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News and Notes

News & Notes

Ingrid Osborn, chief counsel of the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development in Jacksonville, received the Florida Association for Women Lawyers 2019 “Leader in the Law” award for her work with the St. Johns Association for Women Lawyers.

Tara Duhy of Lewis, Longman & Walker has been accepted into the 38th Class of Leadership Florida Cornerstone.

Stephanie L. Cook was named co-chair of the Orange County Bar Association’s Estate, Guardianship & Trust Section.

Lee Gordon of Palm Beach has been named “Rotarian of the Year” for the sixth time by the Palm Beach Flagler Rotary Club.

Mitchell Bierman of Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman in Miami was one of three keynote speakers at a CoMotion Miami event.

David W. Henry of Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin in Orlando co-presented “White Hat/Black Hat with Gray Matter: Advanced Mediation Advocacy for Plaintiff and Defense Counsel and Their Clients” for the Orange County Bar Association’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee.

Janet E. Wise of the Sass Law Firm in Tampa spoke at the National Employment Lawyers Association annual convention in New Orleans on “Does the Opposition Clause Have Only Selective Application? Defendants’ Use of the Manager Rule to Limit Retaliation Claims.”

Cynthia Sass of the Sass Law Firm in Tampa has been appointed emeritus employee co-chair of the 14th Annual Section Conference Planning Committee for the Section of Labor and Employment Law of the ABA.

Erin Whittemore Lohmiller of The Whittemore Law Group has been elected president of the Junior League of St. Petersburg.

Amanda L. Biondolino of the Sass Law Firm in Tampa has been appointed co-chair of the Labor & Employment Section of the Hillsborough County Bar Association.

Douglas J. Chumbley of Carlton Fields was appointed vice chair of the Toxic & Hazardous Substances Litigation Committee of the International Association of Defense Counsel.

Ray Blacklidge was honored with the Florida Insurance Council’s “Mark Trafton Distinguished Service Award.”

Dennis Wall added four new chapters while completely updating chapters on claims handling and exclusions in his co-authored book, “Catastrophe Claims: Insurance Coverage for Natural and Man-Made Disasters,” the Spring 2019 edition of which has just been published by Thomson Reuters West.

Joaquin “Quino” E. Martinez of Lowndes in Orlando has been appointed to the board of trustees of Lake Highland Preparatory School.

Kelly A. O’Keefe of Stearns Weaver Miller in Tallahassee has been elected treasurer of the Tallahassee Regional Estate Planning Council.

J. Brian Page of ForsterBoughman presented “Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, Blockchain and More: A Legal Guide” in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, for the National Business Institute.

Gary Brown of Kelley Kronenberg in Ft. Lauderdale has joined Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad College of Law as an adjunct professor where he will be teaching a course on construction law.

Martha H. Chumbler of Carlton Fields was named chair of the ABA Section of State and Local Government Law.

Jason B. Blank of Haber Blank in Ft. Lauderdale was re-elected as director-at-large of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Janet Goldberg McEnery of Stearns Weaver Miller presented “ADA, FMLA and COBRA – The Three-Headed Monster” at the Florida Public Human Resources Association Conference.

Dan Small of Holland & Knight launched a biweekly “Powerful Witness Preparation” podcast, based in part on his ABA manual, “Preparing Witnesses.”

Aaron Slavens of Holland & Knight presented “Reps & Warranties Underwriting Trends,” at the ExecuSummit Annual Reps & Warranties and Transactional Liability Insurance Conference.

Jennifer L. Galloway of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings in Tampa has been accepted into the inaugural class of the ABA Business Law Section Leadership Academy.

Steven Ginsburg of Litchfield Cavo in Atlanta had his article, “Effective Juror Selection Strategies: Part 3,” published by the ABA Section of Litigation Business Torts and Unfair Competition in the Summer 2019 newsletter. This article looks at juror stereotypes, when to keep bad jurors, things to avoid on voir dire, and special and sensitive areas of inquiry.

Fermin Lopez of Colling, Gilbert, Wright & Carter in Orlando has been appointed to the 2019-20 executive council of the Orange County Bar Association.

Grace Robson of Markowitz Ringel Trusty + Hartog in Ft. Lauderdale served as a panelist on the program, “Taking Your Individual Chapter 11 Plan Through Confirmation,” at the American Bankruptcy Institute’s 2019 Southeast Bankruptcy Workshop in Amelia Island.

