Retired state Supreme Court Justice Peggy Quince will be the keynote speaker at the Jacksonville Bar Association's annual Law Day membership meeting, May 6 at the Omni Jacksonville Hotel.
The national theme for Law Day 2020 is the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Ratified by Congress on Aug. 18, 1920, the amendment guarantees women the right to vote.
Quince was appointed to the state's highest court in 1998 by the late Gov. Lawton Chiles and Gov.-elect Jeb Bush. She retired from the court in January 2019.
From 2008 until 2010, Quince was the first African American woman to serve as chief justice.
Born in 1948 in Norfolk, Virginia, Quince graduated in 1970 from Howard University with a degree in zoology and received her J.D. from Catholic University of America in 1975.
She moved to Florida in 1978 and opened a law office in Bradenton. In addition to private practice, her career as an attorney also included more than 13 years as an assistant state attorney general.
In 1993, Quince was appointed to the 2nd District Court of Appeal, the first African American woman to serve as a judge on a state appellate court.
Her many honors and awards include The Florida Bar Government Lawyers Section Lifetime Achievement Award, The Florida Bar Equal Opportunities in the Profession Award, the Southern Women in Public Service Pacesetter Award, the Florida Women's Hall of Fame Award from the Florida Commission on the Status of Women and induction into the National Bar Association Hall of Fame.