Florida Bar President-elect Michelle Suskauer joined the West Palm Beach office of Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein as a partner this month, bringing her criminal defense experience to the Miami-based firm.

Firm co-founder Scott Dimond welcomed Suskauer's “impressive talents and unmatched cachet” and said she shares the firm's “commitment to the very highest quality of practice.”

Suskauer, who had been the managing partner of Suskauer Feuer in West Palm Beach, called her move “a terrific opportunity to broaden the reach and expertise of an exceptional boutique firm.”

As president-elect, she has been committed to supporting small law firms. Her new firm now has nine attorneys.

Suskauer began her legal career as an assistant public defender in West Palm Beach in 1991, has handled thousands of criminal cases and is a frequent media commentator. She will be sworn in as president at the Florida Bar's annual convention in Orlando on June 15.

She is married to Scott Suskauer, a family division Palm Beach circuit judge, and they have two daughters.

Dimond Kaplan specializes in securities litigation and arbitration, commercial litigation and catastrophic personal injury cases. The firm has offices in Miami and West Palm Beach and satellite offices in Los Angeles, New York and Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.