Miami Resident Edith G. Osman, President of the Florida Bar, Honored By Three Miami Organizations; Carlton Fields Attorney Receives Prestigious Women's Achievement Awards

Business Wire, March 23, 2000

Business Editors/Legal Writers

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 23, 2000

Edith G. Osman, president of The Florida Bar and a shareholder in the law firm of Carlton Fields, has just been chosen to receive three awards honoring her professional and civic achievements within three weeks of one another! The tributes include: induction into the "Florida Women of Achievement" photography documentary; the "In the Company of Women" Award; and the Ziff Museum of Florida's "Breaking the Glass Ceiling" Award.

Osman has been recognized to receive these three awards as a result of her current role as president of the Florida Bar. As only the second woman to be elected to the Bar's top position in its 50-year history, Osman has focused her work on campaigns to restore public trust in the judicial system and to improve the status of women, minorities and children within the system. She established the Commission on the Legal Needs of Children, chaired by Circuit Judge Sandy Karlan, to study how the justice system treats children. Also, Osman has worked with Governor Jeb Bush on issues relating to diversity and judicial selection.

Osman's highly accomplished career in law includes an active practice with Carlton Fields in the areas of civil litigation, concentrating in commercial litigation and family law. She was the first woman to receive the Council of Bar Presidents Outstanding Past Voluntary Award (1996) and she was the inaugural recipient of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers Outstanding Achievement Award (FAWL).

A resident of Miami since 1975, Osman began law school at the University of Miami in 1980 while the mother of two: a two-year-old and a six-year-old. She received her Juris Doctorate degree from the University (cum laude) in 1983.

"Edith is a most deserving recipient of these awards. Few other women have achieved as much: being elected the leader, without opposition, of one of the largest mandatory bar associations in the country, in a profession where all the power structures are still predominantly male, and doing so while maintaining a busy practice where she is both bringing in business and taking care of clients. She is very effective at simultaneously servicing her clients and servicing the Florida Bar, which is the highest accomplishment of a true professional," said Raquel Matas, a fellow shareholder at Carlton Fields and former member of the Florida Bar Board of Governors.

Currently, Osman is bringing together The Florida Bar and Florida Association for Women Lawyers to document and honor the First 150 Women admitted to the practice of law in Florida in a gala celebration to be held on May 25, 2000. It will be part of the Bar's 50th anniversary celebration.

"The Florida Women of Achievement" induction will take place at the Omni Colonnade Hotel, Coral Gables, on March 28, at 5:30 pm. The "In the Company of Women" reception will be held on Wednesday, March 29 at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens at 6:30 pm. The reception for the "Breaking the Glass Ceiling" award takes place on Wednesday, April 12 at the Ziff Museum of Florida, Miami Beach, at 6:30 pm.

In 1998 Osman joined the Miami office of Carlton Fields as a shareholder. Established in Tampa in 1901, the law firm is one of the largest law firms in the State of Florida. In 1998, the Florida Bar named Carlton Fields the Most Gender Friendly Firm in Florida. The firm maintains offices in Tampa, Orlando, Tallahassee, Pensacola, West Palm Beach, St. Petersburg and Miami.

Additional information is available on the firm's web site www.carltonfields.com.