Contact Katherine W. Ezell

Kathy was born July 16, 1946, in Vidalia, Georgia. Educated at Stetson University, she obtained a B.A. degree in 1966 and her J.D. degree in 1969, after which she gained admission to the Florida Bar.

Despite the demands of an active practice in commercial matters, securities arbitrations and personal injury cases as a partner of Podhurst Orseck, P.A., in Miami, Kathy has been involved in a variety of community activities. These include: four years’ service on the Judicial Nominating Commission for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, which she chaired in 1999-2000. In her work with the Dade County Bar Association, Kathy served as chairperson of its Committee on Legal Aid and Public Service from 1998-2005 and ‘06-‘07, as well as multiple terms as Director and a member of its Executive Committee. She has recently been selected for a board position for the Miami Dade Chapter of the Florida Association of Women Lawyers. In addition, Kathy served as a member of the Florida Governor’s Commission on the Status of Women, an officer and member of the Board of Trustees of the Historical Association of Southern Florida, Chairman of the Dade County Citizens Coalition for Public Schools, a member of the Girls Advocacy Project Community Advisory Board and a Director of the Board of the Counseling Ministry of South Florida. She currently is Vice President of Foster Care Review, Inc. and serves on the Boards of Directors of the Florida Association of Women Lawyers (Miami-Dade Chapter), the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Historical Society and the Two Hundred Club, an organization which raises money for scholarships and aid to children of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.

Kathy has been a volunteer attorney since 1990 in the State of Florida’s Guardian Ad Litem Program and more recently Lawyers for Children America, through which she has represented guardians, parents and children in foster care dependency cases. In 1993, she was given the “Children First” pro bono award by the Put Something Back Project and in 1994 was recognized by the Florida Supreme Court for her service to the Guardian Ad Litem Program. She was the recipient of the Dade County Bar Association’s Richard C. Milstein Award for Excellence in the area of Public Interest Law in 2000, and in 2003 she was a co-recipient of a John Edward Smith Award given by Lawyers for Children America. In 2004, she was one of two lawyers appointed by the Administrative Judge of the Juvenile Division of Miami-Dade Circuit Court to conduct a review of and report on the status of case files of approximately 85 children aging out of the foster care system in a pilot program designed to discover and fill the gaps in the Florida Department of Children and Family’s preparation of such youth for their transition to independent living. In 2006, Kathy received the Tobias Simon Award, the highest honor bestowed annually by the Florida Supreme Court on a member of the Florida Bar for outstanding contributions in pro bono service. In February 2007, Kathy was honored for her community service in the field of legal advocacy for children as a recipient of the Junior League of Miami, Inc.’s “Women Who Make a Difference” Award.

She is a member of the Dade County Trial Lawyers Association, the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, the Florida Association of Women Lawyers and its Dade County chapter, the Cuban American Bar Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America and the American Bar Association of which she is also a Fellow. Kathy is also a member of the National Arbitration Forum’s Panel of Arbitrators and Mediators.

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