Amy Singer Borman named Distinguished Public Service Award winner

Amy Singer Borman named Distinguished Public Service Award winner

Government Lawyers Section also awards Robert Butterworth Public Service Scholarship to Rocio Iglesias Gonzalez

Amy Singer Borman

The Government Lawyers Section presented Amy Singer Borman with its Distinguished Public Service Award, which recognizes dedicated government lawyers whose contributions to the profession and the community deserve special recognition.

“Ms. Borman is exactly such a government lawyer,” said Government Lawyer Section Chair John J. Bajger, the associate deputy of civil litigation for the Office of the Attorney General. “Not only is she an expert in court administration, but she also has significant teaching experience and Bar involvement.”

Borman is the chief legal officer at the Clerk of the Circuit Court Comptroller’s Office in Palm Beach County where she oversees the in-house legal department and the operations of the criminal, civil, family, juvenile, probate, guardianship, and official records departments. Borman joined the clerk’s office in 2019. Prior to that, she was the general counsel for the 15th Judicial Circuit, a position she held since 2007. From 1995-1998, she was an assistant legal advisor to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

“She is a recognized expert on the Florida Rules of Judicial Administration and court administration more broadly,” Bajger said. “She served as an adjunct professor at Nova, UF, and FAU where she taught courses on the Rules of Judicial Administration as well as ‘Women and the Workplace and Judicial Process.’”

Her Bar involvement includes serving on the Standing Committee on Professionalism from 2017 to 2020 and the Rules of Judicial Administration Committee from 2011 to 2017 and then again from 2020 to the present. Borman also currently serves as a member of the Supreme Court’s Local Rules Advisory Committee.

Robert Butterworth Public Service Scholarship

Rocio Iglesias Gonzalez

The section also awarded St. Thomas University College of Law student Rocio Iglesias Gonzalez its 2024 Robert Butterworth Public Service Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded to a rising third-year law student who demonstrate an interest in public service. She has a demonstrated interest in public service, completing two judicial internships, one in state court and the other in federal court, according to the section.

“The most compelling thing about Rocio, however, is her story,” Bajger said. “She was born in Cuba, and her family immigrated to the U.S. after her father was arrested without cause. Her father owned a diving shop when the government decided to make it illegal to operate such a business. Even though her father ceased operations, he was quickly arrested and the government seized his business and all its assets. Watching her father go through this ordeal without any meaningful due process, solidified her dedication to the rule of law and is now driving her ambition to be a prosecutor.”

The award takes its name from an iconic Florida government lawyer.

Bob Butterworth served as a county and circuit judge, Broward County sheriff, and Sunrise mayor before he was elected Florida’s 33rd attorney general in 1986. He served four consecutive terms under four governors — Bob Martinez, Lawton Chiles, Buddy MacKay, and Jeb Bush. Butterworth also served as the dean of the STU College of Law from 2003 to 2007.