YLD races decided, runoffs set
YLD races decided, runoffs set
Five board races for the Young Lawyers Division Board of Governors were decided and another two wound up in a runoff in March elections.
John David William Beamer, who got 105 votes, will face J ennifer A. Smith, who got 147 votes, in the Ninth Circuit, Seat 1 race. They bettered
Kyle A. Diamantas, who got 45 votes.
In the 17 th Circuit, Seat 1 race,
Estefania Nasielski, with 128 votes, will face Alison Smith, who garnered 103 votes. Eliminated was Christopher Horton, 99 votes.
In the decided races, in the Ninth Circuit, Seat 2,
Karen Persis
defeated
Michelle Swiren Zaltsberg, 221 to 69; in the 11 th Circuit, Seat 1 race,
Annika E. Ashton defeated Raquel Moya 254 to 227; in the 13 th Circuit, Seat 1, contest H. Web Melton Ill beat Ella A. Shenhav 191 to 109; in the 15 th Circuit, Seat 3, race Stephanie Cagnet bested Santo DiGangi 223 to 125; in the 17 th Circuit, Seat 3, race Cherine Smith Valbrun defeated Dena Sacharow 168 to 145.
Ballots will be emailed or mailed to eligible voters on or before April 1. All votes must be received by 11:59 p.m. (EDT), Wednesday, April 22, with certification anticipated by Thursday, April 23.
Here are the platform statements of the candidates involved in runoffs.
Ninth Circuit: Seat 1
John D.W. Beamer
It would be my privilege to serve as your representative for The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division Board of Governors for the Ninth Judicial Circuit. For the last seven years, I have lived and practiced within the Ninth Judicial Circuit. My goal is to help you, as members of the Young Lawyers Division, reach your career goals through enhancing and developing relationships within and outside the Ninth Judicial Circuit.
Most members of the YLD face different challenges in our professional careers. For all of us, stress is an issue, which can take many forms. For some, it is the challenge presented by student loan debt, or developing a book of business. For others, it is finding a work-life-law balance. No matter the challenges, the YLD is here to help ease the daily struggles for young attorneys. With these challenges, the mentor-apprentice model of the legal practice is fading away. More often than not, firms are finding it more difficult to absorb the cost of training new attorneys. In turn, new attorneys are finding it more difficult to hone their skills as advocates and litigators. My goal as your representative on the YLD Board of Governors is to enhance and develop relationships with you and other members of The Florida Bar. connecting YLD members from across the state, and encouraging more involvement, we can provide any guidance and a friendly, more experienced ear to turn to with questions.
Serving this circuit on the YLD board is an incredible honor and I certainly welcome your feedback, ideas, and criticisms of how we can all work together to improve the relationships we share and, in turn, improve our profession. You can be assured that I will make myself available and effectively represent the Ninth Circuit on the YLD Board of Governors.
I would be honored to have your vote and ask for your support. Please vote for me between March 1 and 23.
Jennifer A. Smith
If you are active in the Young Lawyers Section of the Orange County Bar, you’ve rubbed elbows with me at the social functions, stroked a check at the fundraisers I attend, or shared a drink at the happy hours I never pass up. If you’ve attended a YLS luncheon in the past year, you have emailed me your RSVP and taken your name tag from me as I checked you in. You may have witnessed my Oscar-worthy Big Bad Wolf performance at the Mock Trials, or helped me paint the nails of a child living at the Woman’s Residential Counseling Center at the annual Halloween Party. If you’ve attended the ever popular Evening with the Judiciary, you’ve mailed your admission check to me, then enjoyed the hors d’oeuvres and drinks I selected especially for you. If you were present at the OCBA awards ceremony, you watched me collect my pin from Legal Aid for participating in the OCBA AIDS Project. If you attended the Relay for Life event I chaired in 2013, we sat under a tent together collecting more than quadruple the donations of past years. If you enjoyed Holidays All Year Long this year, my law firm joined me in sponsoring it. We may have sat next to each other at dinner at the George C. Young First Central Florida American Inn of Court, where I am a “Barrister” or shared a meal at a CFAWL “Table for Eight.” In sum, if you are out and about in the Ninth Circuit, particularly with the Young Lawyers Section of the OCBA, you have been doing that with me.
I’ve more than dabbled in the “Big Bar.” I’m finishing my second three-year term on the Student Education and Admissions to the Bar Committee and I just started my first term on The Florida Bar’s Standing Committee on Judicial Administration and Evaluation. If you attended Annual Convention, Fall Meeting, or Winter Meeting, we passed each other in the hotel. You may have thought you spotted a (much) larger, taller, blondish Audrey Hepburn at FAWL’s Little Black Dress Party, but it was me.
I am actively serving you and I seek the opportunity to increase my reach, our opportunities to do more together, and meet your needs by serving on the Board of Governors.
