Orlando Lawyer Suzanne E. Gilbert is New Member of ABA Board of Governors

CHICAGO, Aug. 9, 2005 — Suzanne E. Gilbert of Orlando, Fla., a partner in the law firm of Holland & Knight LLP, today took office for a three-year term as a member of the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association. Her term began at the conclusion of the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Gilbert will hold the Young Lawyer Member-at-Large seat on the board, which meets at least four times yearly to oversee administration and management of the association.

Gilbert practices in the areas of commercial litigation, bankruptcy and creditors’ rights. She is the Orlando office coordinator of Holland & Knight’s Women’s Initiative, a firm-wide program aimed at enhancing opportunities for female lawyers and promoting marketing and client development programs for Central Florida businesswomen and community leaders.

Active in the American Bar Association and its Young Lawyers Division, Gilbert recently served on YLD’s Membership Board, Leadership Advisory Board, and as Senior Committee Director. In addition, she is a member of YLD’s Women in the Profession Committee and Resolutions Committee. She is also a member of the Litigation Section and the Section of Business Law, and in August she completed a three-year term on the House of Delegates Standing Committee on Constitution and Bylaws. She is a past Fellow of the ABA Section of Business Law.

Gilbert is an active member of the Orange County Bar Association, the Junior League of Greater Orlando and the Duke Club of Central Florida. In addition, she is a member of the Board of Directors of the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival, of the Alumni Council of the University of Florida College of Law, and Florida Blue Key.

Holland & Knight selected Gilbert to participate in the 2003 inaugural class of its Rising Stars program, a year-long economic development program which encourages women lawyers towards community and firm leadership as well as advancement in the legal profession. She is a participant in Class 66 of Leadership Orlando and was recently named by Florida Trend as an Up-and-Coming Legal Elite.

A 1992 graduate of Duke University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, Gilbert received her Juris Doctor, with honors, from the University of Florida in 1996. At the University of Florida, Gilbert served as chair of the award-winning moot court team and received the 1996 Law Student of the Year Award.

With more than 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law in a democratic society.