Judge Ashenafi Richardson

Judge Nina Ashenafi Richardson has served as judge in the Leon County Court system since 2008. In addition to her other assigned duties, Judge Ashenafi Richardson has served as Felony Drug Court judge for over nine years and is a member of the Office of State Courts Administrator’s Steering Committee on Problem Solving Courts. She served as chair of the Education and Outreach subcommittee of the Florida Supreme Court’s Judicial Management Council, an advisory body that includes judges, lawyers and nonlawyers.

Under Judge Ashenafi Richardson’s leadership, the subcommittee drafted a statewide communications plan that was formally adopted by the Florida Supreme Court, with implementation over a five-year period beginning in January 2016. The plan, “Delivering Our Message,” was developed with input from judges, the media, court public information officers and other court staff from around the state. The plan calls for the use of communication technology and social media to the extent appropriate in judicial settings, emphasizing the importance of improving communication between Florida’s judicial branch and the public at large, as well as court users and other justice partners of the courts.

She currently chairs the Second Judicial Circuit’s Communications Committee, which was created to implement the communications plan. Judge Ashenafi Richardson has been recognized with numerous awards for her servant leadership, most recently receiving the Chief Justice’s Distinguished Judicial Service Award for exceptional pro bono service and the Florida Court Public Information Officers Lifetime Achievement Award.

Birk

Edward L. Birk is a shareholder with MarksGray, where he represents and defends news media organizations and journalists in all aspects of newsgathering, publishing, and broadcasting, including source development, pre-publication review, compelling access to courts and records, copyright and trademark enforcement, fighting subpoenas for privileged information, and defending against defamation and libel claims.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1983 from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where he was a staff member of The Massachusetts Daily Collegian newspaper and the news team at WMUA college radio station.

Before law school, Birk was an editor and reporter for The Associated Press in Massachusetts and Florida. He earned his law degree with honors in 1995 from Florida State University College of Law, where he was editor-in-chief of the Law Review. Birk has earned Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating of AV. For the past 10 years he has been named in The Best Lawyers in America and in Super Lawyer magazine. He serves as general counsel for the Florida First Amendment Foundation.

Block

Robert “Bobby” Block is the executive director of the Florida First Amendment Foundation. Block has had had a four-decade career in journalism, including contributing to the Wall Street Journal’s coverage of 9/11, which earned a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News in 2002. He co-authored the book “Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security,” which was a 2006 Washington Post Book of the Year and has reported on various conflicts across the globe, including the civil war in El Salvador, the Rwandan genocide in 1994, and the executions of more than 8,000 men and boys by Serbian forces in a Bosnian village in 1995. He also traveled the globe tracking terrorist financing after 9/11.

During Block’s first year at the helm of the Florida First Amendment Foundation, Block expanded the Foundation’s mission beyond its traditional role of protecting government transparency and public records access to defend individual rights of expression and other First Amendment issues. A firm believer in government transparency and a near absolutist in his views on the First Amendment, Block views American’s constitutional rights of free speech to be at the heart of all our freedoms.

In addition to the Wall Street Journal, Block has reported for the Tribune Company, Reuters, and the Independent of London, and has contributed to the New York Review of Books. He has also worked for SpaceX, the Center for Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the Angaza Foundation for African Reporting, and ran his business consultancy, Hurricane Communications Inc.

Bradshaw

D’Bria Bradshaw is the Florida state coordinator of the Fair Election Center Campus Vote Project, where she collaborates with institutions and civic leaders to create nonpartisan voter education programs and initiatives that empower and mobilize student voters across college campuses.

Bradshaw’s civic engagement and advocacy expertise have been honed through her role as a fellow of the Memorial Foundation Social Justice Program (2021) and as a licensed bar member of the United States Supreme Court (2024) and the state of New York (2020). Her previous roles include serving as the deputy director / quality control director at Florida Conservation Voters Democracy for All Florida and offering legal support for election and voter protection causes with Election Protection. She has also provided legal assistance for returning citizens through the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition.

Through her nonprofit D.E.B.S. Foundation, Bradshaw offers academic and financial support to young scholars through annual scholarships and programming. As a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., she has made significant contributions and provided leadership that has greatly strengthened AKA’s political advocacy across Florida.

