Writing for Boca Digest

Florida Bar President-elect Michelle R. Suskauer has been honored with the Woman Lawyer of the Year Award by the Past Presidents’ Committee of the South Palm Beach County Chapter of Florida Association for Women Lawyers. Suskauer received the honor on Thursday, March 29, during a ceremony at Woodfield Country Club in Boca Raton. “The decision on who would be our honoree this year was not a difficult one because Michelle’s list of achievements render her an ideal recipient for this award,” said Ellen Leibovitch, Past President of SPBC FAWL and chair of the event.

“I’m so honored that the Past Presidents of the South Palm Beach FAWL have given me this wonderful award,” said Suskauer, who will become the sixth woman president of The Florida Bar when she is sworn in at the Bar’s Annual Convention on June 15. “I hope this honor will inspire women around the state to continue to seek out leadership positions both within their local voluntary bar associations and The Florida Bar.”

Suskauer is a West Palm Beach criminal defense attorney and member of The Florida Bar Board of Governors and its Executive Committee. She has chaired The Florida Bar’s Board Disciplinary Review Committee, the Board Communications Committee, the Special Committee on Gender Bias, the Strategic Planning Committee and the Annual Convention Committee.

Suskauer is also Past President of the Palm Beach County Bar Association, Past President of Palm Beach County Chapter of FAWL and currently President of the Board of Directors of the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County.

Suskauer is an AV-rated attorney by Martindale-Hubbell and she 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 earned a degree in communications at Boston University in 1988. She received her law degree from American University in 1991 and has practiced criminal law in Palm Beach County ever since. Suskauer is a partner with Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein, P.A., a law firm that focuses on criminal defense and finance fraud with offices in West Palm Beach, Miami, Los Angeles and New York.

The encounter of virtuosos in South Florida continues in this 20^th season of the South Florida Symphony. For the new concert series, the renowned Canadian violinist and conductor Lara St. John joins the orchestra in “Masterworks III: Beethoven and Vivaldi’s Expressions of Nature.” The program also includes a rendition of In This Heart, from composer Lisa Nardi.  The concerts will be presented at the Tennessee Williams Theater in Key West on February 28^th, at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts on March 1^st, and the Spanish River Worship Center in Boca Raton on March 2^nd.

Lara St. John, described as a “high powered soloist and a phenomenon,” began playing the violin when she was two years old. She made her first appearance as a soloist with orchestra at age four, and made her European debut wit Portugal Gulbenkian Orchestra when she was ten. The energy and virtuosity she puts into her interpretations are intense and she bring music to life.

In this Masterworks Series program,St. John will join the South Florida Symphony Orchestra to perform Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, a group of  four violin concerti, each of which gives a musical expression to a season of the year. The masterpieces were published in 1725 in Amsterdam.  “I have performed the Four Seasons with Lara. Many have performed the Vivaldi Four Seasons, Lara turns the music into theatre. Through her violin we see the dance and song of country folk, the barking dog, the sleeping drunkard. The Four Seasons is full of activity and Lara St. John bring this to her audience leaving us all feeling such joy,” explains Maestra Alfonso.

To round up his masterful ode to nature, the Orchestra will be playing Beethoven’s Symphony 6^th – Pastoral -, one of the composer’s central works and favored by many listeners. The Pastoral represents the profound love of the composer toward nature and the equilibrium he found in his frequents walks in the country.

Regarding In this Heart, which will set the tone for the show as the opening piece, it was originally composed for the film Carlito’s Way, Rise to Power. In words of Nardi, “it has evolved to become an expressive concert work of deep emotions.”

Maestra Sebrina María Alfonso, South Florida Symphony founder and conductor, is exhilarated about this series as well as the many other new projects and partnerships that she and her team planned to celebrate their 20^th anniversary. For the exhilarating and diverse 20^th Anniversary series they have already partnered with the  renowned Martha Graham Company and Siudy Flamenco, and GRAMMY-award winner cellist Zuill Bailey, as well as Broadway actress and magnificent singer Liz Callaway.  “Our goal is to continue growing and educating South Florida’s residents and visitors about the value that music brings to their lives. We are thrilled about the success the previos masterworks series have had in bringing together dynamic and exhilarating performances and look forward to welcoming the community to this series,” said Maestra.

For ticket sales and additional information on schedules, please visit https://www.southfloridasymphony.org/events.

Ashley Judd, actress, activist and Time Magazine’s 2017 “Person of the Year”, will serve as the keynote speaker for  Child Rescue Coalition’s third annual “Eat, Drink and Be Giving” gala on Friday, March 9, 2018. The nonprofit organization rescues children from sexual abuse by building powerful technology for law enforcement, free of charge, to track, arrest, and prosecute child predators.

A humanitarian, political activist and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, Judd was recently namedTime Magazine’s Person of the Year along with fellow “Silence Breakers” for her work addressing sexual assault, harassment and speaking out against Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein. Judd is also a Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated actress, known for her roles in the films such as “Kiss The Girls” and “Double Jeopardy” and was most recently seen starring in the second season of EPIX’s political thriller “Berlin Station.”

“Ashley Judd has provided a voice for the silenced and sparked an important international discussion against sexual abuse. It’s so often that victims, especially children, are too afraid to come forward and speak out against their abuser,” shared Carly Asher Yoost, Child Rescue Coalition founder and CEO. “The truth is, abuse thrives in silence and darkness. We are proud to have such a brave and inspiring guest speaker to help us raise the volume and shine a light on the pandemic issue of child sexual abuse and exploitation.”

