Charise A. Morgan becomes president of the Miami-Dade Bar
'I want the community to see and know the Miami-Dade Bar, and I want the bar to see and know the community'
New Miami-Dade Bar President Charise A. Morgan, center, is pictured with Dominique Calhoun, left, and Wiley Adams at the association’s annual gala. “‘Service is the rent we pay for living on this earth,’ and it certainly is a privilege to live and work in the Miami legal community,” said Morgan, quoting activist and trailblazer Shirley Chisholm, who in 1968 became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress. “However, it’s obviously not perfect. We who labor here owe that service and giving back should be our commitment to making this city, this bar, and this practice better.”
Charise A. Morgan was sworn in as president of the Miami-Dade Bar at the organization’s annual gala on June 15 becoming the first Black woman to hold the position in the 108 year history of the association.
“‘Service is the rent we pay for living on this earth,’ and it certainly is a privilege to live and work in the Miami legal community,” said Morgan, quoting activist and trailblazer Shirley Chisholm, who in 1968 became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress. “However, it’s obviously not perfect. We who labor here owe that service and giving back should be our commitment to making this city, this bar, and this practice better.”
Morgan said the Miami-Dade Bar has a rich history of providing assistance to greater community, but there are more areas and industries where our lawyers are needed.
“Lawyers should be the conduit of progress,” she said, “I want to facilitate that via the bar.”
Morgan is focusing her upcoming year on growing membership and increasing the organization’s community service.
“We’re going outside,” Morgan said. “I want the community to see and know the Miami-Dade Bar, and I want the bar to see and know the community.”
Florida Bar President-elect Rosalyn Sia Baker-Barnes and Miami-Dade Bar President Charise A. Morgan
Morgan, a graduate of Mercer University School of Law, is staff legal counsel for Zurich North America and previously served as an administrative law judge for the Georgia Department of Labor.
She is also vice chair of the Florida Bar Rules of Civil Procedure Committee, vice chair of The Florida Bar Standing Committee on Professionalism, and liaison to The Florida Bar Board of Governors. Morgan also serves as an Ambassador for Black Art at the Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) and is a member of the Association of Corporate Counsel. In 2018, she was elected president of the Caribbean Bar Association. She continues to volunteer with Caribbean Bar, often speaking of her Jamaican and Trinidadian heritage.
“Charise embodies the spirit of resilience and integrity,” said Miami-Dade Bar Executive Director Bret Berlin. “Her presidency marks a new era of innovation, advocacy, and progress for the Miami-Dade Bar and the broader legal community.”
The executive directors of the e Miami-Dade Bar this year include President-elect Stuart Weissman of Ratzan Weissman & Boldt; Vice President Melissa V. Jordan of Hamilton, Miller & Birthisel; Secretary Adam Finkel of The Haggard Law Firm; and Treasurer Beau Blumberg of Deutsch Blumberg & Caballero.
Founded in the early 1900s, the Miami-Dade Bar (formerly the Dade County Bar Association) is one of the largest lawyer networks in Florida, serving nearly 20,000 attorneys in the county, and continues its mission to support and inform the county’s lawyers and the community-at-large.
