Page 2 - The American Lawyer Trailblazers

Page 2 - The American Lawyer Trailblazers - South 2022

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Florida

Dear Readers,
The American Lawyer is proud to present its second annual South Trailblazers. The Trailblazer series is a
special supplement developed by the business arm of The American Lawyer. We are proud to spotlight a
handful of individuals from each practice area that are truly agents of change.
Our goal was to recognize professionals in the South who have moved the needle in the legal indus-
try. For our purposes, we defined the South as the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, the
District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina,
Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

As with all Trailblazer supplements, the list is never complete. If you have someone you feel is deserving
of the title, please reach out and let us know.
Congratulations to this year’s honorees!

All the best,

Carlos Curbelo
Vice President, Legal Market Leader

Deborah Baker

Greenspoon Marder

What was the genesis of the idea/path that has made you a trailblazer?
Through my pro bono and voluntary bar association work, I developed relationships with many community-
minded women in positions of leadership throughout Florida. University of Miami Professor Mary-Anne Franks
approached me when I was the President of the Miami-Dade Chapter of the Florida Association of Women Law-
yers and asked for our help in getting a “revenge porn law” enacted, after many failed attempts. I immediately
connected her with our Miami-Dade County State’s Attorney, Katherine Fernandez Rundle and Ms. Rundle put
together a team almost overnight to help. Together, we worked night and day to criminalize this heinous act, and
within a year, the governor signed the 2015 bill into law.
What sort of change has resulted from the concept?
In addition to enactment of the sexual cyberharassment statute, many women lawyers were empowered to
effectuate other changes in the law. Many of the same women attorneys who advocated for the enactment of
the statute, were instrumental in lobbying the Florida Bar and then the Florida Supreme Court for attorneys’
parental leave rights. As a result of those efforts, the Florida Supreme Court’s 2020 adoption of the Parental
Leave Rule required judges to grant a lead attorney’s request for leave for the birth or adoption of a child, with
certain exceptions.

What bearing will this have on the future?
Other states followed suit in enacting sexual cyberharassment statutes, but big picture message is that change is
possible, so never give up.

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