The Bar Consumer Protection Law Committee Members, 2020 - 2021*

Anthony J. Palermo, chair, is an associate at Holland & Knight LLP in Tampa, where he represents clients in commercial litigation and consumer protection matters and advises on regulatory compliance issues. He has represented multiple professional sports teams in Florida, including Major League and franchises in business disputes. As part of his regulatory practice, he has been appointed a Special Assistant Attorney General to advise a state-run lending institution on compliance with consumer protection and banking laws. Palermo has authored articles for multiple legal publications. His published work has been cited in law review articles and in a recent decision by Florida's Second District Court of Appeal. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Victoria Butler, vice chair, is director of Consumer Protection at the Florida Attorney General’s Office, oversees the state’s consumer protection enforcement actions. She has participated in numerous multistate and joint federal/state cases involving business practices such as advertising, telemarketing, robocalling, data security, privacy, financial practices and mortgage servicing. Previously, she was a U.S. District Court law clerk in the Middle District of Florida and served as deputy court counsel to the chief judge in Florida’s 13th Judicial Circuit Court. Butler has received numerous awards, including the U.S. Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award for 2012 and The Florida Bar Consumer Protection Lawyer of the Year Award in 2012. She is a grader for the Florida Board of Bar Examiners and author of the Florida Section of the ABA Consumer Law manual.

Charles "Chuck" Geitner, vice chair, is a partner with the Florida offices of the national firm, Fisher Broyles, LLP, and is a member of the firm's Consumer, Commercial, and Intellectual Property Litigation practice groups. Geitner focuses his practice primarily on advising businesses engaged in consumer retail, consumer credit, insurance sales, debt collection, web-based advertising and telemarketing regarding their compliance obligations under federal and state consumer protection acts and related regulations, including the Retail Installment Sales Finance Act, Truth in Lending Act, Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Telephone Consumer Protection Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Florida's Insurance Code, the Copyright Act, Patent Act and Lanham Act. Geitner is Board Certified by The Florida Bar as a Business Litigation Specialist. Beth A. Norrow, vice chair, is a litigation associate at Greenberg Traurig in Orlando as a part of its Financial Services Litigation Practices Group. She focuses her practice on creditor’s rights and lender liability, representing financial institutions in protecting assets and litigating issues related to State and Federal consumer protection laws such as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), and Truth in Lending Act (TILA). She began her career in Michigan representing major automobile manufacturers, dealers and creditors in breach of warranty and Lemon Law actions, as well as, lawsuits brought under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, State and Federal Consumer Protection Acts, and FDCPA. She received her J.D. from the University of Detroit, Mercy, in 2005 and she continues to represent clients in both Florida and Michigan.

Barry Balmuth of Barry S. Balmuth, P.A. in Palm Beach Gardens has been AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell since 2003 and is Board Certified by The Florida Bar as a specialist in both Civil Trial law (2001) and Business Litigation law (2002). He has been selected for inclusion in 12 issues of Florida Super Lawyers magazine as well as several issues of Super Lawyers Magazine, Business Edition and in Palm Beach Illustrated’s List of Top Lawyers. Balmuth was the lead counsel in cases in which his clients (after prevailing in a liability trial) obtained the largest judgment in an inverse condemnation action in Florida and the third largest individual verdict under the Fair Credit Reporting Act nationwide. He earned both J.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Emory University in 1990 where he was a merit fellow and research assistant. He practiced at a full-service law firm and served as an assistant county attorney before founding his own firm. He practices in the areas of eminent domain and property rights, consumer protection and real estate, business, and employment litigation.

Rachel Bentley joined the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, Inc. as the Staff Attorney for the Foreclosure Defense Project in 2016. Before that, Bentley primarily practiced foreclosure defense in the private sector, where she won two appeals of summary judgments that were wrongfully entered against her clients. In August 2016, Bentley moved to Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County’s Consumer Advocacy Unit and is now the unit’s Senior Staff Attorney. Bentley represents indigent members of the community facing consumer debt lawsuits and consumers who are victims of scams or other acts that violate state and/or federal consumer protections laws. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Young Lawyers Section of the Palm Beach County Bar Association. Bentley graduated cum laude from in 2010 and from Florida International University School of Law in 2013, receiving the Community and Public Service Excellence Award at her law school graduation.

Genevieve Bonan serves as an Assistant Attorney General in the South Florida Bureau of the Consumer Protection Division. She prosecutes violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and participates in joint federal/state cases in the areas of tech support scams, elder fraud, online lead generation, online retail sales, and price gouging. In addition to litigating these cases, Genevieve is involved in nationwide sweeps and consumer education campaigns to help spread awareness of rampant schemes and trends. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Central Florida and her J.D. from the University of .

