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THE LEGAL LEADER
Mickey Palmer Leads The Way For The County Attorney’s Office
WORDS: Amy Bell
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
In 2012, the Manatee County Commission selected veteran
lawyer Mitchell “Mickey” Palmer as the new county attorney.
Palmer, who at the time was president of the Manatee County
Bar Association and running his own law practice, accepted the
position with open arms. Of course, he knew the job wouldn’t
be easy.
of County Commissioners and all operating departments of County
Government and also oversees the county’s risk management
ordinances, authors legal opinions, investigates and adjusts claims
against Manatee County, and litigates for the county in state and
federal courts.
animal law, labor and employment law, eminent domain, land
use and zoning law, real estate transactions, personal injury law,
environmental law, and workers’ compensation,” Palmer explains.
legal assistants, and claims adjusters. My client is the elected
seven-member Board of County Commissioners - the collegial
body, not the individual Commissioners.”
In other words, the county attorney has a highly demanding job.
Fortunately, Palmer has been up to the task since day one. “The
most challenging part of my job is the constant requirement to
exercise independent and unbiased judgment without regard to
shifting political winds,” he emphasizes. “I am sometimes called
segments of the community.”
While his role certainly comes with a variety of challenges, Palmer
job is celebrating the achievements of my eight assistant attorneys
opinion memorandum that puts to bed a thorny legal problem or
a courtroom victory on behalf of the taxpayers,” he says. “Simply
BRADENTON BORN & RAISED
Palmer has strong roots in Manatee County. In fact, he was
born and raised in Bradenton and attended local public schools,
including Manatee High School.
Although Manatee Memorial Hospital opened a few years before
his birth, Palmer was born in the old Larrabee (Bradenton General)