YLD Board of Governors Candidates’ Platform Statements
Here are the platform statements for the 2023 candidates for The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division Board of Governors.
Members in the circuits with contested races may vote by accessing the MyFloridaBar Member Portal on The Florida Bar’s website. Voted ballots must be received prior to 11:59 p.m. EST, March 21. If you requested a mail ballot, they will be mailed March 1.
This year’s balloting has one race each in the 11th and 13th circuits. The winners will be sworn in during the June Annual Convention in Boca Raton.
11h Circuit
Tiffany-Ashley Disney
Tiffany-Ashley Disney
My name is Tiffany-Ashley Disney, and I am seeking to represent the 11th Judicial Circuit as a governor of The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division Board of Governors. I believe my experience serving local bar organizations will bring a unique perspective as I continue to represent young lawyers across the state and in the 11th Circuit of Florida.
I am the President of the Young Lawyers Section of the Miami Dade Bar. This is my fifth year serving on the board. I have also served on the Mentoring Committee of the Miami Dade Florida Association for Women’s Lawyers. During my presidency, the Young Lawyer’s Section has put on numerous CLEs, hosted networking opportunities with lawyers and other professionals in the community, and served our community through service projects. The Young Lawyers Section also launched a mentoring program for young lawyers and law students to be paired with mentors. These are just a few of the numerous programs we put on to assist young lawyers to engage with their profession. I my believe experience with the Miami Dade Bar and Florida Association for Women’s Lawyers has given me insight about young lawyers so that I can bring that knowledge to the Florida Bar to better serve young lawyers.
As your 11th Circuit Governor, I will commit to strengthening the mentoring program offered by The Florida Bar and provide networking opportunities for young lawyers. My vision is to continue the momentum of the mentoring program, establish ways for young lawyers to feel connected to others in the legal profession locally and across the state of Florida, and ensure that the young lawyers are heard by the Florida Bar.
During my leadership in local bar organizations, I have always led from the viewpoint that we are humans first, and young lawyers second. I promise to bring the same passion and energy that I have had for serving young lawyers in South Florida to The Florida Bar.
I ask my constituents to give me the honor to serve you and the community and to vote for me for governor for the 11th Judicial Circuit of the Florida Bar. Thank you!
Jeremy A. McLymont
Jeremy McLymont
My name is Jeremy McLymont, and I am ready to serve in the 11th Judicial Circuit, on the Young Lawyers Division Board of Governors.
I have extensive experience in organizational government. In law school I served for two years on the board of the National Black Law Students Association, the largest law student run organization in the country. I was also the President of my local Black Law Students Association chapter. I am currently the President of the Jamaican-American Bar Association and the Secretary of the Wilke D. Ferguson Jr. Bar Association. In these roles I have advocated for members of these organizations, advancing interests such as inclusion, diversity, social and racial justice, and law student mentorship.
Additionally, I have practical experience working in the public sector and in private spaces. I have previously worked as a Public Defender in Miami-Dade County, and I currently have my own practice. This experience means that I am privy to the challenges facing young lawyers in both sectors so I am equipped to tackle issues for both sections of young lawyers. As the Managing Attorney of my own law firm, I have seen what it takes to run a business as a young lawyer, and I know how to navigate through the problems to find a solution.
My goal is to assist the Young Lawyers Division in any way that I can. I plan on filling the voids, and if possible, doing the extra things to enhance the practice for as many young lawyers as possible. With these experiences I want to put on programming centered around the business of law, and law firm ownership. My practice consists primarily of criminal defense and civil rights work so I would also like to introduce some programming around those areas of the law. I would turn these programs into CLE opportunities for young lawyers.
The Young Lawyers Division needs to increase the number of Black and minority attorneys in order to reach its full potential of being able to represent the interests of all young lawyers. I can provide the additional diversity so that the Young Lawyers Division has a better chance of addressing everyone’s interests.
If given the responsibility of this role, I would accept the responsibility. I would commit to giving the Young Lawyers Division a dedicated servant who looks out for the interests of everyone and who has the experience necessary to hit the ground running from day one.
I respectfully ask for your endorsement of my candidacy to the Young Lawyers Division Board of Governors.
13th Circuit
Brittany Dix
Brittany Dix
My passion for the Young Lawyers Division, desire for our profession to continuously improve, and my experience locally and statewide, including as a current Board member, uniquely position me to continue representing the needs of young lawyers in the 13th Circuit on The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division Board of Governors. Additionally, as Associate General Counsel for the University of South Florida, and by way of being married to a young lawyer in private practice, I understand many of the issues faced by young lawyers on various career paths and can effectively represent the needs of those in both the public and private sectors.