Anthony Bradlow is an assistant attorney general in the Consumer Protection Division of the Florida Attorney General’s Office. Bradlow participates in multistate Attorney General cases involving financial services and mortgage servicing and works on local consumer protection matters in the Tampa Bay area. He joined the Attorney General’s Office in 2014 and received his J.D. from College of Law in St. Petersburg, and bachelor’s from Florida State University in Tallahassee.

Carol E.A. DeGraffenreidt is a Senior Assistant Attorney General, and she investigates and litigates civil matters primarily involving violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. DeGraffenreidt was named the 2018-2019 Consumer Protection Lawyer of the Year for the Office of the Attorney General. DeGraffenreidt is a former Assistant State Attorney for the 17th Judicial Circuit (Assistant County Court supervisor, lead felony trial attorney, and first Black female Assistant State Attorney for Broward County, Florida); former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida (Economic Crimes, Environmental Law, Income Tax Fraud, and Everglades Land Condemnation); and former Traffic Court Hearing Officer (15th Judicial Circuit). DeGraffenreidt earned her undergraduate degree from Spelman College (Atlanta) and Juris Doctor from University of Maryland School of Law (Baltimore, Maryland). She has served on numerous Florida Bar committees and is active in her church and community.

Lisa DiFranza, immediate past chair of the Consumer Protection Law Committee, focuses her practice in Jacksonville on elder law, guardian advocacy, guardianships, probate, and estate planning. In 2018, she was awarded as the Small Business Leader of the Year, Beaches Division, of the JAX Chamber. DiFranza started her solo practice in the area of guardianships and guardian advocacy by volunteering with Jacksonville Area Legal Aid and continues to serve as their practice support for pro bono attorneys and clients. DiFranza enjoys educating colleagues and the public by giving lectures on guardianships, durable powers of attorneys, trusts, advanced directives and probate issues to community and professional groups. She serves on the Jacksonville Bar Association Pro Bono Committee and 4th Circuit Pro Bono Committee, Estate Planning and Tax Committee, and Elder Law Committee.

Lynn Drysdale is division chief of the Consumer Litigation and Legislative Advocacy Unit at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid. Drysdale has long been an ally to those who have been abused by unjust lending practices that set borrowers up for failure. Although she primarily represents low-income people, Drysdale has a special interest in older consumers and enlisted and retired members of the armed services and their dependents. She has testified on their behalf in front of legislative bodies. Drysdale has contributed to many consumer law treatises as well as teaching attorneys and "soon to be" attorneys for decades. She has worked to combat deceptive products such as payday loans and illegal loan collection and mortgage servicing, especially with reverse mortgages.

Kyle Dull is an assistant attorney general in the Consumer Protection Division of the Florida Attorney General’s Office. Dull participates in multistate Attorney General cases involving privacy, technology, and advertising, and works on other consumer protection matters in the Miami area. He joined the Attorney General’s Office in 2017. Before joining the Attorney General’s Office, Dull was an assistant state attorney in Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit. He graduated from Tulane University Law School and obtained his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University.

David J. George is the managing member of George Gesten McDonald, PLLC ("GGM") www.4-Justice.com. GGM is a full-service law firm with offices in Florida, New York and Virginia with affiliated offices in China. George has been lead and/or co-lead counsel with respect to various securities fraud class actions matters throughout the United States. He also acted as lead and/or co-lead counsel in numerous consumer fraud class actions nationwide. George and his litigation teams have recovered in excess of $1 billion for clients. Prior to his class action experience, he spent more than a decade as a commercial litigator with two of the largest law firms in the United States aggressively prosecuting and defending complex commercial litigation matters, including securities class actions, non- compete litigation, fraud claims and real estate-based litigation matters. In 2007, George was named one of Florida's Most Effective Corporate/Securities Lawyers and was the only plaintiffs' securities class action counsel recognized.