Justice Canady

Justice Charles T. Canady was born in Lakeland, Florida, in 1954. He received his B.A. from Haverford College in 1976 and his J.D. from the Yale Law School in 1979.

Justice Canady practiced law with the firm of Holland and Knight in Lakeland from 1979 through 1982. He practiced with the firm of Lane, Trohn, et al., from 1983 through 1992. From November 1984 to November 1990, Justice Canady served three terms in the Florida House of Representatives, and from January 1993 to January 2001, he served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Throughout his service in Congress, Justice Canady was a member of the House Judiciary Committee. For three terms, January 1995 to January 2001, Justice Canady was the chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution. Upon leaving Congress, Justice Canady became General Counsel to Gov. Jeb Bush. He was appointed by Gov. Bush to the Second District Court of Appeal for a term beginning November 20, 2002.

On August 28, 2008, Justice Canady was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by Gov. Charlie Crist and took office September 8, 2008. He served as Florida’s 54th chief justice from July 2010 through June 2012. He was elected by his colleagues to serve as chief justice for a second time starting July 1, 2018, and a third time starting July 1, 2020.

Caramanica

Mark Caramanica is a partner with Thomas & LoCicero in Tampa. His practice focuses on media law, intellectual property, and civil litigation. Prior to joining the firm, Caramanica was an attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the nation’s leading legal advocacy nonprofit organization serving free press and First Amendment interests. In that role, he specialized in freedom of information, access, and intellectual property issues. Prior to that, he practiced commercial litigation in New York City where he represented foreign and domestic corporate clients in multi-million-dollar disputes. Caramanica also served as director of the Marion Brechner Citizen Access Project at the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications, where he taught classes in media and telecommunications law.

He is a frequent speaker at journalism and media conferences and has been quoted in publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Pro Publica. He has also appeared on NPR and On the Media. Caramanica serves on the Department of Journalism Advisory Council at the University of Florida as well as on the ACLU of Florida’s legal panel. During law school, he worked in the sports department of The Gainesville Sun.

Justice Couriel

Justice John D. Couriel is the 90th justice of the Florida Supreme Court. Justice Couriel was born in Miami, Florida in 1978.  Justice Couriel received his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Harvard College in 2000 and his law degree from Harvard Law School in 2003. He clerked for the Hon. John D. Bates of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia before joining Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York. His practice there included securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy matters, and investigations. In 2009, he became an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. He prosecuted hundreds of federal offenses, including international money laundering, public integrity, healthcare fraud, and human trafficking crimes. In 2013, he joined Kobre & Kim LLP, where he specialized in cross-border disputes and investigations relating to financial products and services, asset recovery, and government enforcement defense, with an emphasis on clients in Latin America.

Justice Couriel is a native speaker of Spanish. His parents emigrated from Cuba in the 1960s, his father as one of approximately 14,000 unaccompanied minors welcomed to the United States as part of Operation Pedro Pan. He was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by Gov. Ron DeSantis on June 1, 2020.

Eagleton

Joe Eagleton is a board-certified appellate specialist and an equity shareholder with the appellate boutique Brannock Berman & Seider, the largest law firm in Florida specializing exclusively in appeals and trial support. An experienced appellate practitioner and former Florida Supreme Court law clerk, Eagleton has handled appeals in all six Florida District Courts of Appeal, the Florida Supreme Court, two federal circuit courts of appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. His practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, high-value family-law appeals, and high-profile public-interest cases.

Eagleton is a leader in the state and local appellate bars. He currently serves as the chair-elect of the Florida Bar’s Appellate Practice Section, and he previously served as the longtime chair of Hillsborough County’s Appellate Practice Section. He is routinely recognized for his work in appellate practice and commercial litigation by leading publications like Florida Super Lawyers, Florida Trend, and Best Lawyers in America.

Eagleton is a triple-Gator, having earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and law degrees from the University of Florida.