Jason Kairalla of Carlton Fields in Miami was appointed president of the University of Miami Law Alumni Association.

Leslie Wulfsohn Loftus of Loftus Law in Sarasota has been appointed to a third term as chair of the 12th Circuit Local Professionalism Panel.

Michael Lehnert of Henderson, Franklin, Starnes & Holt has been named president of the Southwest Florida Real Estate Council.

Dan Stengle of Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner, Attorneys for the Injured, was selected by retired Justice Fred Lewis to serve as the master of ceremonies for a recent reception lauding Lewis’ legal and judicial career.

S. Elise Batsel, Jeffrey A. Collier, Jacob T. Cremer, Kenneth B. Metcalf, and F. Joseph Ullo presented at the 33rd Annual Environmental Permitting Summer School in Marco Island.

Nicholas C. Johnson of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll spoke at and co-chaired the Medical Malpractice section of the Florida Justice Association’s 2019 Masters of Justice Seminar.

Mariana “Marili” Cancio of Marili Cancio Johnson, P.A., was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to the newly created Greater Miami Expressway Agency.

Charles W. Telfair IV was officially sworn in as the president of the Manatee County Bar Association.

Leslie M. Kroeger of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll presented on “Direct Examination of a Lay Witness” at the 2019 Al J. Cone Trial Advocacy Institute.

Amy D. Ronner, law professor emeritus at St. Thomas University School of Law, presented her paper, “Nastasya’s Egoistic-Anomic Self-Homicide by Proxy in Dostoevsky’s The Idiot,” at the International Dostoevsky Conference at Boston University.

Michael P. Spellman of Sniffen & Spellman has written a chapter titled “Legal Rights and Responsibilities” in the sixth edition of “Human Resource Management and Public Service,” published by Sage Publishing.

Adam J. Langino of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll spoke on “The Government Works for US: Federal Databases” at the 2019 Attorneys Information Exchange Group Fall Conference.

Ira Leesfield of Leesfield Scolaro in Miami spoke on “Sharing the Road — Electric Scooters” to the Motor Vehicle Collision, Highway and Premises Liability Section, and “Private Watercraft Injuries” to AAJ’s Resort Torts Litigation Group at the American Association for Justice 2019 Annual Convention in San Diego.

Roy L. Weinfeld presented “Understanding the Commercial Letter of Intent” to the Miami Association of Realtors.

Joseph P. George, Jr., of Joseph P. George, Jr., P.A., moderated the first Regional Judicial Panel on Guardianships in South Florida at the Florida State Guardianship Association Annual Conference in Miami.

Poorad Razavi of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll spoke on “Identifying Roadway Defect Claims in Vehicle and Pedestrian Accidents” for Palm Beach County Justice Association’s Facebook live CLE series.

Brian H. Bieber of GrayRobinson in Miami was elected to the board of directors for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Thomas E. Glick and Rosanne Shore of the Center for Conflict Resolution in Miami, Renee Thompson of Upchurch, Watson, White & Max in Ocala, and Bruce A. Blitman of Palm Beach Gardens, presented “Shhh, Don’t Tell Anyone: Social Media and Confidentiality Issues,” at the Professional Mediation Institute’s Mediation Conference in Orlando.

Jeanmarie Whalen of Domnick Cunningham & Whalen has been elected chair of the American Association for Justice Trucking Litigation Group.

R. Scott Costantino of The Costantino Law Firm in Jacksonville was sworn in as president of the Florida Chapters of the American Board of Trial Advocates.

Lisa M. Thelwell of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida was named 2019 Gang Prosecutor of the Year by the Florida Gang Investigators Association.

David Roos and Russell Whittle of Henderson, Franklin, Starnes & Holt discussed the impact of medical marijuana in the workplace to the Southwest Florida Chapter of the Risk Management Society in Naples.

Rebecca M. Vaccariello of Naples has been elected to the Collier County Bar Board of Directors.

Rosanne Shore of the Center for Conflict Resolution moderated a panel discussion on medical diagnostics and legal implications that impact mediation at the Professional Mediation Institute Conference in Orlando.

Eric Hockman of Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman was elected secretary of the Dade County Bar Association.

Merrick L. “Rick” Gross of Carlton Fields was appointed leadership development coordinator for the ABA Section of Litigation and a member of the section’s Task Force on Efficient Justice.

News in Photos