Jones Foster Shareholder Joanne M. O’Connor Serves as Panelist at PBC FAWL Constitution Day Event

Jones Foster litigation shareholder Joanne M. O’Connor served as a featured panelist along with several other members of the bar and bench during a Constitution Day CLE event at FAU Wilkes Honors College in Jupiter, Florida.

The event was presented by the Palm Beach County Chapter of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers (PBC FAWL) and offered university students an interactive discussion about the U.S. Constitution and government and served as an opportunity to gain insights from professionals in the local legal community.

Joanne was invited as a panelist to offer her unique perspective as Town Attorney for the Town of Palm Beach and her extensive experience providing counsel to governmental entities and handling constitutional issues. She discussed her successful defense of the Town in the landmark case of Donald Burns v. Town of Palm Beach, which was brought under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment and claimed the right to freedom of expression in residential architecture.

Panelists were divided into rotating roundtables to provide students with more intimate conversations and included Judge Samantha Schosberg Feuer, Judge Dina Keever-Agrama, and Judge Santo DiGangi of the 15th Judicial Circuit; Amy Borman, chief legal officer and chief operating officer of the Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller; Dr. Mark Tunick, professor of political science at FAU; PBC FAWL board member Amelia Jadoo; PBC FAWL President Victoria Mesa-Estrada; and Joanne O’Connor.

Constitution Day celebrates the signing and adoption of the U.S. Constitution and recognizes all who were born in the U.S. or have become citizens by naturalization. It is observed annually on September 17, the day in 1787 in which 39 delegates gathered for a final meeting of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia to ratify the document that would become the supreme law of the land.

About Joanne O'Connor

Joanne O’Connor is a Florida Bar Board Certified specialist in Business Litigation who represents businesses and individuals and focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation (such as contracts, business torts, and partnership and corporate disputes) and real estate and land use litigation. Her extensive experience as a litigator positions her as a powerful advocate for her clients in jury and non-jury trials and appeals in state and federal courts and before private arbitration panels. She also provides expert testimony to state and federal courts on the reasonableness and amount of attorneys’ fees and costs due to prevailing parties.

Joanne serves as Town Attorney for the Town of Palm Beach where she counsels the Town, its officials, and staff on a wide range of legal issues including contracts, land use and zoning, ordinances and regulations, and oversees the Town’s litigation. Joanne also counsels other governmental entities on statutory, constitutional, and civil rights claims and both governmental and private entities on Florida’s Public Records Act and Sunshine Law.

In addition, Joanne is heavily involved in local and state Bar committees and as a result has cultivated a longtime relationship with the judiciary. She serves as Vice Chair of The Florida Bar's Federal Court Practice Committee, is past chair and member of the Business Litigation Certification Committee, and is co-chair of the Palm Beach County Bar Association's Diversity Internship Program. She is a past chair of The Florida Bar’s 15th Judicial Circuit Grievance Committee and was recently appointed by the Chief Judge to the inaugural Local Professional Panel of the 15th Judicial Circuit Court. She also is a past president of the Federal Bar Association Palm Beach County Chapter, a voluntary bar organization that serves as the catalyst for communication between the federal bar and bench.