Child Rescue Coalition’s “Eat, Drink and Be Giving” gala will take place at the Delray Beach Marriott on Friday, March 9, 2018. The inspirational evening will celebrate law enforcement officers’ successful utilization of Child Rescue Coalition’s CPS Technology. Provided to law enforcement officers around the world at no cost, the advanced tool has tracked over 54 million unique offenders in possession of child pornography and resulted in the prosecution and conviction of more than 9,600 child predators and the rescue of over 2,200 children.

In addition to the inspirational program and awards ceremony, the event will also feature a power-packed live and silent auction. Tickets start at $275.

For more information about Child Rescue Coalition and to purchase tickets to the 2018 gala, visit childrescuecoalition.org.

More about Child Rescue Coalition

Child Rescue Coalition (CRC), a south Florida-based nonprofit organization with global reach, has spent the past decade building the world’s most sophisticated technology to hunt online predators. Through proactive partnerships with law enforcement, the nonprofit’s system has tracked 54 million offenders around the world in order to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse. With a mission of protecting innocence through technology, the technology developed by CRC has aided in the arrest of more than 9,600 online predators and rescued over 2,200 abused children in the last four years alone.  For more information, visit childrescuecoalition.org  or call (561) 208-9000.

With many friends and family connections to the Parkland/Coral Springs community, members of the Spanish River Boys Lacrosse team approached Head Coach John Trama and proposed a way to help.

Coach Trama expressed how proud he is of his team to take action and want to make a difference. “Their first thoughts were to come to me and ask what we can do as a team to help,” said Trama. “Together, we came up with the #StonemanStrong t-shirt idea to help that community that has suffered so much loss.”

Sharks goalie and co-captain MJ Eisenberg wanted to help immediately shortly after the shooting. “When I heard about what happened at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, we knew we had to do something to help,” said Eisenberg.

“We wanted to raise as much awareness as possible to help our friends and the families that were affected.”

The team is currently taking orders for #StonemanStrong t-shirts for $20.00 and will donate all the profits to those families that lost a loved one on February 14, 2018. T-shirts will be sold at every Sharks home game this season. Orders can be placed on the team’s official website www.SpanishRiverBoysLax.com/Store. For those that want to order t-shirt but live outside the Boca Raton area, orders will be mailed via USPS and will cost an additional $5.95 for shipping.

“We can’t accomplish what we need to without working as one unit, one team, one community,” said team co-captain and senior Alex Ehrenstein. “In times like these, we put rivalries aside and come together to support each other which is ultimately the true beauty of our sport.”

Head Coach John Trama said crosstown rival Boca High is also joining the team’s efforts to help. “We want the Stoneman Douglas community to know that we are here for them,” said Trama.

On April 2, 2018, Spanish River will travel to Parkland to play Marjorie Stoneman Douglas boys varsity lacrosse team in a non-conference game starting at 7pm. During team warm-ups, the Sharks will wear the #StonemanStrong t-shirts to honor all the students, teachers and families in that community. The team will also wear the t-shirts under their jerseys every game this season.

The Company’s Athlete and Estate Planning Businesses are Rapidly Growing, Leading to New Offices in Boca Raton, Palm Beach and Jupiter

Florida is home to nearly five times more professional athletes than any other state in the union. So, it should come as no surprise that The Archer Financial Group’s Professional Athlete Management services are exploding in the region. To account for this rapid growth, the company has opened offices in Boca Raton, Palm Beach and Jupiter from which company founder Tom Archer, and his team, advise high-net worth individuals on matters of wealth accumulation, wealth preservation, asset protection, trust and estate planning, disability insurance, and more.

For most anyone, a professional sports contract usually means a rapid influx of wealth, along with an added anxiety about staying fit and healthy for an extended period of time. In these instances, professional athletes will often look to financial advisors, such as The Archer Financial Group, to provide structured asset protection, implement tax-efficient strategies, oversee retirement planning and initiate disability insurance in the event of injury.

“As a former baseball player, I know how the athletes think, and I want to do everything to help and protect them,” explains Mr. Archer, whose company handles over 200 marquis professional players. “From the ongoing estate planning needs – such as gifting and divesting, to implementing loss of value policies for players in opt-out years, we have experience in providing athletes with the best options for increasing and preserving their wealth. We also put in place all the services necessary to securing their family’s future.”

One service that Mr. Archer credits as being vital to athletes is the writing of “Loss of Value” insurance policies, which cover the difference in a player’s salary should they become injured in an opt-out year. “There have been many instances, especially in baseball, in which a player gets hurt during the final year of their contract, and thus lose much of their value,” adds Mr. Archer. “Athletes will use their Loss of Value policies to make up the difference in the following year.”

Another important facet of preserving an athlete’s wealth is identifying and establishing tax-deferrable investments, such as life insurance policies that do not have a tax penalty for withdrawing funds. Additionally, The Archer Financial Group will work with legal counsel to implement and oversee a client’s estate plan, including a will, trust, and power of attorney, to help ensure that their wishes are carried out and their family is provided for in the future. These services are equally as important to high-wealth retirees who have settled in the area and are looking to re-evaluate their current plans and policies.