A Judicial Profile
by Mark A. Sylvester*
Judge Jennifer D. Bailey has served as a Circuit Court Judge for the 11th Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County for 16 years. During those 16 years, Judge Bailey has continually engaged herself in service to the bench and the bar.
From 2000-2005, Judge Bailey was the Dean of the Florida College of Advanced Judicial Studies. As Dean, she was responsible for the oversight, course development, faculty recruitment, and the execution of more than 25 graduate level seminar-style judicial education courses. Judge Bailey has also taught family law at the New Judges College, and taught in the areas of scientific evidence, judicial and attorney professionalism, and family law.
Currently, Judge Bailey is the Vice-Chair for the Florida Court Educational Council. She also serves on the Florida Supreme Court’s Civil Jury Instruction Committee. Previously, Judge Bailey served on the Florida Bar’s Civil Procedure Rules Committee, chairing the committee from 2003-2004.
Judge Bailey also worked on establishing the differentiated case management system and model case flow plan in the family court, which served as one of the models for the Unified Family Court System.
Judge Bailey was born in Chicago and grew up in Detroit and rural North Carolina. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Georgia in 1980 with a degree in journalism.
“While in college I was very interested in art, but quickly realized that wasn’t going to pay the bills,” she said. “I then became very interested in business and planned on pursuing an MBA, however, qualifying for the program would have required me to work for 2 years prior to enrolling, and I was eager to move forward with my career. It was at that point that I decided to go to law school with the notion that I would use my legal degree in a business sense after I graduated.”
In 1983, Judge Bailey received her J.D. from the University of Georgia. Upon graduation she worked in-house for a corporation in Miami as a claims attorney for a conglomerate of large companies. She gained valuable experience in her first job that led her to her move on to the law firm of Kimbrell & Hamann where she had a defense practice handling product liability claims in multiple fields, including aviation.
“Kimbrell & Harmann was a great place to work for a young associate,” the judge said. “We were a larger firm with a small firm mentality. The senior partners took the time to teach the young associates how to use their intellect and practice law with honor and integrity. They were the old guard. It’s something that unfortunately I see less and less of these days. At that time you learned that your word was your bound and that zealously representing your clients could and should be done with dignity and respect for the law and your fellow colleagues.”
Judge Bailey was with Kimbrell and Hamann for approximately 6 years before changes within the firm took her to the law firm of Katz, Barron, Squitero & Faust, where she practiced commercial litigation until her election to the Circuit Court.
While in private practice, Judge Bailey served as President of the Dade County Bar Young Lawyers Section and on the Board of Governors of the Florida Bar Young Lawyers Section. In 1989 she received the Outstanding Young Lawyer Award from the Florida Bar as well as several pro bono service awards.
In 1992, Judge Bailey was elected to the Circuit Court. She has served in the Criminal, Family, and General Jurisdiction Division. Most recently, on January 1, 2008, Judge Bailey moved from the family Division back to the General Jurisdiction Division.
“As far as dream jobs, this is pretty close to mine,” the judge said. “I like to solve problems, to fix things, and to help people. As someone once told me, ‘Judge you’re like a hammer and all the rest of the world is a nail.’ It really is a good fit for my personality, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to serve the community in this capacity.”
Judge Bailey still remembers when she was first fitted for her robe; “I was so excited to have a position on the bench, I rushed home to try my robe on (I was 32 at the time),” she said. “I was showing off my new black robe to my husband and my three year old daughter, Aidan, and my husband asked Aidan if she knew what mommy was; it was shortly after Halloween and Aidan looked up and said, ‘Mommy’s a witch!’ That sort of put things in perspective for me,” she said.
Having just moved back into the General Jurisdiction Division a few weeks ago, Judge Bailey is in the process of sorting through her new docket and switching her special set hearings to first thing in the morning on most mornings.
“I think it will work better and create more efficiency if we can get certain matters heard more timely,” she said. “Attorneys should send me a courtesy copy of all motions scheduled for special set hearing at least 48 hours in advance. If they do, they can expect that I have read the materials and that I am familiar with the issues. My motion calendar will be strictly limited to 5 minute hearings; so if an attorney has a matter that is going to take longer, they should specially set it for hearing.”
Outside of the courtroom, Judge Bailey spends her free time with her husband of 20 years, Mark Bailey, and her daughters Aidan, age 18; and Avery, age 15. Mark is the vice-president of external affairs at Merrill Stevens Yacht Services, Inc. When her girls were younger, Judge Bailey was a Girl Scout Troop Leader and, over the years, has served on a host of school committees as well as volunteering to speaking on a variety of legal topics. The family also has a golden retriever named Scout, who the judge describes as the “perfect dog.”
Most recently, Judge Bailey has rekindled her love of art studying as a mosaic artist. Mosaic art is the art of decoration with small pieces of tile, colored glass, or fragments of pottery, which are used to create a pattern or picture. The judge recently took a master class in Venice, Italy, and currently studies mosaic art in Coconut Grove with Master artist Gina Hubler.
The Judge also enjoys kayaking in her free time.
Mark A. Sylvester is a partner at the law firm of Leesfield & Partners, P.A. He specializes in representing plaintiffs in personal injury and wrongful death cases.