Fineout

Gary Fineout came to POLITICO Florida in February 2019 after spending more than two decades covering Florida politics and government. He spent the previous seven and a half years working in the Tallahassee bureau of The Associated Press. Prior to that, he has worked for The Miami Herald, The New York Times Regional Newspaper Group, Daytona Beach News-Journal and The Tallahassee Democrat. Fineout grew up in Florida and is a graduate of Florida State University.

Flemming

Paul Flemming is the director of the Florida Supreme Court Public Information Office. He moved into that position in March 2022 after working as PIO for the Office of the State Courts Administrator for five years. Previously, he was a reporter and editor for newspapers in Missouri and Florida. He came to Tallahassee in 2004 and worked as bureau chief, leading state coverage for four newspapers and in cooperation with three television stations. Before joining the state courts system, he worked in the Florida Legislature for two years.

Garcia

Jason Garcia is a leading corporate accountability journalist in Florida. The winner of multiple state and national awards, Garcia is the author of “Big Profits, Tiny Taxes,” which exposed how corporations dodge Florida taxes and how policymakers could stop it, and a series of stories in 2021 tracing the dark money spent in a statewide scheme to sway key Senate elections through the use of “ghost candidates.” He spent 20 years with the Orlando Sentinel and Florida Trend magazine covering the intersection of business and politics. He’s now the publisher of Seeking Rents, a newsletter and podcast about Florida politics that explores the ways big businesses and other special interests bend public policy in their favor. Seeking Rents has more than 6,000 subscribers, including elected officials and senior leaders across state government.

Gowdy

Bryan Gowdy is a board-certified appellate lawyer with Creed & Gowdy.  His practice is limited to handling appeals, post-conviction motions, and trial support for matters likely to be appealed.  His practice encompasses all substantive areas of the law, including plaintiff’s injury and products liability, commercial cases, criminal law, and family law. He has briefed and orally argued appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court, several U.S. Courts of Appeals, the Supreme Court of Florida, and all five of Florida’s district courts of appeal.  He is AV-rated by Martindale Hubbell and has been selected as a Top 100 in Florida Super Lawyer, Top 25 in Jacksonville Super Lawyer, and a “Legal Elite” by Florida Trend Magazine. In 2019, Gowdy began serving as the chair for the Florida Justice Association Amicus Curiae Committee.

Before joining the firm, Gowdy was with the national law firm of McGuireWoods LLP, where he primarily handled commercial litigation at the trial and appellate level. Gowdy began his legal career as a law clerk for federal judges at the trial and appellate level. Gowdy attended the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he was first in his class, a member of the Order of the Coif, and the management editor of the Florida Law Review.  Before law school, Gowdy was an active-duty surface warfare officer in the U.S. Navy, and graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

Justice Grosshans

Justice Jamie Rutland Grosshans was appointed as the 91st Justice of the Florida Supreme Court on September 14, 2020 by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Previously she was appointed to the Fifth District Court of Appeal by Gov. Rick Scott. Prior to her appointment to the appellate court, she served as an Orange County Court judge in the Ninth Judicial Circuit, where she presided over criminal and civil matters.

Justice Grosshans was raised in Brookhaven, Mississippi and graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Law. During law school, she clerked for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Mississippi. Following admittance to The Florida Bar, she served as an assistant state attorney for the Ninth Circuit in both the misdemeanor and felony divisions, where she tried numerous criminal jury trials. Justice Grosshans later entered private practice and founded her own law firm, where she focused primarily on family law and criminal defense matters. She also served as an adjunct professor at Valencia College, frequently volunteered as a guardian ad litem, and offered her time in numerous pro bono cases.

Justice Grosshans regularly speaks to lawyers, law students, and community organizations on topics such as challenges in the practice of law, the role of the judicial branch, civics, professionalism, and ethics in the legal profession.

Harrell

Gregory C. Harrell has served as Clerk of Court and Comptroller for Marion County since January 2021. An attorney, he practiced law in the private sector in Tallahassee, Miami, and Ocala before becoming general counsel to the Clerk’s Office in 2013. He serves as vice president of the Florida Court Clerks and Comptrollers (FCCC) and holds key roles on multiple committees. Harrell has received FCCC’s Legislative Collaboration (2022) and Key Contributor (2023) awards.