Margery Golant is the founder and managing attorney of Margery E. Golant, P.A. She was born and raised in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, received her B.A. from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, and her J.D. from Suffolk University in Boston, MA. She also has earned two LL.M degrees. She was appointed to a judicial post by the Governor of Pennsylvania, then later stepped down to move to Parkland, Florida, where she still resides, to resume the practice of law. She served as Associate General Counsel for Ocwen Financial Corporation, where she headed the Residential Litigation Subgroup, which was responsible for management of all affirmative financial services litigation within its portfolio in the United States, including consumer class actions and multi-district litigation. After the 2008 financial crisis, she took up representation of consumers. She is a nationally recognized consumer law expert, who has testified before Congress, was invited to speak at the Annual Conference of the Mortgage Bankers’ Association (MBA), has been widely quoted in national media, has been repeatedly been selected for recognition by Super Lawyers and is a longstanding instructor at Max Gardner’s Consumer Defense Academy in the area of structured finance. Her work lit the spark that lead to investigation by the New York State Department of Financial Services and many nationwide class actions by homeowners against major mortgage servicers, exposing their force-placed insurance practices She was recognized as the Consumer Protection Committee of the Florida Bar’s Consumer Protection Attorney of the Year for her work on behalf of Florida’s consumers, and has been actively litigating on behalf consumers in TILA, RESPA, FDCPA, FCCPA, force-placed insurance litigation, debtors’ rights, mortgage issues including foreclosure defense, homeowner and condominium association issues, FDCPA and FCCPA claims, and real property and title law matters and litigation.

Richard Lawson is a partner with the Tampa law firm of Gardner Brewer Martinez-Monfort, where he handles complex commercial litigation and government regulatory investigations. Before joining Gardner Brewer Martinez- Monfort, Lawson served as the director of the Consumer Protection Division for the Florida Attorney General’s Office. Lawson received his B.A. from the and his J.D. from the Florida State University College of Law.

Ruth Jackson Lee is the founder of Jackson Lee | PA, a Florida-based firm representing clients against corporate malfeasance across multiple industries. She also dedicates devotes time to pro bono matters, advocating on behalf of individuals and non-profit organizations. Aside from her practice, Ruth is an adjunct professor at Florida State University College of Law. She earned her B.S. from Liberty University and her J.D. from Florida State University College of Law.

Ian R. Leavengood is founding and managing shareholder of LeavenLaw, headquartered in St. Petersburg, and which has been assisting consumers with debt and credit since 2003. Leavengood has an AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rating from Martindale‐Hubbell®, and has been recognized as a SuperLawyer, a member of Florida’s Legal Elite in Florida Trend Magazine and as one of the Best Lawyers in America© by U.S. News & World Report. He twice was appointed by Gov. Rick Scott to the Sixth Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission – serving as chair in 2016-2017. He currently serves on the University of Florida Levin College of Law Board of Trustees. Leavengood was appointed as lead class counsel in several state- wide unlawful debt collection class actions, both in state and federal court. He is a triple Gator, earning his bachelor and master’s Degrees from the Fisher School of Accounting, and his J.D. from the Levin College of Law.

Patrice Malloy is bureau chief at the Florida Office of the Attorney General leading the Multistate and Privacy Bureau, where she manages a wide range of cases and investigations including Privacy and Data Breaches. As an executive committee member, she pursued investigations and settlements against several pharmaceutical, automobile and telecommunication companies for violations of Florida’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices. She worked on one of the first multistate data breach cases initiated in 2007, that led to a settlement with the TJX Companies, Inc. Malloy participated on the Multistate Executive Committees’ privacy and data security investigations into Equifax, Uber, Target, Nationwide and Google Safari and Google Street View. Most recently she settled a social media case against Devumi that involved the use of bots to generate and create endorsements. Malloy worked in private practice for a major Miami law firm before joining the Florida Attorney General’s office. Prior to practicing law, she worked as an anchor, reporter, and producer for CBS affiliated stations in Southwest Florida and St. Louis, Missouri, Following her undergraduate education from Temple University in Philadelphia. Malloy earned a Masters’ in Business Administration from the University of Missouri and a law degree from the .

Alex McClure was born and raised just outside of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. After high school, he attended California University of Pennsylvania, earning a B.S. in Criminal Justice, with honors. After graduating college in 2004, he began studying law at Stetson University College of Law, where he earned his J.D. in 2007 and was admitted to The Florida Bar that same year. For nearly a decade, he worked in a high-volume creditor's rights law firm representing the interests of creditors and large debt-buying companies. Throughout those years he litigated thousands of lawsuits from pre-suit negotiations through trial, wage and bank garnishment and sometimes on appeal. He now represents consumers and small businesses in Chapter 7 and 13 Bankruptcy, consumer protection, debt and judgment defense and negotiation and asset protection planning.

