Page 14 - Palm Beach Vol 7 No 2
P. 14

We have a great team of professionals and I love to come to work each day.
Burnadette Norris-Weeks
When the Stakes Are High
AALM: When did you decide to become a lawyer and why? What drove you to this career?
Norris-Weeks: Without fully realizing it at the time, I wanted to become a lawyer because the mother of a childhood friend was a lawyer. I remember always feeling a sense of empow- erment whenever I had an opportunity to be around Ms. Pearl Crosby Smith, the only black woman lawyer practicing law in Cocoa, Flori- da, in the mid-70s. She was someone who had her own sense of style, her own law practice and was a woman who was well-respected in the community. I enjoyed visiting my friend at their home, but especially enjoyed visiting Ms. Smith’s law o ce a er school on occasion. It was not until years later than I made the con- nection between the in uence that Ms. Smith had on my eventual career choice.
AALM: What do you  nd rewarding about being an attorney? What do you  nd chal- lenging about your practice? How do you overcome those challenges?
Norris-Weeks:  e beauty of the law pro- fession is that every day is an opportunity to solve a problem or help someone improve their life. Whether it is helping someone re- cover damages for injuries received in an au- tomobile accident or writing language for an ordinance that will help to improve an entire community,lawyershelppeople.Itisreward- ing to secure a positive outcome for a client, especially when the stakes are high.  e chal- lenge that I have is  nding balance. In law school, we are told that the law is like a jeal- ous mistress that requires a long and constant
courtship. I’ve found this analogy to be true. At times, it is a struggle to balance a personal life with a busy professional career where ev- ery case is important to someone.
AALM: What was the beginning of your career like? How has it evolved over the years?
Norris-Weeks: Fortunately, I am handling the same type of matters that I’ve handled for the past 27 years. I was fortunate to start my career with a boutique Tallahassee law  rm that represented governmental entities, cor- porations, and handled serious personal inju- ry matters.  is is almost identical to the type of work that my  rm handles now. In terms of size, I started my own  rm in the late ’90s and for many years, I was afraid to grow beyond two or three attorneys. I had an unwarranted fear that with more people there would be more headaches. I discovered, however, that the opposite is true. Growth has allowed my  rm to fully service clients and has freed me up to be laser focused when necessary. We have a great team of professionals and I love to come to work each day.
AALM: How welcoming do you think the South Florida legal community is to women practitioners? How do you personally try to help women following in your career path?
Norris-Weeks: With a more diverse South Florida population, it appears that the South Florida community has become more welcoming to women and to women of color. When I moved to South Florida in the mid-90s, the area was very much a boy’s network.  e boys shared with other
boys and if you joined integrated bar or community organizations, the time spent building relationships did not necessar- ily translate into business referrals.  ings have changed a bit.
More importantly, however, I’ve discov- ered that it is sometimes necessary to create your own networks. Speci cally, networks that will support and foster the development of female professionals. My passion hap- pens to be a not-for-pro t organization that I co-founded called the Women of Color Empowerment Institute Inc.  e organi- zation o ers a professional mentorship program where more seasoned profes- sionals are paired with younger pro- fessionals for a year.  rough the
institute, I’ve been a mentor for several young lawyers and other professionals. It is important to me that I
share important les- sons learned to better the next generation.
AALM:
How are
you in- volved in the legal community and the local community?
Norris-Weeks: I am
the immediate past chair
of the 17th Judicial Circuit’s
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