Harrell is active in the legal profession and in his community. He has served as president of the Marion County Bar Association, chair of The Florida Bar’s Grievance Committee for the Fifth Judicial Circuit and as an executive committee member for the UF Law Alumni Council. He currently serves on the board of directors for the Ocala/Marion County Chamber & Economic Partnership (CEP), and as a district committee member for the Boys Scouts of America, North Florida Council, West District.

A third-generation Ocala resident, Harrell graduated from the University of Virginia and earned his law degree from the University of Florida, Levin College of Law.

Karp

David Karp brings a decade of experience as a professional writer and editor to his law practice at Carlton Fields, which focuses on appeals and representing content creators in First Amendment and defamation cases. He has handled appeals in federal and state courts on a range of issues: class actions, bad faith insurance cases, real property disputes, personal injury cases, and constitutional challenges to state and local laws. He also represents clients in class actions and complex commercial cases in the trial court, helping frame issues for summary judgment and dismissal, and serving as an integral part of a trial team.

Krell Davis

Jennifer Krell Davis joined The Florida Bar Public Information Office in 2001, after graduating law school and working as a staff attorney for the Florida House of Representatives, to assist with special projects. She moved on to the Florida Chamber of Commerce as communications director where she led messaging efforts for legislative advocacy, and political and grassroots outreach. From there she became communications director for the Florida Department of State, covering the arts, elections, corporations, and historical divisions as well as the 2008 Presidential Election. After that she served as press secretary for the Office of the Florida Attorney General and then vice president of Public Affairs for the Florida Ports Council, the professional association for Florida’s 15 public seaports. She rejoined The Florida Bar staff in 2016 as deputy director of Communications leading internal and external digital communications for the Bar. She became communications director in 2021 and Communications Division Director in 2023. Davis received her undergraduate degree in English Literature from Florida State University and her law degree from the University of Florida.

Justice Jorge Labarga

Justice Jorge Labarga was born in Cuba in 1952 and arrived in the U.S. at the age of 11 where he initially lived with his family in Pahokee, Florida. He graduated from Forest Hill High School in West Palm Beach in 1972 and received both his bachelor’s (1976) and law (1979) degrees from the University of Florida.

Justice Labarga began his legal career in 1979 as an assistant public defender with the Public Defender’s Office in West Palm Beach, assigned to the appellate, misdemeanor and felony trial divisions. In 1982 he joined the State Attorney’s Office in West Palm Beach, where he tried cases ranging from theft to homicide. In 1987 he joined the firm of Cone, Wagner, Nugent, Roth, Romano & Ericksen P.A., and specialized in personal injury trial work. In 1992 Justice Labarga participated in founding the law firm of Roth, Duncan & Labarga P.A., in West Palm Beach, where he continued to specialize in personal injury litigation and criminal defense.

Gov. Lawton Chiles appointed Justice Labarga to the Circuit Court of the 15th Judicial Circuit, in and for Palm Beach County, in 1996. In that capacity he served in the family, civil and criminal divisions. He also served as the administrative judge of the civil division.

In December 2008 Justice Labarga was appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist to the Fourth District Court of Appeal. On January 6, 2009, he took office on the Florida Supreme Court after appointment by Gov. Crist. He is the 84th Justice to take office at the Florida Supreme Court since statehood was granted in 1845. On July 1, 2014, he became the 56th Chief Justice of Florida – the first Cuban American to lead the state judicial branch. He held that office for two terms until June 2018, the first chief justice to serve consecutive terms in a century.

Latimer

Craig Latimer is the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections, first elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2016 and 2020. He is the first Supervisor of Elections to earn the Governor’s Sterling Award, the highest award for performance excellence in the State of Florida. Sterling Award recipients are selected based on a rigorous examination and expected to serve as role models, sharing best practices with others in the state. Latimer served as president of the Florida Supervisors of Elections association in 2020. In 2022 and 2023, Latimer was recognized by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission with Clearinghouse Awards for leadership in poll worker training, voter education, and election administration innovation.

