntary bar
associations in Palm Beach County
currently being led by women!
In honor of Women’s History Month,
this President’s Message is dedicated
to the women who have reached the
top of their bar association’s leadership
ladder. In writing this article, I was struck
by two things: the number of voluntary
bar associations led by women, and how
many of them are members of the Palm
Beach County Bar Association (“PBCBA”).
After I stopped fangirling over the
trailblazers and superstars in our legal
community, it seemed only appropriate
to highlight some of these women and
their achievements.
Over the past 98 years, there have been
only nine female presidents of the
PBCBA. The first, in 1993, was JulieAnn
Rico, General Counsel for the School
Board of Palm Beach County. The
tenth, in 2021, will be Julia Wyda. We
also benefitted from the outstanding
leadership of Sia Baker Barnes, the first
African-American female president of
the PBCBA; Michelle Suskauer, the first
female president of The Florida Bar
hailing from Palm Beach County; and
Jill Weiss, the current president of Susan
G. Komen Florida. Not to be outdone, the
following past presidents: Judge Lisa
Small; retired Judge Amy Smith; and
the late Judge Meenu Sasser, all became
Rina Clemens – Florida Association for
Women Lawyers, Palm Beach County
Chapter. Rina is a partner with Traub
Lieberman and previously served on
the Board of Directors for the Children’s
Home Society and the North County
Section of the Palm Beach County Bar
Association.
Danielle Sherriff – F. Malcom Cunning-
ham, Sr. Bar Association. Danielle is an
Assistant State Attorney in the Traffic
Homicide Unit. She serves as Vice Chair of
the Florida Bar Criminal Procedure Rules
Committee and serves on the PBCBA’s
Committee for Diversity and Inclusion
and Lawyers for Literacy Committee.
Kelsey Burke – Palm Beach County
Hispanic Bar Association. Kelsey is an
attorney at Lytal, Reiter, Smith, Ivey &
Fronrath and is chair of the PBCBA’s
Law Week Committee. She is the recipi-
ent of the Palm Beach County Women’s
Chamber of Commerce’s Giraffe Award
and the Palm Beach County Hispanic
Education Coalition’s Public Service
Leadership Award.
Tami Augen Rhodes – Craig S. Barnard
American Inn of Court. Tami is the founder
of The Law Offices of Tami L. Augen, P.A.
She served as the Subcommittee Chair
for the Palm Beach County Family Law
Advisory Group and moderated a family
law session of the PBCBA’s Bench Bar
Conference.
Joanne O’Connor – Federal Bar Asso-
ciation, Palm Beach County Chapter.
Joanne, a shareholder with Jones Foster,
is Board Certified in Business Litigation
and was appointed to the West Palm
Beach Federal Courthouse Committee.
She previously chaired the PBCBA’s
Professionalism Committee, Judicial
Relations Committee and Bench Bar
Conference.
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Rebecca Brock – American Board of
Trial Advocates, Palm Beach County
Chapter. Rebecca, a shareholder with
Kubicki Draper, is Board Certified in
Civil Trial Law and serves on the Board
of Trustees for the University of Florida’s
Law Center Association. She also serves
on the Board of Directors for the PBCBA’s
North County Section.
Bridget Berry – Guild of Catholic Lawyers
of the Diocese of Palm Beach. Bridget is a
shareholder with Greenberg Traurig and
received the Palm Beach North Chamber
of Commerce’s "Woman of the Year"
award. She also received the Florida Bar
President’s Pro Bono Service Award and
is the current co-chair of the PBCBA’s
Judicial Relations Committee.
Holly Gershon – South Palm Beach County
Bar Association. Holly is the founder of the
Law Office of Holly Gayle Gershon and of
counsel to the Haverman Law Firm. She is
Board Certified in Marital and Family Law.
Adriana Gonzalez – Palm Beach County
Justice Association. Adriana is a share-
holder with Gonzalez & Cartwright and
is a past president of the Hispanic Bar
Association. She is the first female
president of the Palm Beach County
Justice Association.
We can all agree that the women
highlighted in this article are an
impressive group and the embodiment
of successful and confident leadership.
In honor of Women’s History Month,
please join me in celebrating these
women’s achievements. And to the up
and coming class of female lawyers,
I cannot wait to see what you will
accomplish in the years to come. To
paraphrase Beyoncé, I’m betting your
persuasion can build a nation.
Please reach out to me and the rest of
the Board with any ideas, comments
or concerns. We can be reached at
[email protected]. PBCBA
member highlight submissions for
yourself or others should be sent to
[email protected].