Bar’s Speakers Bureau helps Florida lawyers connect with communities
South Florida attorneys Helen Warner, Tiffany-Ashley Disney, Marivette Gonzalez Rivera, Johnathan Davis, Natalie Lanz, Mara Ritchie Poncy Hatfield, and Mario Urizar participated in the “Careers in Law” panel at iPrep Academy North in Miami on October 10.
Kristianna Soto, who is building her solo practice in Ft. Myers after a decade working as a public defender, was recently surprised to receive a prospective client referral from a lawyer she didn’t recall meeting. It turned out the referring attorney had seen Soto speaking before a civic organization — her first volunteer speaking engagement with The Florida Bar Speakers Bureau.
Soto said she probably never would have connected with the organization, which was in a neighboring county, if it had not been for the Speakers Bureau request.
“I keep an eye open every time they send an email,” says Soto, adding, “you know, I’m surprised that list of requests is not longer, actually.”
The Speakers Bureau is a free service that connects Bar members with civic groups, schools, libraries, and other organizations seeking volunteer guest speakers for their meetings and events. It is designed to promote understanding of the judicial branch, the Constitution, the rule of law, and the roles of judges, lawyers, and juries in the administration of justice. Online resources, such as videos, PowerPoint presentations, scenario activities, and presenter notes are available to help guide volunteers through their event.
“I definitely recommend it,” says Soto. “I’m constantly telling people about it because a lot of people are interested in attorneys speaking to their groups and they don’t seem to know that resource is available, or they might not be aware how accessible it is.”
Soto says Speaker’s Bureau requests are a good way to connect with communities using her legal skills while raising her public profile and getting to know different groups and people in the community.
“Those relationships will last, and people will think of you in the future,” she says.
Requests for speakers surged last year, says Bar Public Information Coordinator Dorohn Frazier. Historically, the requests have numbered in the 40s, around the same amount as the 2023-24 count (43). For 2024-25, the number almost doubled (79).
This is good news, says Frazier, who urges members to encourage more organizations in their communities to use the Speakers Bureau. And not only are more events welcome, but so are more volunteers, he says.
“We are always looking for speakers in every area of the state,” says Frazier, who has been administering the program since 2015.
More volunteer speakers are currently needed in and around Naples, Ft. Myers, Gainesville, and Pensacola, he says.
Paula Phillips of Phillips Perez in Miami has been a go-to resource, accommodating multiple last-minute requests and volunteer cancellations last year, says Frazier. But he doesn’t want to overburden her, and says more volunteers are needed in South Florida, too.
There are only approximately 3,500 volunteers throughout the state registered with the bureau, he says.
Volunteer Andrew Grosso, who is also a state bar member in D.C. and New York, as well as “around 20” federal bars, calls the Speakers Bureau “invaluable.”
“Florida is the only bar of which I am aware that does this. It’s a great idea,” says Grosso. “It’s fun. Lawyers get to get their names out there and people learn about topics in which they’re interested.”
Sole practitioner Alexandra Thomas of Orlando, far right, presented “Real Estate Fraud” to Gold Key Realty of Jax on November 6.
Grosso, who has over 40 years of professional experience including a decade of service to Florida as a federal prosecutor and assistant U.S. attorney, drove a turn-around trip from Tampa to Tallahassee in March to speak at a Florida Association of Inspectors General training event. He says he prioritized the event when he saw it in the Speakers Bureau’s email of upcoming events and realized he would be in Florida, where he spends about a third of his time.
“It was important that they got to hear from me,” says Grosso, because of the audience and his expertise in the topic. In selecting volunteer engagements, Grosso weighs the drive distance with the significance his participation could have — in this case, on Florida’s inspectors general and by extension, society at large — and that is what motivates his commitment, he says.
Alexandra Thomas, who became a lawyer over 20 years ago in her native Brazil before coming to the U.S. where she enjoyed a successful career as a licensed realtor-broker before earning a U.S. law degree, is another Bar member who drove quite a distance this year to volunteer as a speaker. In November, she drove round-trip from Orlando to Jacksonville to discuss real estate fraud.
Thomas, who learned about the Speakers Bureau when she came across it on The Florida Bar website, says she volunteers because she is sympathetic to the need.
It takes more certification hours to become a barber than it takes to become a real estate agent, and you are responsible for “filling out client contracts — and you have no clue what you are doing,” she says. “So, I don’t miss one single opportunity to educate agents, because I’ve been there.”
“The community needs that service. The people need to know more about laws,” says Dania Batista, assistant director of the Lake Park Public Library.
Batista says the library and its patrons greatly appreciate that The Florida Bar offers the service. She estimates the library has been working with the Speakers Bureau for nine years. In the past, the library often had volunteers speak about immigration due to a high number of immigrants in the local community. However, the number of in-person attendees dropped recently as a result of anxiety over possible ICE detention, so the presentations have pivoted to different topics, she says.
Shannon Haines, who serves as first vice president of the Palm Beach County Chapter of the Paralegal Association of Florida, says she requests 10 speakers a year, alternating in-person with Zoom meetings, and the presentations run the gamut of topics — veterans, employment, bankruptcy, criminal, immigration, trust and probate, environmental, and animal rights law, to name a few. She says trust and probate was the hot topic this year, with close to 100 people attending the August presentation.
She says requesting a speaker is easy.
“I just go online and fill out the request form and almost instantly, Dorohn replies,” says Haines.
High-school teacher Natalia Allen also has high praise for Frazier, calling him “phenomenal.” When she decided to arrange for a panel of seven volunteers to speak to approximately 60 high school honors students at iPrep Academy North in Miami, it quickly became more complicated than she expected, and Frazier generously helped her plan the event.
Allen says it was important for the lawyers to come to the school and speak to the students in person because many kids only know what they see about lawyers on TikTok.
“The kids were so engaged that they did not want to leave,” said Allen. “I don’t think a lot of them have these opportunities to have an in-depth conversation with professionals that are in an area that they may want to pursue in college or for a career. I think it’s wonderful that [the Bar is] doing this.”
Many adults attended the panel discussion as well.
“It shows the students [that] it doesn’t matter how old you get; a lot of these people have advanced degrees, and they still want to participate. So, I think it demonstrates to the students that learning is a lifelong process,” Allen said.
To learn more about The Florida Bar Speakers Bureau, click here. To sign up for the list of upcoming volunteer speaker requests, email Frazier at [email protected].