Latimer served as chief of staff to the Supervisor of Elections from 2009 to 2013. He received his official designation as a Certified Elections and Registration Administrator (CERA) in 2014, and currently serves as a founding member of the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections.

Before joining the Supervisor of Elections office, Latimer served for 35 years in law enforcement, retiring as a major from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office in 2008.

Latimer is an active community volunteer. He is on the board of the Central Florida Behavioral Health Network and the Tampa Catholic High School Board of Trustees, as well as chair emeritus of BAYS Florida and honorary commander for the 6th Medical Group at MacDill Air Force Base. Born and raised in Hillsborough County, he attended Christ the King, graduated from Tampa Catholic High School, and earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida.

Lux

Paul Lux started working for the Okaloosa County elections office in 1999, serving in various capacities until he was elected Supervisor of Elections in 2008.

An Army veteran, Lux has worked on a variety of projects all with one goal: to better serve Florida’s absent military and overseas citizens. He still serves with the Council of State Government’s Overseas Voting Initiative, studying problems and exploring solutions for our nation’s hardest-to-reach voters.

Lux is past president of the Florida Supervisors of Elections association and currently serves the national elections community as the vice chair of the Executive Committee for the Election Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center. He also represents Florida’s local elections officials on the Election Assistance Commission Standards Board, serving on the Technical Guideline Development Committee that researches and recommends changes to the nations voluntary voting system guidelines.

MacManus

Susan A. MacManus, Ph.D., is a USF Distinguished University Professor (Political Science) Emerita. She has authored or co-authored numerous publications on Florida politics, including “Florida’s Minority Trailblazers: The Men and Women Who Changed the Face of Florida Government,” “Politics in Florida” (5th ed., 2019), “Ten Media Markets, One Powerful State,” “Young v. Old: Generational Combat in the 21st Century,” and “Targeting Senior Voters.”

From 1998 to 2015, she served as political analyst for WFLA News Channel 8 (Tampa’s NBC affiliate). Since 2016, she has been the political analyst for ABC Action News (Tampa’s ABC affiliate). She is a featured columnist on sayfiereview.com—a Florida-based political website. MacManus has appeared on every major broadcast and cable television and radio network and been interviewed by major newspapers in Florida, the U.S., and abroad.

She serves on the council of advisors of the UF Bob Graham Center for Public Service and on the board of directors of the Florida TaxWatch Center for Florida Citizenship. MacManus is not affiliated with any political party. MacManus received her M.A. from the University of Michigan and Ph.D. from Florida State University.

Justice Muniz

Justice Carlos G. Muñiz was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by Gov. Ron DeSantis on January 22, 2019, becoming the 89th Justice since statehood was granted in 1845. Justice Muñiz was elected by his colleagues to serve as Florida’s 57th Chief Justice beginning July 1, 2022. Prior to joining the court, he served on the staff of Sec. Betsy DeVos as the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Education.

In addition to working as an attorney in the federal government and in private practice, Justice Muñiz had an extensive career in Florida state government. He served as the deputy attorney general and chief of staff to Attorney Gen. Pam Bondi; as deputy chief of staff and counsel in the Office of the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives; as general counsel of the Department of Financial Services; and as deputy general counsel to Gov. Jeb Bush.

Justice Muñiz is a graduate of the University of Virginia and of Yale Law School. After law school, he clerked for Judge José A. Cabranes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and for Judge Thomas A. Flannery of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Nesmith

Susannah Nesmith has worked for the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust since 2017. She began her ethics career in the enforcement unit as an investigator and moved into a staff attorney role in 2023. Before this, Nesmith was a journalist, chasing stories — and public records — in Florida and all over the world. Her work has appeared in Bloomberg News, The New York Times, Columbia Journalism Review, The Associated Press, The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post and a variety of other publications. She currently enforces Miami-Dade’s Citizens Bill of Rights, which has a public records provision. She has also submitted hundreds of public records requests.

