Vivian Cortes Hodz, former staff attorney, chairs Bay Area Legal’s board

Vivian Cortes Hodz, former staff attorney, chairs Bay Area Legal’s board

Vivian Cortes Hodz has become chair of Bay Area Legal Services Board of Directors for 2024.

Joining Cortes Hodz as 2024 officers are Jeffrey E. Cox as chair-elect (Orrick), James D. Thaler, Jr., as treasurer (Thaler Law Firm), and Craig E. Rothburd as secretary (Craig E. Rothburd, P.A.).

Cortes Hodz began her career in public interest law as a staff attorney for Bay Area Legal.

“I have so many wonderful professional and personal memories from the years I worked on the family law team at Bay Area Legal,” she said. “The knowledge absorbed during that time from my team leader and the more experienced attorneys on the team formed the foundation of my career.”

Her time as a staff attorney concluded in 2005.

“I will never forget tendering my resignation in tears to Dick Woltmann [then president/CEO] and telling him with certainty that I would be back to Bay Area Legal someday,” she said. “I did not know what that would look like but eventually I found my way back.”

Following her time at Bay Area Legal, Cortes Hodz remained active in pro bono work and took on leadership roles within multiple bar associations. She served as president of the Tampa Hispanic Bar Association and chaired both the Annual Convention and Voluntary Bar Liaison Committees of The Florida Bar.

In 2008, she established Cortes Hodz Family Law and Mediation, P.A., where she currently practices.

Chief Judge Christopher Sabella of the 13th Circuit, officiated the swearing-in ceremony on February 20.

Other board members include:

• Andrew M. O’Malley, chair emeritus

• Linda L. Anderson Stanley