A message from Board Members Caroline Heck Miller and Jane Moscowitz:

No one had more friends, or was a better friend, than Jean Perwin. When we lost Jean in May of 2015, we were left with a beautiful memory and the hope that her personality and values would continue to be a presence in the world. The Jean Perwin Memorial Fund has made that hope a reality, and supports that hope. Both the Miami-Dade Chapter of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers and Boston College Law School established grant programs for women law students in Jeannie’s name, and the Jean Perwin Memorial Fund for Legal Services has made a substantial contribution to The Lotus House Women’s Shelter in Miami – the largest shelter for women and children in Miami – directed towards its Legal Center.

The Memorial Fund provides a way to help our social community, to build the legal profession, and to do good in Jean’s name.  We write to let you know about these programs, and to ask you to consider contributing to The Lotus Fund Endowment or the Miami-Dade chapter of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers using the links on our Donate page, or by other means in dedication to the Jean Perwin Memorial Fund for Legal Services.

All who met Jean soon knew the catalogue of her virtues – her wit, and honesty, and warm empathy, among others. She was a dear, happy, loving person, whom we looked to for friendship and counsel. She and Joel were soulmates for 46 years – they met after Jeannie’s junior year of college – and Amanda and Sam, and Amanda’s children Violet and Jude, were at the center of her world.

That world encompassed as well her professional vision and success. Jeannie began her career in Washington D.C. as Counsel to Subcommittees of the House of Representatives and then of the Senate, and then as Counsel to President Carter’s Consumer Affairs Advisor Esther Peterson, where her officemate was Ellen Malcom, the founder of Emily’s List. Jeannie was one of its first Board Members. After Amanda was born, in 1981 Jean and Joel moved to Miami, where Joel grew up, and she established her own firm devoted to intellectual property law. In the early years she was often paid by grateful starving-artist clients in paintings and sculptures. She quickly became a leader in her field, serving as Chairperson and longtime Board Member of the Florida Bar’s Intellectual Property Committee. Her lifelong commitment to Florida arts and culture was reflected in her service on the Board of Directors of the Colony Theatre in Miami Beach and Ballet Gamonet, and as Docent of the Miami Beach Design Preservation League. She lent her legal services to all of these organizations and others; authored numerous publications – many of them advising artists and performers how to protect their rights – as well as a blog on trademark and patent registration; and she received many honors in her field. Through it all she was an advisor and mentor to many law students and young lawyers.

We think Jean would have loved the idea of helping young women law students, women lawyers, and women needing legal services. Giving through the Jean Perwin Memorial Fund is a way to do that in her name.

Thank you for your consideration, and for thinking of Jean.