Ponce

Scott D. Ponce is a partner in Holland & Knight’s Miami office. He practices in the areas of complex civil and commercial litigation, with an emphasis on media law, and class action litigation and arbitration. He defends class action lawsuits in federal and state courts throughout the United States. He also has represented numerous national and local media outlets in defamation suits, public records litigation, opposing the closure of court records and proceedings, and the prepublication review of articles and broadcasts. Ponce also has extensive experience in representing clients in intellectual property litigation, particularly relating to copyright infringement and trademark issues. Additionally, Ponce has extensively litigated issues arising under the Helms-Burton Act, serving as lead counsel in two of the first major cases that were filed under the Act.

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Ponce served as a judicial clerk to the Hon. Edward B. Davis, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Ponce is admitted to practice in the States of Florida, Vermont and New York, the United States District Courts for the Southern, Middle and Northern Districts of Florida, and the United States Circuit Courts of Appeal for the Second, Ninth and 11th Circuits.

Ponce received a B.S.B.A. in finance, with honors, from the University of Florida in 1995. He received his J.D., with honors, from the University of Florida College of Law in 1998. While in law school he was a member of the Florida Law Review. 

Portman

Jennifer Portman is managing editor for national news at USA TODAY. A Los Angeles native, she began her daily newspaper career nearly 30 years ago. After earning a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University, she worked as a reporter and editorial writer for the News-Leader in Springfield, Missouri. She joined the Tallahassee Democrat as a projects and investigative reporter in 2005 and became the paper’s news director in 2015. As a reporter at the Democrat, she covered many high-profile murder cases, including police confidential informant Rachel Hoffman, Florida State law professor Dan Markel and most notably, real estate appraiser Mike Williams, a story she followed for more than a dozen years. As news director, Portman also led award-winning coverage on FBI investigations into the city of Tallahassee. In 2019, she joined USA TODAY as a national enterprise editor, directing the paper’s health, science, and pandemic reporting. In October 2022, she was named managing editor for the Nation section.

Rietow

Emilie Rietow is the education and information administrator at the Florida Supreme Court. Her work in public information office includes instructing thousands of teachers, students and members of the public from throughout the state about Florida’s judicial branch of government and coordinating other civics education programs. Rietow is also responsible for website and social media content management and event planning. Prior to her position at the Court, Rietow spent several years working in The Florida Bar’s public information office and as an elementary classroom teacher in the public school system.

Sanchez-Medina Jr.

Roland Sanchez-Medina Jr. is the president of The Florida Bar and a partner at Miami-based SMGQ Law, an AV-rated, certified minority-owned, full service law firm with offices in Florida and Georgia. He focuses his practice in the areas of corporate and securities law, including mergers and acquisitions, corporate structuring/restructuring, board governance, domestic and international commercial transactions, commercial and residential real estate transactions, tax and estate planning, and other general transactional services. Prior to forming SMGQ, Sanchez-Medina was a partner at the national law firm of McDermott, Will & Emery, where he was a member of the Corporate Department, and was a senior associate at the national law firm of Holland & Knight.

He is a member of The Florida Bar’s Business Law, Real Property, Probate and Trust Law, and International Law sections. Bilingual, he served as CABA president in 2009. Since his election to the Board of Governors more than eight years ago, Sanchez-Medina has served on many board committees, and recently chaired the influential Program Evaluation Committee. His extensive history of community and professional service includes stints as chairman of the Miami-Dade County School Board’s Budget & Audit Committee, chairman of the board of directors and general counsel of South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and as a member of the Orange Bowl Committee.

A Cuba native, Sanchez-Medina graduated from Boston College Law School in 1991, then earned an L.L.M. in taxation from the New York University School of Law in 1992. He received a B.B.A. from the University of Miami in 1988.

Justice Sasso

On May 23, 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Justice Meredith L. Sasso to be the 93rd justice of the Supreme Court of Florida.

She began her career in private practice, representing clients in large loss general liability, auto negligence, and complex commercial claims in state and federal courts at trial and on appeal. She also served as guardian ad litem, representing abused or neglected children.

In August 2016, Justice Sasso joined the Office of the General Counsel to Gov. Rick Scott, serving as chief deputy general counsel. In this role, she represented the governor in litigation before the Florida Supreme Court, the First District Court of Appeal, and state and federal trial courts, among other duties. In January 2019, Gov. Scott appointed her to the Fifth District Court of Appeal. Gov. DeSantis recommissioned her to the newly created Sixth District Court of Appeal on January 1, 2023, where she was elected by her colleagues to serve as its first Chief Judge.