My opponents, while both esteemed in their own regard, do not have the distinguished honor of doing all this with and for you — and a Board of Governors seat is not an audition. I’ve proven my dedication, the willingness to serve, and a track record of attendance and participation that demonstrates this isn’t a title for me, it’s a vehicle for us to improve the quality of our Bar.
I ask for your trust and your vote, and give you my commitment to show up, work hard, and do more. I will advocate for your interests and listen to your complaints. If elected, I will be accessible to all young lawyers in Orange and Osceola counties, but, then again, you’ll probably be seeing me around.
17th Circuit: Seat 1
Estefania Nasielski
My name is Estefania Nasielski and it would be my honor to serve as your representative for the 17th Judicial Circuit on The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division Board of Governors.
Currently, I am an assistant state attorney for the 17th Judicial Circuit of Florida. This opportunity to serve my community has also given me the chance to learn about many of the challenges we face as young lawyers. This, combined with the fact that I grew up in South Florida, makes me the ideal candidate to represent you.
My involvement with The Florida Bar first began when I was a law student at the University of Miami, when I served on The Florida Bar YLD Law Student Division Board of Governors for three years. Serving as your representative would allow me the opportunity to continue that involvement now as a young lawyer
As a governor of the Law Student Division, I was able to observe and learn how The Florida Bar operates. As young lawyers, we constantly strive to expand our network and make connections. I would ensure that members are aware of all the opportunities The Florida Bar makes available to us in order to accomplish this goal.
Additionally, I would strive to ensure that the CLE opportunities offered to us are relevant to the shifting demands of the profession. As the profession rapidly changes, we need current CLE programs that allow us to hone our skills in an efficient and effective way.
I am asking for your vote because I believe my strong background and extensive experience with the Bar makes me the ideal candidate to represent you and your needs. I understand that changes take time, and I am committed to making a difference. If given the opportunity to serve, I know my commitment extends far beyond the two-year term.
Alison Smith
I am running for Seat 1 on The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division Board of Governors in the 17th Judicial Circuit. People who know me would describe me as being passionate about life. I give my all to any endeavor in which I am engaged, and am incredibly motivated to use my resources to serve my community. I have chosen to run for election because I believe it is imperative to be represented by a diverse group of leaders with diverse ideas, goals, and initiatives and, if elected, it is my intention to promote diversity and represent the constituents of this very diverse circuit to the best of my ability.
I have been practicing law for over a decade and am currently a partner in the labor and employment division of Weiss Serota Helfman Cole Bierman and Popok. While I am fully committed to being the best and most zealous advocate for my clients, I am also strongly committed to community involvement. I am the immediate past president of the Caribbean Bar Association (CBA) and served on its board for four years. As president, I was responsible for coordinating and executing virtually all aspects of the CBA’s business, and put in tremendous hours to effectuate its major community outreach initiatives, both within and outside of the legal community. While president of the CBA, my platform was youth mentorship. To that end, I designed and implemented a joint venture with Miami-Dade College, called Aspire to Inspire, which is my most significant achievement as a professional, and the accomplishment of which I am most proud. Through that program, professionals from various career paths, who have overcome hardship and adversity to achieve great measures of success, give motivational speeches to the college students, aimed at encouraging them to strive to be successful themselves, and to become actively involved in their communities.
I am presently the vice chair of the board of directors for Legal Aid Service of Broward County (where I interned as a law student), and am also vice-chair of the Board of Directors of Coast to Coast Legal Aid. Both of those organizations provide much needed pro bono legal services to those who are most in need in our community. In addition, I am on the Leadership Development Committee of the Broward League of Cities, an organization aimed at bettering the governance and operation of municipalities, as well as a member of The Florida Bar’s Voluntary Bar Liaison Committee.
If elected to seat 1, I will use my experience as an advocate and community leader to represent the interests, concerns, needs, and ideas of the constituents in the 17th Judicial Circuit. I look forward to the opportunity to serve you.
As an active member of The Florida Bar and the Broward County Bar, I believe that my history of service to the Bar and our community along with my demonstrated commitment to creating opportunities for young lawyers will prove integral to my work as your representative. I will address the concerns of the young lawyers in the 17th Circuit, while addressing the many issues facing the Bar as a whole, such as greater access to the courts, the impact of the economy on graduating law students, new lawyers, and practicing lawyers, mentorship for young attorneys, and court funding. These are a few of the issues, which I am committed to work toward a successful outcome.
For additional background information that details my experiences, visit http://kvllaw.com/kvl_cherinevalbrun.html. I was recognized for my achievements in Legacy magazine as one of 40 Under 40 Leaders of Today and Tomorrow in 2014, and was recently selected to be in the Florida Rising Stars list again. I also received an award from Broward Lawyers Care for recognition of my pro bono services.
I humbly request that you grant me the opportunity to serve as your 17th Judicial Circuit representative, Seat 3, on the YLD Board of Governors. Vote for me because I have served you here in Broward and you have my commitment to strive to make a difference in partnership with all those who serve on the Board so that we can all fulfill every matter that is of concern to us all. I greatly appreciate your consideration.
