'In Her Own Words': Jones Foster Shareholder Joanne M. O'Connor Writes Personal Essay for Bizwomen Feature

Jones Foster shareholder Joanne M. O’Connor recently contributed to Bizwomen.com, a powerful voice for women in business who are focused on shaping their careers, developing their businesses, improving their bottom line, and enhancing their lives. Bizwomen is an offshoot of its parent site, The Business Journals.

Joanne’s personal essay appears in “In Her Own Words,” a daily Bizwomen feature edited and curated by Ellen Sherberg and written by individual contributors.

Below is an excerpt from the narrative, which offers a glimpse into Joanne’s life following law school. She reflects candidly on the challenges she faced and the invaluable mentorship she received from female colleagues along the way as she learned to balance motherhood with building a successful business litigation practice. The path she chose ultimately led her to become the first female Town Attorney for Palm Beach and a vocal advocate for empowering young lawyers today.

            I had a plan. I had completed a bachelor’s and a master’s degree and decided to go on to law school four years later. By the time I was in law school, I was married. I became pregnant my third year. My son was born a week before final exams and I started a federal clerkship only three months later.

          Yes, there was a lot of pressure and many challenges in managing a new legal career while juggling trial schedules and an infant’s daycare, but that's when I learned about the value and impact of female mentorship.

         The federal judge that I clerked for was a trail-blazing woman lawyer who had her own child while making partner at a prominent litigation firm and my co-clerk was also a woman who was juggling a long-distance relationship, so I really leaned into that support. Clerking for a federal judge was such an immense honor and a professional challenge.

        There was a steep learning curve in those first six months, but it was a pivotal opportunity to be exposed to so many areas of the law, both on the civil side and on the criminal side. Through this experience working in the court system, the judge helped me to hone my legal skills while developing the confidence that I would need to move my career forward as a business litigator.

Read more on Bizwomen.com: https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/mentoring-matters/2024/10/in-her-own-words-joanne-o-connor.html

About Joanne M. O'Connor

Joanne O’Connor is a Florida Bar Board Certified Business Litigation attorney who represents businesses and individuals in complex commercial litigation disputes (such as contracts, business torts, and partnership and corporate disputes) as well as real estate and land use litigation matters. Joanne defends actions seeking certification of nationwide and statewide classes, including consumer claims brought under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Joanne’s 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.

Joanne currently holds several notable leadership positions and is actively involved in the legal community. 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 co-chair of the Palm Beach County Bar Association's Diversity Internship Program. Joanne 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. She was appointed Defendants’ Liaison Counsel by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in the federal multidistrict litigation alleging personal injury relating to the medication Zantac, In re Zantac (Ranitidine) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2924.

Joanne has been listed among Florida’s Leading Lawyers in the area of Litigation by Chambers USA, one of the oldest and most prestigious legal listings in the world. She was named to Florida Trend's inaugural Legal Elite Notable Women Leaders in Law and is recognized consistently by The Best Lawyers in America, Florida Super Lawyers, and Palm Beach Illustrated's “Top Lawyers” list. She is the recipient of an AV Preeminent Rating from Martindale-Hubbell, awarded to only those lawyers with the highest ethical standards and legal ability.