The YLD Board does extraordinary work for young lawyers, and it requires members who are willing to commit their time and work well with lawyers across Florida. Throughout my career, I’ve done just that. I was nominated to my current seat on the Board and approved with unanimous support of the sitting Board, which comprises of more than fifty young lawyers throughout Florida. While on the Board, I’ve worked on many objectives, including serving on committees that coordinate the YLD’s statewide pro bono efforts; assessing and awarding grants to support programming efforts by local bar organizations around Florida, including those in Hillsborough County; and evaluating nominations for YLD awards recognizing the great work of young lawyers statewide. Last December, I assisted the committee responsible for reimaging the mandatory Practicing with Professionalism CLE for young lawyers, which transitioned to a new, live virtual format and featured a networking event with The Florida Supreme Court justices. However, my work doesn’t stop here — there are several future YLD programs and initiatives that I’m eager to continue working on, including the upcoming Affiliate Outreach Conference, the financial wellness webinar series, producing the mandatory Basic Skills CLE courses for young lawyers, and promoting awareness of, and accessibility to, the benefits of the YLD to new lawyers.
My commitment to serve young lawyers and our community began long before my appointment to the Board. I’ve been involved with the Hillsborough County Bar Association YLD, including serving as Co-Chair of the Law Week Committee, serving two years on the Member Services Committee, and currently as an ex-officio Board of Director. I understand the needs of future lawyers, as I currently teach as an adjunct professor at Stetson Law and coach Stetson Law alumni for the bar exam. At USF, I’m the faculty advisor to the USF Women in Pre-Law Society and have taught Business Law as a professor abroad. Outside of law, I serve on the Recent Alumni Board for the Florida State University College of Business and am the incoming Board Chair.
It would be an honor to continue representing your interests on the YLD Board, and I humbly seek your support in my re-election. I remain committed to serving young lawyers and our community and will continue to advocate for my fellow young lawyers. If you’d like to connect to learn more or share your ideas, please contact me at [email protected].
Amanda Keller
Amanda Keller
My name is Amanda Keller, and I am seeking to represent the 13th Judicial Circuit as a governor of The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division Board of Governors. I would like to discuss my experience and my vision if I am elected.
Since 2016, I have dedicated my time outside of the office to our local voluntary bar associations. For the last three years, I have served as Secretary of the Hillsborough County Bar Association (“HCBA”) Young Lawyers Division (“YLD”) Board of Directors. I have served as a member, chair, and board liaison to multiple committees within the HCBA YLD in addition to graduating from and serving as chair of the HCBA Bar Leadership Institute for two years. During my time on the HCBA YLD Board, our Young Lawyers Section was nominated as The Florida Bar Young Lawyer’s Best Large Affiliate of the Year — an award we won in 2022 through the hard work and dedication of our Board, committee members, and chairs.
I have also served as a member of the Hillsborough Association for Women Lawyers (“HAWL”) YLD and the FAWL In Love With GAL committees. I am currently mentoring a foster child through the FAWL In Love With GAL program. I enjoy devoting my time to this community and have hosted charitable events benefiting local organizations such as the Hillsborough Education Foundation, The Spring of Tampa Bay, and the Humane Society of Tampa Bay.
Last year, I endeavored to enhance my professional involvement through participation in the Bar’s Wm. Reece Smith, Jr., Leadership Academy. As an Academy Fellow, I have learned more about the inner workings of The Florida Bar and built relationships with fellow Bar leaders and the legal community.
I recite these experiences not to boast but to open the discussion on the things we, as practicing lawyers, need to change. While law school gave us the knowledge and advocacy skills to begin our profession, it did not provide us with the practical tools we need to succeed. If elected, I would advocate for additional mental health and wellness programming geared towards the post-pandemic legal world where the lines between work and life have been blurred due to the rise in work-from-home. I would also advocate for updates to the basic skills courses in light of the changes in how we practice post-COVID-19. I would advocate for the addition of webinars and CLE credit for practical issues facing young lawyers, such as best practices for drafting billable time entries, pre-trial discovery, and motion practice. I would further advocate for making the YLD online platform more intuitive and user-friendly — particularly streamlining affiliate searches so that users can search by specific circuit or county.
I respectfully ask for your vote for Seat 2 of the 13th Circuit of The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division Board of Governors, so that together, we can improve the Bar and make it an invaluable resource for all. Thank you.
