Holli Dean, Holli Dean Law

Holli Dean
Holli Dean Law
12620 Beach Boulevard
Suite 3, #277
Jacksonville, FL 32246
(904)527-9553
[email protected]
HolliDeanLaw.com

 

  1. What brought you to Jacksonville?
    1. I went to law school at Stetson down South, and a friend of mine was working with DCF here in town.
  2. Why did you choose to go into law?
    1. I really got interested in politics after interning at the Georgia state capitol. I was fascinated with the way laws were made. A majority of people there are lawyers and I thought I might want to be in public office one day. I also paralegaled for a bankruptcy attorney and seeing a strong female attorney made me want to be one just like her.
  3. What is your specific field of law?
    1. Mostly family law; which includes child custody, adoptions, and divorces, but I dabble in criminal a bit and juvenile delinquency.
  4. How do most people hear about your firm?
    1. Mostly referrals. They’re very key from other attorneys, friends, family, even the court. I’m on the court appointed list for St. Johns county. Working on getting on that list for Duval.
  5. How do you set yourself apart from other firms in the area?
    1. A big thing to me is personal service. What I’ve noticed is clients complaining about attorneys not returning calls, they don’t get to talk to them, they’re paying all this money and not getting access to what they’re paying for. I have clients texting me at 10pm, and I have no problem responding if it’s really important. A lot of clients are scraping together money to pay a lawyer to help them, so it’d be important to me in that situation to be able to get a hold of my attorney.
  6. What do you see as the greatest challenges in your practice?
    1. Because it’s so small, just making sure that everything is taken care of by myself. Eventually I’d like to grow large enough to hire another attorney and paralegal, but for now it’s all on me.
  7. What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment as an attorney?
    1. It would probably be an award I got through the state, and I received several throughout my career, when I’d come into a situation with my job there’d be a backlog, so I got noticed for maintaining my caseload and helping the office run smoothly. Recently I was awarded for community partnership in St. Johns County: the office was in disarray when I transferred over from DCF, but I built close partnerships with the court, clerk, other counsel, and private social services agency (Family Integrity Program).
  8. How do you stay connected to the Jacksonville community? Are you involved in any local organizations?
    1. I’m involved with the Jacksonville Bulldogs Club (I’m a huge football fan), and I also volunteer with St. Johns Community Legal Aid. I have a 6yr old son and he keeps me very busy the rest of my free time.
  9. What advice would you give someone considering going to law school?
    1. Be prepared to be very stressed and busy for 3 years of your life. It’s very hard work, but if you’re passionate it’s worth it because there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
  10. Finish the sentence: “In 5 years I will…”
    1. I’d like to have a firm where I want it with one or two other attorneys, a paralegal, and running my business the way I want to.