PBCBA BAR BULLETINS pbcba_bulletin_Oct. 2019 | Page 9

DIVERSITY CORNER
The Party’s Not Over...
EUNICE TALL BAROS
Folks: are you feeling like you are on a
constant obstacle course and you don’t
know if you have what it takes to get
through it?
Attorney V. Lynn Whitfield, 64, of West Palm
Beach asks the probing question in the
Introduction to her autobiography which
explores the many highs and lows in her
own life, including a sudden brain surgery
a few years ago for a subdural hematoma
(brain bleed) which left her temporarily
paralyzed.
question whether or not you will be able
to go on,” Whitfield writes. “It can be the
loss of a job, the loss of a loved one, an
arrest, or the news of a terminal illness. It
doesn’t have to happen to you directly; it
can be happening to someone close to you
and thereby affecting you,” she observes.
“These are the things which I refer to as
‘life storms.’”
For example, as a young lawyer, Whitfield
lost a job as an Assistant State Attorney
in Miami more than 32 years ago and she
rebuilt her career step by step, leaning on
her deep religious faith and convictions.
Now, she has many awards and honors to
her credit, including the first black female
to serve on the Palm Beach County Bar
Association’s Board of Directors.
In those “storm” situations which she
writes about in her book, The Party’s Not
Over Until God Says So (Professional
Woman Publishing, 2015, $15 through
amazon.com), it is easy to look at the
problem as hopeless, Whitfield explains.
“Enemies and those without faith may be
quick to say it’s all over for you.”
After four days in ICU following unexpected
seizures in the recovery room and realizing
the left side of her body would not move,
Whitfield remembered to when she was a
six-year-old riding in her auntie’s car in a
teeming Cleveland rainstorm. Some people
had stopped their cars and pulled off under
an overpass to wait for the rain to stop,
she says. But “Auntie” kept driving and
explained to her curious niece “what we
need to do in the storm is to keep driving
through it. We don’t pull over. Eventually
you will come through the storm on the
other side.”
Throughout her life, that message has
stayed with Whitfield who proudly boasts of
being a scholarship recipient and graduate
of Brandeis University in Boston and then
earning a coveted University of Miami Law
School degree in Coral Gables in 1980.
“Sometimes in life things will happen
which knock you down and cause you to
But not for Whitfield. Once a ward of the
State of Ohio and an orphan by the age of
10, Whitfield has persevered through some
very good times and some very challenging
and desperate days. She regularly brings her
message of hope to others. Inspirationally,
she has developed an approved CLE “Make
Law Your Profession, Not our Life.” She is
close to launching her Trial Production
Training, an online advocacy course. Topics
such as leadership, healthcare, finances,
legal issues and politics are foremost to
spark discussions. Every Monday and
Wednesday she hosts a Facebook Live
broadcast called “Lynn’s After Work Words
of Wisdom.” Recently, Whitfield returned
to comedy at the Backstage Café in West
Palm Beach. And check out her YouTube
channel for more.
“Lynn Whitfield’s story of struggles—in her
legal career, with disease and day-to-day
life—and with her sense of overcoming
through religion the many challenges
she’s faced will engage the many readers
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who hold similar beliefs,” says author John
Katzenbach, who once wrote about her in
The Miami Herald . “In clear cut and direct
prose, she tells of pitfalls and stumbles and
how her connection with church and Bible
got her through many difficulties.”
“When adversity visits, many people
cower and seek cover,” says Whitfield’s
friend and colleague, attorney F. Malcolm
Cunningham Jr. “Lynn does her best work
in the face of adversity. She owns her
condition and focuses all of her energy
on returning to productivity. She did this
in Miami when she had the incident as
a prosecutor. She did it in the face of her
illness. She’s done it in her business and
in her employment. Never count her out—
maybe down for a moment—but never out.
She is a fighter with a lot of heart!”
Delray Beach Assistant City Attorney
Lawonda Warren adds, “Lynn is truly
inspirational. Nine out of ten people
could not have overcome many of Lynn's
obstacles. Through her faith, tenacity,
intellect, and humor she inspires us all to
drive through our storms to get to other
side, to achieve happiness and success.”
“I think I am very blessed,” says Whitfield,
a former city attorney in Hallandale, North
Miami and Pahokee. “Over the years I have
learned it is not what others do or say about
your life that matters, but what you do or
say when you find yourself in that apparent
hopeless situation—that ‘life storm’. Do you
buy into the hopelessness or do you pull
yourself out of it?”
Whitfield says she was compelled to write
her book to help and encourage people. “If
others tell you there is no hope, laugh at
them or don’t respond at all.” She teaches.
“If you must respond, all you need to say is
“ the party’s not over, until God says so. ”
Note: Eunice Tall Baros is an attorney and
mediator in Palm Beach County, Florida
and served on the Board of Directors when
V. Lynn Whitfield was president of the local
Craig S. Barnard American Inn of Court.
She is a member of the Bar’s Committee on
Diversity and Inclusion.