I grew up in St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands, in a relatively large West Indian family of seven children four sisters and two brothers in a household for which work and the benefits it provided were necessities.
While childhood poverty and lack of opportunities denied both of my parents the opportunity to finish high school and attend college, they expected each of their children to do so. Each eventually did. Three of my sisters and I were recruited by the University of Tampa, a private college in Tampa, Florida, where we worked while attending college, and a brother attended a nearby college.I earned my law degree from the University of Florida in 1990. At University of Florida, I was selected for a public interest fellowship on eldercare to address issues that families, including "the sandwich generation," face with raising children while simultaneously taking care of aging parents.
After law school, I worked for five years as a judicial clerk for the late Hon. E. Earle Zehmer, chief judge of the Florida First District Court of Appeal, who bucked the trend and hired me as one the first Black judicial clerks at the court. Clerking afforded me a bird's-eye view at the inner workings of an appellate court handling all types of appeals in various areas of the law and drafting opinions that helped shape the law by which I would later litigate. The appellate cases involved various family law issues ranging from dissolution of marriage, adoption, child custody and guardianship.
When I joined Amlong & Amlong, P.A., in 1998 (after working at a small firm practicing commercial litigation, appeals, and some employment law), my practice involved participating in virtually all of the firm's appeals, including appeals for the family law cases handled by the firm.
The firm's focus on family issues, civil rights and employment issues has allowed me to litigate and negotiate on behalf of families and working people in what I see as the most important aspects of an individual's life and financial stability.
A growing area of my practice is pregnancy discrimination and marital status discrimination, a topic for which I have often been asked to lecture and give presentations. I expect this area to continue to grow as the concept of "family" evolve as employers and the courts struggle catch up with the evolving concept of family and the issues families and working people face while trying to raise children and pursue a livelihood.
Year Joined Firm
- 1998
Areas of Practice
- Employment (Civil Rights, Wage Disputes, Appeal)
- General Civil Practice and Appeals
Bar Admissions
- Florida, 1990
- U.S. District Court Southern District of Florida, 1995
- U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida, 1995
- U.S. District Court Northern District of Florida, 1995
- Southern District of Florida Trial Bar, 1995
- U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit, 1997
Education
- University of Florida College of Law, Gainesville, Florida
- J.D. - 1990
- Law Journal: University of Florida International Law Journal, 1989 - 1990
- University of Tampa, Tampa, Florida
- B.S. - 1987
- Major: Criminology
Published Works
- "Tightening the Net of Florida's RICO Act", 21 Fla. S.U.L. Rev. 381, January, 1994
Representative Cases
Classes/Seminars
- Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Florida Int'l Univ. (Employment Law), 2004 - 2006
- Sexual Harassment; Civil Justice System, NBA-WLD (Miam Dade Chapter), 2004 - 2007
Professional Associations and Memberships
- National Employment Lawyers' Association, Member, 1997 - Present
Past Employment Positions
- Hon. E. Earle Zehmer, Chief Judge of the Florida First District Court of Appeal, Law Clerk
Pro Bono Activities
- Woman 2 Woman Ministries, 2003 - 2005
Languages
- English
