It is my honor to serve as FFLA’s president, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to build on the momentum established by those who led before me.
I’m pleased to share several important developments already underway. First, our Board of Directors has approved covering the full cost of legal research services for our grantees with IOTA funds, reducing the administrative burden of requiring reimbursement. After much research and negotiation, FFLA also decided to change vendors and entered into an agreement with LexisNexis. FFLA will maintain its current vendor, Westlaw, through December 2027, giving grantees time to transition, while LexisNexis AI services and onboarding have already begun. This transition is expected to save more than $950,000 over five years, while providing grantees access to twice the number of licenses and a broader suite of products.
We’re also continuing work toward our long-term goal of transitioning all grantees to a single case management system. FFLA will fund grantee case management systems for the upcoming fiscal year while grantees conduct an RFP process for case management systems, to be completed by February 2027.
Finally, FFLA is aligning our grant programs to the same annual cycle. Most grant applications will now be due in July, with funding decisions made in the fall and funds distributed to grantees in December. This will allow grantees to operate on a calendar year grant cycle with reports due the following spring.
Thank you for your continued support of FFLA’s mission, and I look forward to all we will accomplish together in the year ahead.
Maria Gonzalez
FFLA President Maria C. Gonzalez took office July 1, 2026. Gonzalez is managing partner at the Law Offices of Maria C. Gonzalez, P.A., in Hollywood, where she focuses her practice on marital and family law and guardianship matters. She has extensive experience across all areas of marital and family law and is a past-Chair and current Trustee of The Florida Bar Family Law Section. Gonzalez is a Board Certified Marital and Family Law Specialist by The Florida Bar and is a Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Law Mediator and a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (Florida Chapter). She has previously served as president of First Family Law American Inn of Court and president of the Florida Chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. She also served on the Florida Supreme Court’s Commission on Professionalism and Civility.