She is a member of the American Enterprise Institute Leadership Network and the Federalist Society.

Justice Sasso was raised in Tallahassee. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Florida in 2005 and her law degree from the University of Florida in 2008, where she was a member of the Justice Campbell Thornal Moot Court board.

Saunders

Jim Saunders has been executive editor of the News Service of Florida since 2013 and has covered state government and politics in Florida since 1998. The News Service provides coverage of legislative, political, legal and regulatory issues for newspapers, television stations and radio stations throughout Florida and has a wide range of other subscribers, such as government agencies, lobbying firms, law firms and businesses. Saunders came to the News Service in 2011 after stints as Tallahassee bureau chief for The Florida Times-Union, The Daytona Beach News-Journal and Health News Florida. He moved to Florida in 1990 and worked eight years for the Times-Union in Jacksonville and St. Johns County.

A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he graduated from Northwestern University and worked at The Blade newspaper in Toledo, Ohio, before moving to the Times-Union. Saunders enjoys covering legal and regulatory issues and has extensive experience in covering health care.

Snyder

David M. Snyder started his solo practice in 1995, where he helps consumers, taxpayers, and the media access information and protects their right to publish it. He is First Amendment counsel to Creative Loafing alternative newspapers and Tampa/Hillsborough County’s public access television provider, The Tampa Bay Community Network.

Snyder graduated from the University of South Florida, where he was awarded a B.A. in English. At USF, he was managing editor of The Oracle and won a Distinguished Service Award from the Department of Mass Communications. He received a J.D., summa cum laude, and graduated first in his class from Stetson University, where he was editor-in-chief of the Stetson Law Review. Snyder was a staff writer for the Clearwater Sun (1975) and St. Petersburg Times (1975-79). He also served 34 years in the Naval Reserve as a military journalist and public affairs officer, retiring at the rank of captain. Among assignments around the world, he served as U.S. Navy spokesman for Peacekeeping Forces in Beirut, Lebanon, in the months following the terrorist attacks on U.S. forces there. He was a law clerk in The New York Times Co. legal department, an associate of the New York City firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel, and a partner in Tampa law firms before starting his solo practice.

Snyder teaches/has taught Communications Law at the University of Tampa, Florida Southern College, and USF St. Petersburg. He organized The Florida Bar’s first Reporter’s Workshop in 1990, has served many terms on the Florida Bar Media & Communications Law Committee as a member, past chair and vice-chair. He also served on and chaired the Florida Bar Statewide Advertising Grievance Committee and a 13th Circuit grievance committee.

Savitz

Patricia Ann Toro Savitz received both her B.A.A (1982) and J.D. (1985) degrees from the University of Miami. Savitz is staff counsel for the Lawyer Regulation Division of The Florida Bar. She has been with The Florida Bar since 1997 and was bar counsel in the Orlando Branch Office for over 20 years. She was an assistant public defender in the 20th Judicial Circuit in Fort Myers and subsequently handled dependency cases with the Department of Children and Families. Savitz is actively involved in voluntary bar associations and civic programs.

Sigler

Eunice Sigler has served as public information officer for the largest judicial circuit in Florida, the 11th Judicial Circuit, also known as the Miami-Dade Courts, since April 2006. In this capacity, she serves as the main point of contact for the public as well as for local, national and international members of the news media covering court cases in Miami-Dade County. Her office collaborates with local government, bar associations and other legal organizations on joint public relations and community outreach projects. She coordinates with the Miami-Dade County Film Office and commercial film production companies on projects involving photo shoots and filming of ads, movies and TV shows on court locations.

Sigler is a past president of Florida Court Public Information Officers (FCPIO), an educational organization of all the public information officers from Florida’s courts. She currently serves as chair of the FCPIO’s Education Committee.

