Colodny Fass Lawyers Maria Elena Abate and Amy Koltnow Join Council on Litigation Management
Oct 19, 2011
Colodny Fass lawyers Maria Elena Abate and Amy Koltnow have been accepted into the Council on Litigation Management (“CLM”), a national organization committed to furthering high standards of litigation and claims management in pursuit of client defense. Offered by invitation only, membership is extended only to select attorneys and law firms based on nominations from CLM Fellows.
The CLM, an insurance industry-based nonpartisan alliance of corporations, attorneys, corporate counsel, litigation and risk managers, and claims professionals, provides member education and collaboration to further its mission.
“We are delighted to join this exclusive network of our most distinguished colleagues, especially during this exciting growth period in the organization’s development,” Ms. Abate said, referring to the CLM’s recent acquisition of a majority interest in Claims Advisor magazine and anticipated January 2012 launch of Claims Management, another periodical.
Colodny Fass, a full-service law and governmental consulting firm, specializes in complex commercial and insurance litigation; insurance regulatory, administrative and transactional law; employment law; appellate matters; and lobbying.
An experienced litigation attorney skilled in complex commercial and insurance matters, Ms. Abate specializes in the defense of bad faith claims, class action litigation, sinkhole litigation, employment law defense and appellate law. She has represented corporations, state agencies and individuals in many substantial and high profile cases.
Ms. Abate also has served as corporate and general counsel to Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, formerly known as the Florida Residential Property and Casualty Joint Underwriting Association, as well as the South Florida Workforce Board for Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.
Often, she is called upon for her expertise in the areas of risk management, insurance and human resources, the latter of which includes investigations, interventions and representations before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
A member of the Florida Bar’s Continuing Legal Education Committee, Ms. Abate also serves on the Bar’s Public Interest Law Section Executive Committee. Locally, she is a founding Board Member of the Women’s Breast Health Initiative, a charitable organization dedicated to providing free mammograms to uninsured women.
Ms. Abate received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Miami, cum laude, and her Juris Doctor from the University of Miami School of Law, also cum laude.
Also a veteran litigator, Ms. Koltnow concentrates her practice in the areas of first-party coverage disputes, class-action litigation, bad faith and appellate law. She also has extensive experience in complex commercial matters involving business torts and other corporate disputes. Her litigation experience includes serving as first chair trial counsel in numerous bench and jury trials in state and federal courts, and in administrative proceedings and arbitration forums.
Ms. Koltnow began her career as an attorney for the Small Business Association Office of Disaster Assistance, following Hurricane Andrew. She then served as an assistant state attorney in Miami-Dade County from 1993 to 1998, during which she tried dozens of jury trials to verdict. She also worked at several top Florida law firms before joining Colodny Fass in 2005.
Ms. Koltnow received her Juris Doctor from Stetson College of Law in 1991, where she was a member of the Stetson Law Review and Moot Court Board. While in law school, she competed in mock trial competitions throughout the state, region and nationally, and won numerous accolades and scholarships for her trial advocacy skills, including Best Oral Advocate in the state of Florida. She also served as a Teaching Fellow for Stetson College of Law where she taught law students the fundamentals of trial practice. Ms. Koltnow received her B.S. from University of Florida in 1986.