Education

• University of Florida (B.S., High Honors, 1974)
• Stetson College of Law (J.D., 1977)

Practice Areas

• Administrative & Government

Court Admissions

• All Florida State Courts

Bar Memberships

• The Florida Bar
• Lakeland FL Bar Association

Professional Recognition

• District One Chief Counsel of the Florida Department of Transportation
• Executive Director of the Citrus Research and Field Trial Foundation
• Executive Director of Florida Citrus Processors Assn.
• Citrus Achievement Award Winner (2022)
• Martindale Hubbell AV Preeminent Peer Rating

Career

Ms. Carlson began her career as a criminal prosecutor and moved into administrative and governmental work joining the Florida Department of Citrus, where she served as General Counsel to the agency through 1993. In that role she led multi-state investigations into juice adulteration, ultimately handing cases off to the U.S. Department of Justice, who secured criminal convictions ending a ten-year economic problem for the Florida citrus industry. She also assisted U.S. Customs’ crack down on importers cheating the government on import duties in operation “Orange Squeeze.” Carlson went into private practice and joined Macfarlane Ferguson & McMullen in 2001 as a shareholder, joining in their trade association work as General Counsel to the National Juice Products Assn. (now Juice Products Association).