About G.K. Sharman
G.K. Sharman is an accomplished writer, editor and photographer with a daily newspaper background. She has a degree in written communications from University of Mary Washington, and is head writer/editor at Think Agency Inc. in Altamonte Springs, Florida. Sharman won a Society for Professional Journalists award for a Super Lawyers profile on Jacksonville personal injury attorney Mike Ossi.
Articles written by G.K. Sharman
‘They Had Already Hired One Woman’
The trials and tribulations of Florida’s first big wave of female lawyersAre you the court reporter? Is that how they dress to go to court [where you’re from]? We already hired a woman at our firm. The women who began practicing law in the Sunshine State in the 1970s and early ’80s heard it all. But the lawyers who talked to us about those experiences say they refused to let a little sexism get in their way. They put on their pumps, pantyhose and big-shouldered dress-for-success suits and set out to beat the boys at their own game. And while many tell Mad …
Senator Silva
Miami litigator Effie Silva focuses on business and health care law, but maybe someday …The whole “leaning in” thing that Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg advocates for women? Not an issue for Effie Silva. She could probably give Sandberg pointers. Silva not only excels in the male-dominated field of commercial litigation, she’s pulling as many women as she can up the ladder behind her. Luckily, multitasking has never been a problem. “You can shoot four words at her and it’s like she’s Radar from M.A.S.H. She gets it right away,” says Marcia Rabinowitz, director of …
How Theodore Babbitt Turned His Life Around
A stint in the Marines lit a fire under the onetime underachieverThe admissions counselor at Palm Beach Junior College probably thought, “This will be a short meeting.” The kid standing before him had a lousy high school transcript: straight Ds in his senior year, even though all he took were shop classes. Best not to give the young man false hope. “Maybe you’d be better off going to a trade school,” he recalls the counselor saying. “We really don’t think you’d do very well here.” That’s when Theodore Babbitt realized what motivated him. …
The Case Against Do-It-Yourself Divorce
Diana Friedman and Sherri Evans are recruiting their colleagues to guide low-income couples through breakupsDiana S. Friedman still cringes when she thinks about the Houston woman who got shafted on child support. The woman and her husband had filed for divorce four years earlier without consulting a lawyer. The judge banged the gavel, and all seemed well—until their son turned 18 and the child-support payments stopped. Her ex-husband pointed to their paperwork, which clearly stated that he was off the financial hook. Had the woman consulted a family law attorney before the divorce, she would have …
Representing George Zimmerman
How Orlando attorney Mark O’Mara stays cool in the midst of chaosOn a picture-perfect day about 10 years ago, a couple of lawyers took advantage of a day off to go waterskiing with some friends on the St. Johns River north of Orlando. The sun was warm. The river was perfect. Everyone was having a great time. Joe Flood was at the wheel of the boat and Mark O’Mara was in the water, waiting for his chance to ski. As Flood—who once worked with O’Mara at the Seminole County State Attorney’s Office—tells the tale, O’Mara said, loudly but very calmly, …
Against the Odds
J. Cheney Mason wasn’t looking to represent arguably the most reviled woman in the U.S., but once on Casey Anthony’s case, he wouldn’t back downThe crowds would gather every day, often before dawn, cups of coffee or bottles of energy drinks in their hands. The mood was quiet, for the most part—at least early on. The media were there too: a virtual village of satellite vans and microphones and personalities with perfectly coiffed hair. As sunrise chased the shadows from the Orange County Courthouse, the volume rose. Reporters checked their notes; photographers got into position. Then a door would open in the Bank of America tower …
Landmark Win
Miami lawyers Hilarie Bass, Elliot Scherker and Scott Rubin help overthrow a decades-old ban on gay adoptionIt started with a simple phone call on an ordinary day in 2007. Judge Cindy Lederman was on the line for Hilarie Bass: Would she take on some pro bono work? Bass isn’t someone people reach out to when they have a slam-dunk case. A partner at the Miami office of Greenberg Traurig, she focuses on commercial litigation, class action defense, securities fraud and other multifaceted cases. She’s also past national chair of the firm’s 600-member litigation department. The more difficult and …
Gregory Mayback's Intellectual Adventures
Who is this guy, a rocket scientist? As a matter of fact, yesOn the wall of Gregory Mayback’s office, where attorneys often display their honors and awards, two 6-foot poles resembling buggy whips are arranged in a big X. They are surrounded at intervals by smaller devices that resemble, to the unfamiliar observer, a cross between sci-fi laser weapons and caulk guns on steroids. Behind the door in the eclectic office is a black-and-red motocross outfit, the kind with built-in protection for the spine and kidneys. A row of Scotch bottles sits in the …
Star Attraction
How a package of golf balls brought John Travolta to Mike Ossi’s doorstepAct I: How it Began The scene opens in the pro shop at Pablo Creek, an exclusive golf course in north Florida, on an ordinary day in October 2001. Mike Ossi, personal injury attorney from Jacksonville, is buying golf balls and minding his own business. A pro shop employee stands behind the counter. The phone rings. The employee answers: Hello? Uh-huh, OK, wait a minute. He puts a hand over the mouthpiece and looks at Ossi. “It’s Samuel Jackson’s assistant, and Jackson wants to play …
Life Is a Cabernet
To Gregory Yadley, it's all about balanceLegend has it that, back in the 1660s, Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon was the first to taste the bubbly beverage we now know as champagne. Astonished, he exclaimed to his fellow monks, "Come quickly, I am drinking the stars!" Three hundred years later, the region of Champagne and its head-spinning libation were no less a revelation for college student and future attorney Gregory Yadley. Not only did he study in France, he was lucky enough to work at Ruinart, the oldest champagne house of them …
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