by Monica Chamness
Staff Writer
Caroline Emery is serving the second year of her two-year term on the Jacksonville Bar Association Board of Governors. She has been a member of the Board for almost four years.
By familiarizing herself with the legal community through her JBA membership, Emery gained support for her spot . Handing out emery boards as a campaign tool added a mnemonic cue.
“If you serve on committees, it shows an interest in serving on the board,” said Emery, administrative law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Harvey Schlesinger.
Emery’s rise through the ranks of the local legal community actually began with her formal education at the University of Miami. After law school, she worked at several law firms in Miami and subsequently, at Blackwell & Walker here. She spent a total of six years in private practice before becoming a staff attorney with the 4th Judicial Circuit. Four years later, Emery was promoted to director of the Judicial Staff Attorney’s Office.
Miami is not Emery’s hometown. Neither is Farmville, Va., where she earned a bachelor’s degree in social work. Carthage, Tunisia in North Africa is where she was born. Her father, an American, worked for the Foreign Service faction of the State Department. Emery did not reside in the United States until she was a teenager.
“My mother is Belgian,” she said. “She moved here when she was 19 and still has a French accent.”
Growing up in Africa, Emery learned French as her primary language. She was not introduced to English until she was seven. Prior to moving to the States, she lived in Honduras and Ecuador. While in Latin America, she attended local Spanish-speaking schools. She can still get by conversing in three languages.
Her international exposure and social work training has molded her into a people-person. The transition to law was a journey Emery undertook early on in her career.
“I interned at a hospital and became frustrated with the red tape,” recalls Emery. “I wanted to get on the front end and change the laws.”
In the past few years, Emery’s focus has shifted from volunteer work to more involvement with JBA committees. Currently, she is chair of the Judicial Relations Committee for the 4th Circuit, a member of the ethics advisory committee and part of the professionalism committee. Additionally, she compiles and edits material for the professionalism column that runs in the Bar Bulletin. In 2000, she formed the Florida Trial Court Staff Attorneys Association.
In her spare time, Emery works on landscaping at her San Marco home. She also enjoys boating, bicycling and spending time at Ponte Vedra Beach.