Miami, FL – The Florida Bar has selected Fowler White Burnett attorneys Avery A. Dial and Alice K. Sum for membership in its new class of the Wm. Reece Smith, Jr. Leadership Academy, which trains lawyers for future leadership roles within the legal profession.
Approved by The Florida Bar Board of Governors in January, 2013, the program’s goal is to reach out to lawyers from across the diverse state of Florida and help give them the skills and resources to become leaders not only in the legal profession but in their communities.
The year-long program will include six one-day meetings for “fellows” of the Academy at locations throughout the state beginning at the Bar’s Annual Convention, June 25-28. The curriculum will focus on developing skills and networking opportunities within the legal profession and having the fellows create projects to put their new skills to use.
Through the academy, fellows will have an opportunity to network with both past and present Bar leaders, including presidents and Board of Governors members. Midway through the program, fellows will indicate two preferences for Bar sections, divisions or committees in which they would like to become involved following graduation, which will take place at the Bar convention in 2015.
Fowler White Burnett shareholder, Avery Dial, focuses his practice on commercial, professional liability, insurance, intellectual property, product liability, and wrongful death litigation. He defends and prosecutes business matters including breach of contract, civil theft, conversion, breach of warranties, statutory violations, fraudulent business practices, professional malpractice, and entertainment matters. Dial also litigates insurance coverage matters where the underlying claims are business litigation, professional liability, or intellectual property matters. In addition, he litigates commercial and residential real estate matters including title claims, foreclosures, landlord tenant disputes, and breaches of contract on behalf of title insurers, banks, tenants, and property owners.
Dial is a member of the American Bar Association, Broward County Bar Association, National Bar Association, and served the Florida Bar as a volunteer Hurricane Assistance Attorney. Dial chaired the City of Fort Lauderdale Community Services Advisory Board and served on the City of Fort Lauderdale Aviation Advisory Board.
Fowler White Burnett shareholder, Alice Sum, represents corporations and individuals in complex, commercial litigation cases before state and federal courts and in alternate dispute resolution forums. She represents clients in a wide range of business disputes involving breaches of fiduciary duty, fraudulent practices, corporate governance, franchise and license agreements, partnership and joint venture agreements, and mergers and acquisitions. Sum has significant experience handling claims concerning director and officer liability, errors and omissions and shareholder disputes. She is experienced with copyright and trademark infringement, trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition, false advertising and domain name disputes. She also handles real estate and consumer financial services litigation.
Sum is a member of the American Bar Association, a founding member and past president of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of South Florida, and a member of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. Sum is a co-chair of CLE programming for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association National Convention and past chair of the Southeast Regional Conference.
About Fowler White Burnett, P.A.
With offices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, Fowler White Burnett is a full-service law firm and nationally recognized leader in the areas of Aviation, Maritime and Healthcare. The firm’s lawyers provide client-focused, proven legal strategies and business solutions to domestic and international clients across a wide spectrum of practice areas including Alternative Dispute Resolution, Appellate, Class Action, Commercial Litigation, Corporate and Securities, Immigration, Insurance, Intellectual Property, Environmental and Land Use, Family Law, Real Estate, Restructuring and Bankruptcy, Securities Litigation & Arbitration, International Tax and Trusts & Estates. For more information, please visit www.fowler-white.com.