Education |
AA Law Enforcement: Lakewood Community College, MN 1977
BS General Business: University of South Florida, 1990
JD Cumberland School of Law, Birmingham, Alabama, 1995 |
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Mary Ann was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, raised in Woodbury, Minnesota, and moved to Tampa, Florida after receiving her Associate of Arts degree in Law Enforcement in 1977. She began working as a police officer for the City of St. Petersburg in January 1978, and rose to the rank of Sergeant and Acting Lieutenant. While working as a law enforcement officer, among other roles, she took on the role of Field training officer (training new police officers), In-Service Training Sergeant, Firearms and Defensive Tactics Instructor and Police Academy Instructor. Mary Ann was also actively involved with the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce. Simultaneously, she attended the University of South Florida where she was a member of the Golden Key Society, completed her Bachelor's Degree in Business in 1990 and graduated with Honors. In 1992 Mary Ann took a leave of absence to attend Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama and officially retired from the Police Department in 1995.
While in law school, Mary Ann was a teaching fellow, training new students in legal research and writing, was a member of the Trial Journal, one of the school's two law reviews, and was the Director for the Senior Trial Team competition. She also conducted numerous mock trials, was actively involved with all the school's advocacy programs and placed second in the National Negotiation Competition in 1994.
In
1995 Mary Ann joined the Orange County Prosecutor's Office
where she remained until 1999. She practiced in all areas
of Criminal and criminal post conviction law, including juvenile
matters. In 1996, she began teaching at the Orange County
police academy. From 1999 to 2001 Mary Ann practiced for a
short time handling employment law matters and also worked
with the Robert Half Company to start a legal staffing division.
Mary
Ann is actively involved in the community, lending support
to the Orange County Bar Association as a Guardian Ad Litem,
a Citizen's Dispute Mediator, assisting Legal Aid on a pro
bono basis and is heavily involved in her church as a choir
member, the church finance committee and assists with the
church's annual Habitat Home building project. She also is
form instructor for the National Association for Investor's
Corporation, teaching individuals the how to's of investing.
Mary Ann is admitted to practice before all Florida State Courts and the United States District Court for the MIddle District of Florida. |
