Name: Christine Jalovec Bell
Age: A lady never tells
Family: My husband, Christopher, and our three amazing children: Victoria (6 going on taking over the world), Jackson (3 and super handsome) and Genevieve (11 months, cute as a button and ready to chase after her siblings).
Pets: None so far, but with three children that is bound to change.
Education: University of Florida, B.A. in Business Administration and B.S. in Public Relations (2001), and Florida Coastal School of Law, JD (2004)
Admitted to the Bar: April 2005
Employed by: Driver, McAfee, Peek & Hawthorne for my entire legal career. Thanks for putting up with me this long!
Field of practice: My practice focuses on corporate law and intellectual property law, specifically trademarks and copyrights
Professional organizations: I am the chair of The Jacksonville Bar Association's Transactional Law Section, a board member for The Young Lawyers Section of The Jacksonville Bar Association and a member of the American Bar Association.
Community involvement: Through the JBA, I've been fortunate enough to volunteer at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid's JALAween. This year, my two older children attended with me and passed out goodie bags. It was a great experience. Our family also adopts a child through the Guardian Ad Litem program each year and my older two children select the gifts. My son was very excited this year because the child selected was 3, as well.
In January, I was excited to co-chair the Holidays In January event through the YLS. This event focused on providing foster children with bicycles. The children were identified through Family Support Services. … The new venue for the event was the Jacksonville Zoo. In addition to the bicycles and goodie bags, the children and their foster parents received free admission to the zoo. A big thank you to the Jacksonville Zoo and all of you who made this YLS dream a reality. Also, my firm, Driver, McAfee, Peek & Hawthorne, P.L. and the Bedell Firm generously made monetary donations to ensure these children also receive helmets.
How did you become involved? I became involved with The Jacksonville Bar Association to interact with others in the legal community. I've met incredible lawyers, paralegals and JBA staff along the way and have enjoyed every moment.
Once I became involved, I quickly noticed that the JBA lacked opportunities for corporate lawyers. I've truly enjoyed helping revive the Transactional Section of the JBA and hope that other JBA members benefit from the programs that we've created. For example, the annual Marshall M. Criser Transactional Law Continuing Legal Education Seminar and the YLS three-part transactional law series. I would be remiss if I didn't say thank you to all that helped with these efforts.
How can someone else become involved? Please find the organization/cause that interests you and go for it. There is always room for more volunteers.
What have you learned/achieved through the experience? My experiences have taught me the value and power of our legal community. We learn lessons from one another as practitioners, but the true value lies in learning from one another as human beings when we collaborate on projects. I am still amazed at what we accomplish from year to year as a whole.
What was the last book you read or are reading? "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell.