FAWL President Jessica Thomas advocates for authenticity in latest ‘On Civility’ podcast
Jessica D. Thomas: ‘If you are not being authentic, it is going to shine through…it’s going to be hard for you to remember all those lies. The judges remember who is authentic, who is reliable, who is honest, and the clients do, too.’
Florida Association for Women Lawyers President Jessica Thomas stresses authenticity in the latest Standing Committee on Professionalism podcast “On Civility.”
Available for free, the podcast has been approved by The Florida Bar Continuing Legal Education Department for 1.0 hour of General CLE credit including 1.0 hour of Professionalism CLE credit. Course # 8962.
In the third episode of this new series, Thomas tells host Magdalena Ozarowski that she advises “baby lawyers” to resist the urge to be less than truthful, or to try to be something they’re not.
She recalls fellow law school students who wore suits to impress their professors. When the gambit failed, they would inevitably show up in basketball shorts, Thomas says.
“If you are not being authentic, it is going to shine through…it’s going to be hard for you to remember all those lies,” she says. “The judges remember who is authentic, who is reliable, who is honest, and the clients do, too.”
A Panama City native and diehard Florida State Seminoles fan, Thomas graduated Barry University Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law in 2011, hoping to land a position at big Florida firm.
That was after diving into campus life headfirst, landing a job at the student bookstore, becoming president of the Black Law Student Association, and a research assistant.
When the dream job failed to materialize, she realized what was missing.
“This is the part of my story where I usually stress the importance of having a mentor,” she says. “Those big, big, firms have summer internships. Nobody told Jessica Thomas that.”
She discovered her passion for family law while working at a small firm “that we used to call a threshold practice; you take any case that comes across the threshold.”
In 2015, she opened Thomas Law Firm, PLLC, in Orlando, and has been thriving ever since.
In the 60-minute podcast, Thomas offers advice and shares her views on a wide variety of issues:
- Professionalism means going above and beyond what is ethically required and is its own reward, Thomas says. When a judge once asked if she misled an opponent, “before I could speak the other lawyer jumped up, and said, ‘No, she would never do that!’” Thomas says. “My reputation is crazy important for me.”
- Good family lawyers excel at managing client expectations in a practice area with such highly unpredictable outcomes, Thomas says, and it will always be highly contentious. “I really think that a huge part of it is the lack of consistency. Every family is different, every case is different.”
- Two of the most important attributes of a good family lawyer are temperament and experience — established lawyers can afford to be more discerning, she says. “If I am a baby lawyer, and I’m trying to pay my rent, I may take a case that others would not.”
- The Legislature’s decision in 2023 to mandate 50-50 child sharing hasn’t reduced litigation as lawmakers hoped, she says. “You would think it provides more consistency, it does not. Now instead of starting with a blank canvass, we’re starting with 50-50…and the fighting is still there.”
- FAWL succeeded in lobbying lawmakers for lactation spaces in every courthouse, and an exemption from jury service for new mothers, because it represents the unified voice of 3,000 members, Thomas said. “You would think that already existed. It did not! Somebody had to spend the time and money.”
