La Gaceta Endorses Kelly Ayers for Circuit Judge
July 6, 2020 | 
Author From As We Heard It, by: Patrick Manteiga July 3, 2020
Voters can’t go wrong in this race for Circuit Court Judge Group 9 between Kelly Ayers and John Schifino.
Schifino has been practicing for 25 years and is currently a trial and litigation attorney with Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart, P.A. He is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell and has been included in the Best Lawyers in America. Schifino is active in the Bar and was the president of the Hillsborough County Bar in 2019. He is also very involved in civic work and served as president of the board for PACE Center for Girls.
Schifino is a complete package – experienced, professional and involved. He would make a great judge.
Ayers, formerly Kelly Ayers Overfield, has one more year of experience than Schifino and her experience seems to be broader. She started her career at a big law firm, Fowler White, and soon opened her own private practice. She now owns three firms and handles county criminal, civil litigation, family law and private dependency.
Ayers has a friendly personality and would offer a courtroom where people could feel they had their side heard in court. She is smart and would be able to handle a busy docket.
It’s a hard choice. Schifino has a longer résumé of community service, but Ayers offers insight into part of her practice that we find interesting. One of her firms handles a lot of cases involving Hispanics. That practice has made her handle cases in Pasco, Polk and Hardee counties. She has a first-row seat in seeing how unfair law enforcement and the system can be to some of the poorest people in our community. That is experience and knowledge we would like to see sitting on the bench.
La Gaceta endorses Kelly Ayers for Circuit Judge Group 9.
Posted in Endorsements
