Marilyn Holifield Recognized as Florida Trailblazer by Daily Business Review

MIAMI (September 9, 2020) – Holland & Knight Partner Marilyn Holifield has been named a 2020 Florida Trailblazer by the Daily Business Review. According to the newspaper, Florida Trailblazers are "agents of change" or "legal professionals who have made significant marks on the practice, policy and technological advancements in their sector."

Ms. Holifield practices in the general litigation area, with a specific emphasis on representing corporate clients. Her practice includes employment, business litigation, corporate governance, trade secrets, covenants-not-to-compete, class action and intellectual property litigation.

Ms. Holifield has dedicated much of her life to the cause of social justice. After working for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, she was recruited by Holland & Knight. Ms. Holifield was named a partner in 1986, becoming one of the firm’s first minority partners and the first Black woman partner of a major law firm in Florida.

Throughout her life, she approached the discrimination she faced as a challenge. She observed that there didn't seem to be a place in Florida for a well-educated Black woman lawyer. "I wanted to find out what was on the other side of those doors and why those doors were closed," she told the Daily Business Review. "If I could go through those doors, maybe other people could go through those doors."

Ms. Holifield is a recipient of the Anti-Defamation League's Jurisprudence Award, the National Bar Association's Gertrude E. Rush Award and the Dade County Bar Association's David W. Dwyer Professionalism Award. She currently serves on the executive committee of the Harvard University Board of Overseers, executive committee of the Board of Managers of Swarthmore College and is a member of University of Miami Board of Trustees. Additionally, she is currently leading the effort to build the Miami Museum of Contemporary Art of the African Diaspora.