Michelle Suskauer

Michelle Suskauer

President, The Florida Bar

Michelle R. Suskauer is the president of The Florida Bar and a criminal defense attorney at Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein, P.A., in West Palm Beach.

Suskauer has been practicing in Palm Beach County since 1991, with a focus in criminal law in both state and federal courts. She is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell, and has been recognized in the annual Florida Super Lawyers Magazine as one of Florida's top criminal defense attorneys and by Florida Trend Magazine as one of Florida's “Legal Elite" in its annual statewide poll of attorneys. Suskauer is actively involved in the leadership of numerous local and state legal organizations.

She has served on The Florida Bar Board of Governors for the 15th Judicial Circuit since 2010. She is past chair of the BOG's Disciplinary Review Committee, the Communications Committee and the 2013 Annual Convention of The Florida Bar Committee. She has served as chair of the Board's Strategic Planning Committee and Executive Committee for the past four years.

Suskauer is past-president of the Palm Beach County Bar Association and the Florida Association for Women Lawyers, Palm Beach County Chapter, and she currently is president of the Board of Directors of the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County.

Professionally, Suskauer is a nationally known legal analyst who regularly appears on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, NBC and CNBC. She has made hundreds of television appearances, including on such shows as “The O'Reilly Factor," “The Abrams Report," “The Today Show," “Good Morning America," “NBC Nightly News," “Hannity & Colmes," “Nancy Grace," “Anderson Cooper 360" and “The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch." Suskauer is also the legal analyst for Palm Beach County's NBC affiliate, WPTV NewsChannel 5; its Fox affiliate, WFLX 29; and 1290 WJNO and 850 WFTL.

Suskauer began her legal career as an assistant public defender in West Palm Beach from 1991-1994. She went into private practice with Schuler, Wilkerson, Halvorson & Williams, P.A. (1994-97) and the Suskauer Law Firm, P.A. (1997-2016) before joining Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein, P.A., a firm that represents clients in securities fraud, complex commercial litigation, personal injury and criminal defense cases with offices in West Palm Beach, Miami, Los Angeles and New York.

She has earned numerous awards, including being named in Florida Trend's 500 Most Influential Business Leaders in 2018; 'Fastcase 50' Honoree 2018; 2017 Woman of the Year from the South Palm Beach County Women Lawyers Association; the Daily Business Review 2017 Top 10 Women in Law; the Serving Justice Award from the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County; the Justice Barbara Pariente Award from FAWL, Palm Beach County; Leader in the Law from FAWL, Palm Beach County; Woman of Grace Award, 2016; Women in Power Award, National Conference of Jewish Women; and the Character Counts Award from the School District, Palm Beach County.

Suskauer is a graduate of Boston University (B.S., communications) and earned her J.D. in 1991 from The American University.

She is married to Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Scott I. Suskauer, and they have two daughters: Talia, 22, and Rebecca, 19.
 

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