Nicholas P. Merriweather is a litigation attorney with the Sanoba Law Firm in Lakeland. He graduated from Morehouse College in 2006 and from Stetson University College of Law in 2010. Merriweather assists clients in a variety of legal issues including landlord/tenant disputes, debtors’ rights, garnishment actions, mortgage issues including foreclosure defense, credit card defense, debt harassment, homeowner and condominium association issues, FDCPA and FCCPA claims, and real property litigation. He has extensive courtroom expensive including more than 70 jury trials, and more than 150 non-jury trials, to verdict. Merriweather is a former member of the Florida Bar Code & Rules of Evidence Committee, serving from 2011–2017. Derek K. Mountford is a Jacksonville trial attorney who focuses his practice on general commercial, class action and consumer financial services litigation. He is experienced in handling complex state and federal court actions across the country. Mountford regularly represents clients in the banking, auto financing and mortgage servicing industries, with respect to a variety of consumer protection-related matters. This includes advising clients regarding on issues related to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and other related statutes. Robert W. Murphy is in private practice in Fort Lauderdale, focusing on consumer class action litigation. He presently serves as an adjunct professor of law at the University of of Law in Gainesville Florida. He is a past chair of the Consumer Protection Law Committee of The Florida Bar and was a Board member, secretary and Florida State chairperson for the National Association of Consumer Advocates. He has spoken at many seminars and conferences hosted by a variety of state and national organizations, including The Florida Bar, The Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, the National Consumer Law Center, the National Association of Legal Aid and Public Defenders, and the U.S. Military Judge Advocate Corps as well as college and law schools. In 2016, The Florida Bar recognized Mr. Murphy as the Consumer Attorney of the Year. Murphy attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and received his B.A. cum laude from Wake Forest University in 1984 and his J.D. from the University of Florida College of Law in 1987. He is admitted to practice in Florida and Georgia as well as various U.S. District Courts. He served as lead or co-lead counsel in more than 200 certified representative actions. The range of his class litigation includes actions against auto manufacturers, mortgage companies, banks, telemarketers, and most recently fin-tech lenders. Murphy is an avid trekker and climber. Robert Neary is an attorney in Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton’s complex litigation and class action practice groups. His practice includes prosecuting and defending in various areas of complex commercial litigation as well as class actions and multi-district litigation, representing consumers in fraud and deceptive trade practices, tort, and product liability claims. Neary has litigated actions in both federal and state courts as well as matters before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Neary works on the firm’s largest and most complex class actions, including a lead role in more than 20 nationwide class actions representing homeowners against major mortgage servicers and lenders involving their force-placed insurance practices that have resulted in settlements making available more than $1 billion dollars in relief and compensation for class members. Neary’s practice also includes work on various other complex matters including product liability actions, Ponzi scheme fraud actions, intellectual property litigation and matters before the FINRA arbitration panel. Jennifer Hayes Pinder is a Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection Division of the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Florida, and she has been with the Office for over five years. Pinder has litigated many issues under Florida’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act involving business practices such as telemarketing, advertising, mortgage servicing, and financial services. She has also participated in joint cases with the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau brought under the Telemarketing Sales Rule and the Consumer Financial Protection Act, respectively. Before joining the Office of the Attorney General, Pinder practiced law for almost 10 years in the areas of commercial litigation and commercial bankruptcy. She earned her undergraduate degree and law degree from the University of Florida.

Marena S. Ramirez is an assistant attorney general in the Consumer Protection Division of the Florida Attorney General’s Office. She works on local consumer protection matters in the Tampa Bay area. She joined the Attorney General’s Office in 2019. Prior to that she clerked for several federal judges in the Districts of Puerto Rico, and Northern and Middle District of Florida. She is also a former civil litigator in federal forums including bankruptcy, district and appeals courts. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and Juris Doctor from Suffolk Law University in Boston, Mass.

Taras Rudnitsky is a consumer protection attorney with his office in Longwood, near Orlando. After graduating from the University of Michigan Law School, he began dedicating his legal career to representing consumers. Rudnitsky was formerly an automotive engineer and automotive design expert witness in cases throughout Florida and the United States. He represents consumers in auto dealer fraud cases, UDAP, warranty, home solicitation sales, debt collection defense, and other consumer protection cases. Rudnitsky is also active in the legal community. He served on the Florida Bar Small Claims Rules Committee from 2011-2017, including terms as chair and vice chair. Rudnitsky served on the Board of Directors for Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida and the Legal Advocacy Center of Central Florida from 2011 through 2018, including as President. He is also on the board of the Ukrainian American Bar Association, an international bar association. His dedication to pro bono representation of consumers, donating well more than 700 hours of his time, has repeatedly been recognized by the Florida Supreme Court, the Florida Bar, and various organizations. Rudnitsky also helps train other attorneys throughout the United States on consumer protection litigation and advocacy and has been interviewed by television and newspaper reporters regarding consumer justice issues.

