Attorney Profile

NCLR Managing Attorney Kendra Presswood Kendra D. Presswood, Esquire
Civil Rights, Employment Litigation, Appellate Litigation, and Criminal Defense

Kendra D. Presswood has over fifteen years of experience as an attorney and is Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Labor and Employment Law.

As a civil rights attorney, Kendra has successfully litigated hundreds of cases including race, gender, age, and disability discrimination cases, sexual harassment, wage and hour (overtime), Family and Medical Leave Act and whistle-blower cases. She has extensive experience in state and federal courts at both the trial and appellate levels. Most recently, Kendra took a hiatus from her own practice to accept an appointment as the Interim Managing Attorney for the National Center for Lesbian Rights where she was responsible for supervising staff attorneys and overseeing all aspects of appellate litigation as well as trial court litigation for non-profit legal organization which is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

After graduating from Stetson University College of Law in the top 10% of her class in 1991, Kendra received an Appellate Clerkship for The Honorable Judge Emerson R. Thompson, Jr., of the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach, Florida. She has continued to practice appellate litigation throughout her career, and handles both civil and criminal appeals in state and federal courts of appeal.
In addition, Kendra practices in the area criminal defense, and has written several motions to suppress evidence which were successful, resulting in criminal charges being dropped.

Kendra's professional affiliations, bar memberships and service include:

Charter Member of the Appellate Practice and Advocacy Section of The Florida Bar
Chair of Grievance Committee 12C for The Florida Bar (2004-2007)
Member of the National Employment Lawyers Association
Member of Florida NELA and former Vice President of Programming (2005)
Member of The Florida Bar since May 1,1992
Member of the Bar of the United States Supreme Court
Member of the Bar of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals
Member of the Bars for the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of the United States District Courts of Florida
Member of the Bar of the Cherokee Nation
Member of the Manatee County Bar Association
Member the Florida Association of Women Lawyers
Member and past Vice-President of the Manatee County Chapter (2004)

Prior to opening her own law firm, Kendra worked as an associate with Fowler, White, Gillen, Boggs, Villareal & Banker in Tampa, Florida, as an appellate public defender for the Tenth Judicial Circuit of Florida, and as an associate with Kunkel Miller & Hament.