Prior to joining the 11th Judicial Circuit, Sigler served as a Miami Herald reporter, freelance journalist, and public affairs representative for the City of Coral Gables. While at the Herald, she covered municipal government and breaking news, and wrote features on a wide variety of subjects. As the government reporter for the City of South Miami, Sigler was the first to report on the citizens’ revolt against Florida’s canker eradication program – a movement that started in South Miami and led to significant changes in the way the state managed the eradication process. Also, while at the Herald, she was among the staff members who shared the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for the Herald’s coverage of the surprise federal raid on Elian Gonzalez’s Little Havana home the year before. In a prior career, she was a technology consultant for NCR Corp. and AT&T, working with major accounts such as FedEx and Coca-Cola.

Sigler holds bachelor’s degrees in Communications-Print Journalism and Computer Science from Florida International University.

Tarbert

Elizabeth Clark Tarbert has been director of the Lawyer Regulation Division for The Florida Bar – the division responsible for the investigation and prosecution of disciplinary complaints against Florida Bar members – since October 2021. She also serves as counsel to The Florida Bar Board of Governors Disciplinary Review, Disciplinary Procedure, and Rules committees. She was ethics counsel for The Florida Bar from 1997 to 2021, providing oral and written ethics opinions to members and advising the Professional Ethics Committee, Standing Committee on Advertising, and Board Review Committee on Professional Ethics. She has also served as counsel to numerous special Bar committees and task forces. She currently serves on the ABA Standing Committee on Professional Regulation and is a former member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility. She has been an assistant public defender in both Dallas, Texas and the 8th Judicial Circuit in Gainesville. While at the Defense Contract Management District Mid-Atlantic, Defense Logistics Agency in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Tarbert worked in a special fraud remedies unit, assisting in the investigation and prosecution of government contractors. Tarbert graduated from the University of Florida College of Law with honors and holds a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Florida. She frequently speaks on legal ethics and professional responsibility.

Webster

Stephen G. Webster is the founder and managing partner of Webster & Baptiste in Tallahassee, where he handles criminal defense, administrative/professional disciplinary actions, civil rights litigation (both plaintiff and defense), contract/business law issues, public records, and personal injury cases. He is trial court counsel for the Florida Police Benevolent Association.

Webster worked in his family’s road construction business in South Florida for 20 years until a 2003 incident changed the trajectory of his life. That year, Webster’s close friend was charged with a crime, and Webster was convinced his friend was not guilty of the charge. This inspired Webster to enroll at Florida Atlantic University, where he took night classes in pursuit of obtaining a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. Webster took his final class Thursday before his friend’s criminal trial was slated to begin. The following day, the criminal charges against Webster’s friend were dismissed and it was at that moment that he decided to apply to law school.

After law school, Webster worked as an assistant state attorney in the Second Judicial Circuit, where he honed his skills as a trial attorney. After that, he worked for a prominent criminal defense firm, where he worked on complex white-collar criminal cases in multiple states, before moving on to another prominent Tallahassee firm with a broader scope of practice. At this firm, Webster handled cases involving complex civil litigation representing both plaintiffs and defendants, political opposition, employment cases, and administrative cases. He started his own firm in January of 2013.

Webster graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. from Florida Atlantic University. He received his J.D. from Florida State University College of Law, where he graduated cum laude.

White

Erica White joined the Office of State Courts Administrator (OSCA) as the general counsel in January 2019, where she is currently responsible for addressing legal issues relating to the administration of the Florida State Courts System, and for providing legal advice to the OSCA and the Florida Supreme Court.

White received her B.S. and M.B.A. degrees in Business Administration from Florida A & M University in 1993. From 1993 to 1998, White worked for the Executive Office of the Governor as a budget analyst, and for the Florida Sterling Council, until returning to law school at the Florida State University College of Law in the Fall of 1998.

After graduating law school in May 2001, White worked as an assistant general counsel/program analyst for the Department of Community Affairs, and as a senior attorney for the Department of Children and Families. From 2004 to 2010, she practiced in the private sector primarily in the areas of criminal and family law, and in 2011, White returned to state government.  From 2011 to 2019, she worked at the Department of Business and Professional Regulation as chief attorney, and at the Florida Department of Health as the executive director of the Florida Board of Pharmacy.