Florida Probate and Family Law Firm Turns 3!

Where has the time GONE! We would like to thank you all for your endless support and for being a part of the FLPFLaw Family! ♥️ Here are some amazing milestones over the past 3 years! 🎉

2018: Launch of The Florida Probate & Family Law Firm

On September 10, 2018, Samah Abukhodeir opened The Florida Probate & Family Law Firm (#FLPFL) located in Coral Gables, Florida. At that time, the firm was made up of Samah and her part-time law clerk, Anwar Hadeed. A few weeks after opening she hired her paralegal, Lemaris Gonzalez.

From the beginning, Samah’s vision for the FLPFL firm was to help families across the state of Florida navigate through the difficulties that often arise from issues in probate and family law matters. Aside from providing clients with the best legal advice to fit their circumstances, Samah and the FLPFL team aimed to build relationships with their clients. Specifically, they wanted to help people going through the toughest time of their life; death and divorce.

In its’ first year in business, the FLPFL firm hit many milestones:

• Samah became a fellow of the Florida Bar Real Property and Trust Law Section;
• Samah was awarded the Super Lawyer Rising Star Award; and
• Samah was invited as a co-speaker at the American Bar Association: Perspectives from Millennial Lawyer conference.

2019: The Official Full First Year In Business!

In 2019, the FLPFL firm continued to gain recognition. Notably, Samah became an Aspen Institute Fellow in the augural class for the Civil Society Fellowship. The Aspen Institute recognizes diverse community leaders who are dedicated to improving actions taken when dealing with complex real-world issues in their local communities.

Samah also authored an article for the Real Property Probate and Trust Law Society of the Florida Bar on Special Needs planning, which was published in ActionLine. The article discussed the importance of estate planning for special needs families.

While dedicating time to serving her community, and spreading awareness about changes in estate law, Samah continued to grow the business for the firm. The FLPFL firm hit another milestone when Samah started the firm’s family law department. Samah hired attorney Brenda Shapiro as the Chair of the family law department. Anwar Hadeed was also promoted from his law clerk position to an associate attorney in the probate department.

A few other notable moments for our firm in 2019 included:

• The Florida Bar appointing Samah as a Florida Bar Committee Member for the Florida Probate Rules Committee; and
• The Florida Bar appointing Samah as a Florida Bar Committee Member of the 11th Judicial Circuit Grievance Committee.

2020: The FLPFL Family Continued to expand amidst a Global Pandemic

In 2020, we were all faced with the difficulties that arose from the COVID-19 pandemic. During these difficult times, the FLPFL firm refused to leave our clients in the dark. Our team was committed to serving our clients, despite the restrictions arising from the lockdown. Samah developed an innovative way for our team members to provide our clients with virtual legal services on platforms such as Zoom. As a result, our team’s services were now accessible to new clients throughout the entire state of Florida.

In response to the uncertainty that many faced during the pandemic, Samah and the FLPFL firm began an initiative to provide frontline workers with free estate planning. Our goal was to give frontline workers, who were risking their lives, some peace of mind by providing them with an estate plan to protect themselves and the future of their family members. This was extremely important to Samah as both of her sisters are nurses serving Covid patients.

Outside of the probate department, the firm’s family law department hit new milestones in 2020. To keep up with the growth of the firm’s family law department, Samah hired a new family law associate attorney, Krizia Toledo. The success of the family law department was solidified when the FLPFL firm was selected as one of the top 19 Family law firms in Miami.

Samah’s commitment to volunteerism landed her a membership with the Junior League of Miami. The Junior League of Miami is a local non-profit organization made up of women dedicated to improving their communities through charity and leadership.

Once again, the FLPFL firm family expanded, and the following members joined the team:

• Yasmin Abraham (Client Relations Specialist);
• Barbara Vega (Paralegal); and
• Taylor Diaz (Law Clerk).

2021: Looking Ahead!

In 2021, Samah has stepped up her marketing strategy to continue to grow the FLPFL firm. We have hired two marketing specialists, Zenah Abul-Khair and Nicole Wolosker, who both work on expanding the firm’s social media presence.

Others within the legal profession have recognized how Samah’s ambition has allowed her to grow her business in such a short period of time. Recently, the Managing Partners Podcast and Lawyer Stories Podcast invited Samah to speak on an episode. Samah spoke about how she has been able to juggle being an attorney, managing the firm, and being a professor at Florida International University all while finding the time to grow her business. Samah also spoke about her vision for the future of the FLPFL firm. In the next 2-5 years she plans on opening multiple locations across the state of Florida to better cater to our clients.

To keep up with the firm’s rapid growth, we added new members to our team:

• Danielle Urrutia (Director of Client Engagement)
• Sarah Campbell (Family Law Paralegal)
• Beatriz Reyes (Client Relations Specialist)
• Stephany Hernandez (Client Relations Specialist)
• Juanita Cardona (Personal Assistant)
• We are still growing and looking for a probate litigation associate and law clerk!

Although our team works hard to provide for our clients and expand our firm, we have also taken time to grow as a family. This year, we went on our first ever firm retreat to Disney World. The retreat gave us all an opportunity to spend quality time together and bond as a team outside of work. In the future, our firm will host annual retreats, so our team can continue to make memories with one another.

Conclusion

The last three years have been marked with many milestones for the FLPFL firm. Samah started her firm with just one part-time employee and no prior business experience. Now, three years later, we are at 18 team members and have plans to continue to grow. Currently, we are looking for a probate litigation associate with 3+ years of experience, and a part-time law clerk. Samah’s ability to expand the firm so quickly is a result of the hard work, time, and effort she has dedicated to making her vision come to life. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the support of the whole FLPFL team and our clients who inspire us all to work hard every day. Call us for more information or for a consultation.