MESSAGE FROM YOUR PRESIDENT

It’s a true honor to serve as your 2024-25 Chapter President! At PBC FAWL we strive to
support, promote and uplift ALL women in the legal profession. Since our inception, our
organization has evolved significantly; we continue to focus upon the professional advancement
of women lawyers specifically and the promotion of women’s rights. But undoubtedly, our
mission now encompasses other goals- supporting other minority voluntary bar associations,
encouraging and demanding leadership positions for women in other local, state and national
bar associations, and of course, continuing our commitment to promoting, supporting and
uplifting women in the legal profession.

We are extremely proud of our diverse judiciary in our circuit: 32 of the 62 active judges and
magistrates in the 15 th judicial circuit and county judges are women (including some of our
wonderful Past Presidents). Additionally, Judge Warner and Judge May serve in Florida’s Fourth
District Court of Appeal, and our own Justice Renatha Francis is now in the Florida Supreme
Court. At the Federal level, we are honored to have Judge Rosenberg and Magistrate Judge
Maynard in the Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach Division and Judge Mora in the
U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Overall, we continue to make strides in the judiciary and feel very proud of our female local
judges, while recognizing and demanding more representation of women, and particularly
women of color in the judiciary, reflective of the population we serve in Palm Beach County. As
stated by the American Bar Association: “greater inclusion of women in the judiciary results in
more equitable decision-making at all levels of the court system – which is fundamental to true
justice” and we stand by this principle.

I invite you to get more involved with PBC FAWL this year! We will continue to offer many
networking and CLE opportunities for our members that we traditionally offer! We will also be
launching our fall initiative #RunWithFAWLthisFall where you can join us every other Saturday
starting on September for a morning run or walk together and other initiatives to enhance our
mental and physical health which is so much needed in our demanding and stressing
profession. Stay tuned for all of our events, join and get involved in one of our committees, and
above all, continue to support, promote and uplifting women in the legal profession!

Victoria Mesa-Estrada
2024-24 President