Melody Toma is an attorney at McConnaughhay, Duffy, Coonrod, Pope & Weaver who specializes in liability defense for insurance companies.
NEWCOMER
Toma has been with the Jacksonville office, which moved from Baymeadows to Southpoint in February, since April of this year. Statewide, there are eight locations. In the liability defense department of the Jacksonville branch, there are four attorneys with 19 lawyers total in town.
WHY DID THE
FIRM RELOCATE?
“For expansion. The firm was growing, and we ran out of space. They added two attorneys to liability, myself being one of them, and, in the PIP department, they added two people recently.”
WHERE ELSE HAS
SHE PRACTICED?
From October 2001 to this March, Toma did plaintiff personal injury work at Nooney & Gare in San Marco.
WHY HOP THE FENCE?
“I switched sides when I came here. I had a case with Marianne Lloyd Aho. She was the defense counsel [at McConnaughhay, Duffy, et al.] and I was the plaintiff’s counsel. After the case settled, we kept in touch, and I thought it would be good to work with her.”
WHERE DID SHE GO TO
LAW SCHOOL?
Albany Law School in New York state. She also has a journalism degree from SUNY [State University of New York] College at New Paltz, N.Y.
HOW DID YOU GO FROM JOURNALISM TO THE LAW?
After graduating from SUNY, Toma had a difficult time finding her dream job. She was toiling away as a temporary data entry clerk for a publishing company in Manhattan when a friend recommended she apply with a law firm.
“I was the only employee, so I did everything from going to the post office to scheduling depositions, client interviews, all over the board. It was a chance for me to see what went into a successful law firm.”
THE DECIDING FACTOR
“I loved working with the law. It was so diverse. They did all sorts of crazy cases. But I didn’t want to be limited in my job. You top out as support staff, and that’s it. The only way to advance in the legal field is to go to law school, so that’s what I did.”
WHAT’S REWARDING ABOUT THE LAW?
“One thing I like about the law is there is a lot of writing involved, so I don’t feel like I strayed far from my major. You write every day. You research every day. Especially if you’re in litigation, you talk to people every day. It was a good transition.”
NOT A MULTI-TASKER
“What’s challenging is shifting gears. You have a lot of cases, and it’s easy for me to get really involved in one project. Then the phone rings, and you have to do something else. Then you have a meeting. Whatever I’m doing, I want to focus all I have on that. I concentrate on what I’m doing because I don’t want to miss anything.”
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Toma is a member of the Jacksonville Bar Association, the Jacksonville Beach Bar Association, the Florida Defense Lawyers Association and the Jacksonville Association of Defense Counsel.
BORN
Upstate New York “I lived in Albany and the Bronx throughout college.”
WHAT WAS IT LIKE LIVING IN THE BRONX?
“It was great. I was in a Sicilian neighborhood. They were a close-knit group; you felt protected. I miss the great food.”
WHAT BROUGHT
YOU SOUTH?
“My husband used to live in Indian Harbor Beach and went to school with a surfboard tucked under his arm. We decided to move to Florida to be close to the beach. Jacksonville is a growing city, but it’s not hectic like Miami. With the climate, there’s still seasons.”
WHAT ARE HER HOBBIES?
Bicycle riding, listening to live music and rescuing animals are her favorite pastimes. Toma also enjoys Indian food, Yankees’ baseball, visiting Cape Hatteras, N.C., and New York pizza.
WHAT IS YOUR PET PEEVE?
“I don’t like it when people interrupt you when you’re speaking to them.”
HOME LIFE
Toma and her husband, Jeff, who used to be the sponsored skateboarder for Alva Skateboards, live on South Jacksonville Beach with their dachshund, Schultz.
He works for Zion Rootswear, a distributor of licensed Bob Marley, Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix products.
WHO’S YOUR HERO?
“Any woman who has overcome hardship and does what she wants to do. I lost both of my parents [to illness] before I was 24, so I had to put myself through school. I didn’t let being on my own stop me. I’m not saying I’m my own hero. [My hero is] anyone who’s been told it’s too outrageous or too difficult to try to do anything — whether it’s join a circus or fly to the moon — and does it anyway.”
—by Monica Tsai