Legal Briefs (Tampa edition)

Legal Briefs (Tampa edition)

Castillo appointed

to Hillsborough JNC

Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Michelle G. Castillo to the 13th Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission. Castillo, 43, an attorney with Kass, Shuler, Solomon, Spector, Foyle and Singer PA, succeeds Sheila McDevitt, for a three-year term that began May 21.

Bush promotes Judge

Williams to circuit bench

Gov. Jeb Bush elevated Pinellas County Judge Amy M. Williams to the 6th Circuit bench, filling the vacancy created by the resignation of Judge Charles W. Cope.

Williams, 49, who has been a judge since 1999, is a member of the St. Petersburg and the Clearwater bar associations. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Florida in 1977, and her Juris Doctor from Stetson University College of Law in 1980.

Cope resigned earlier this year amid rumors that Florida legislators, including House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, planned to impeach him. Last year, he was reprimanded by the Florida Supreme Court for drunken behavior at a California judicial conference.

Three new associates

join Ruden, McClosky

Ruden, McClosky, Smith, Schuster & Russell PA hired three new associates - Guy P. Coburn, Barbara A. Hart and Richmond C. Flowers - to work in the firm's St. Petersburg office.

Coburn joins the firm's litigation practice group and will concentrate his practice in civil and commercial litigation, landlord and tenant law, creditors' rights and collections. A 1984 graduate of the University of Miami School of Law, Coburn is the author of the chapter on "Extraordinary Remedies" in Creditors' and Debtors' Practice in Florida 2nd Ed., published by the Florida Bar CLE in 2003. He was formerly of counsel to the Marks Law Firm in Orlando.

Hart joins the bankruptcy practice group. She has experience with both creditor and debtor practice in bankruptcy proceedings filed under Chapters 7, 11 and 13. A 2001 graduate of Stetson University College of Law, she also holds a master's in public health from the University of South Florida. Formerly an associate at Wilkes & McHugh PA, Tampa, Hart is a member of the Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association, the Hillsborough County Bar Association, the St. Petersburg Bar Association, Phi Delta Phi, the Florida Environmental Health Association and the Florida Association of Women Lawyers.

Flowers, a graduate of the University of Florida, Flowers received his law degree from Stetson University College of Law in 1996. He joins the real estate practice group and will concentrate his practice in commercial real estate and land use law. Flowers has experience in litigating real estate contract disputes, title insurance claims, construction disputes and collection matters. Formerly an associate at Piper Rudnick LLP, Tampa, Flowers is a member of the Hillsborough County Bar Association and the St. Petersburg Bar Association.

Ruden McClosky has offices in Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Naples, Orlando, Port St. Lucie, Sarasota, St. Petersburg, Tallahassee, Tampa, West Palm Beach and Caracas, Venezuela.