Sarah Shullman was appointed to the Palm Beach County bench in 2020. Previously, she was the South Florida Bureau Chief of the Florida Office of the Attorney General, where she conducted investigations and civil prosecutions of persons engaged in fraud and deceptive trade practices. Shullman also served Palm Beach County as a Civil Traffic Hearing Officer for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit and practiced in business and finance litigation at Steel Hector & Davis and Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP.

Kaelyn Steinkraus is a partner at the Law Office of Michael A. Ziegler, P.L.: Debt Fighters in Clearwater. Her legal career has been dedicated to representing consumers. She regularly litigates consumer claims in state and federal court for violations of consumer protection statutes, that include the FDCPA, FCCPA, TCPA, EFTA, and FCRA. She has been selected as a Super Lawyers Rising Star for the past three years. She grew up in the small town of Vero Beach, and obtained her Bachelor of Science degree cum laude from the University of Florida in 2012. She attended Stetson University College of Law and was a Guardian ad Litem in Pinellas County throughout her law school career. Currently, she is a member of the National Association of Consumer Advocates and the St. Petersburg Bar Association.

Adam Thoresen is a consumer protection and housing attorney with the public interest law firm Jacksonville Area Legal Aid. His career has been devoted to making sure low income and otherwise vulnerable consumers have access to competent, effective legal representation. He regularly assists consumers in defending evictions, foreclosures and debt collection lawsuits as well as homeowner and condo association disputes. In addition, he litigates individual and class claims in state and federal court for violations of the FCRA, FDCPA, FCCPA, and other consumer protection statutes. Thoresen is a member of the National Association of Consumer Advocates and has a particular interest in credit reporting and background check issues that negatively impact consumers seeking housing or employment. Before joining Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, he received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Virginia Tech University and his J.D. from Florida Coastal School of Law.

Dennis Wall is an experienced litigator, mediator and expert witness in Florida and Federal Trial and Appellate Courts, an “a, v” rated attorney, and an elected member of the American Law Institute. He is an experienced litigator who is now working exclusively as a writer. He is the author of four books. His first book is titled “Litigation and Prevention of Insurer Bad Faith” and called by experts their "Bible of Good Faith." The First Edition was published by Shepard's/McGraw-Hill in 1985. It is now in Two Volumes in its Third Edition, with 2020 Supplements, published by Thomson Reuters West, addressing more than 5,000 authorities. Dennis Wall is currently at work on a book tentatively titled, "Quiet in the Courts!", which will address how concealed evidence and secret settlements change our lives.

Tiffany Wax is a senior manager in the Financial Crimes department at Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. She is based in Orlando, however her territory for investigations includes domestic and international, and encompasses all US states. In her current role, she manages investigations involving fraud and financial exploitation of senior and vulnerable adults. As part of the role, she regularly interacts with law enforcement, Adult Protective Services, and other state/federal agencies. Prior to her current role, she was employed in the field of law enforcement as a police officer and a communications training officer. During college, she completed an internship in the Professional Standards Internal Affairs department at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations. Following her internship, she worked for two national insurance companies where she was hired in part to assist with the formation and centralization of an in-house ADR department. She later used the skills learned to become an arbitration manager and staff arbitrator with a national arbitration organization. Wax currently holds several FINRA licenses. She is also a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (ACAMS), a Certified Fraud Examiner (ACFE), and a member of the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators (IAFCI). Wax has been a Florida Bar licensed attorney since 2009 and obtained an MBA from the University of Central Florida in 2016.

Janelle A. Weber, principal attorney at the Law Office of Janelle A. Weber in Tampa, represents consumers in FCCPA, FDCPA, and FCRA actions. She also represents businesses in commercial and intellectual property disputes. She opened her own firm after more than a decade in private practice at an AmLaw 200 firm and two federal clerkships.

Aaron Weiss is shareholder in the Miami Office of Carlton Fields. He maintains a national litigation practice focused on telecommunications law, class actions and consumer claims. His cases often involve all of these areas of law. He also frequently counsels insurance companies on complex coverage issues relating to class actions and other aggregated litigation. Weiss has litigated several dozen class action cases under a broad variety of consumer protection statutes, including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA); the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA); the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA); the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA); the Medicare Secondary Payer Act (MSP Act); the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA); the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA); and the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act (FCCPA). In addition, Weiss frequently represents companies before state and federal regulatory agencies on consumer protection issues.

* This list only includes committee members who submitted bios.