Teresa J. “Teri” Sopp (left) has been elected as president of the Nassau County Bar Association. Also elected to the board were Jeffrey Tomassetti as vice president, Jan Carver as Treasurer and Pratt O’Connor as Secretary. Sopp, a criminal trial lawyer residing in Yulee, was a long-term member of the Jacksonville Bar Association and a past editor of the Jacksonville Bar’s newsletter. Now leading the Nassau Bar, Sopp will conduct the Bar’s monthly meetings, which are held at the Palace Saloon in Fernandina Beach.
Young Lawyers choose new
leaders
Attorney Troy K. Smith has been chosen to lead the Jacksonville Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section over the next year. The group held elections
at its annual meeting and luncheon last Thursday at the
Omni. Joining Smith in the leadership ranks of the section
are Geddes Anderson as president-elect, Kevin Cook as secretary and R. Troy Smith as treasurer. James Birr, Katie Lee and Lee Wedekind were elected to the Section’s Board of Governors. Joe Whitley, General Counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, was the keynote speaker for the meeting and spoke about his time with the department and the ongoing war on terror. JBA president Alan Pickert and Florida Bar president-elect Hank Coxe also spoke at the event.
Milton to chair Supreme
committee
Local attorney Joseph Milton has been elected Chair of the Florida Supreme Court nominating commission. Milton, a partner at Milton, Leach, Whitman, D’Andrea, Charek and Milton, P.A., began his commission duties July 1. As commission chair, Milton has been charged with the consideration and interviewing of applicants for any vacancy that may occur on the Florida Supreme Court, as well as the statewide prosecutor position.
New hires
• Kenneth C. Steel III and Christopher M. Cobb have joined the law firm of Volpe, Bajalia, Wickes, Rogerson, Galloway & Wachs. Steel received his J.D. from the University of Florida and will be active in several of the firm’s practice areas including civil and commercial litigation, professional malpractice litigation and insurance coverage and bad faith litigation. Cobb received his J.D. from the Florida Coastal School of Law and will practice mainly in the firm’s complex commercial, business and insurance litigation, appellate law and plaintiff’s personal injury areas.
• Ryan R. Fuller has joined Akerman Senterfitt as an associate in the Jacksonville office’s labor and employment group. Fuller comes to the firm from Coffman, Coleman, Andrews & Grogen where he was an associate. He received both his B.A. and J.D. from the University of Florida.