For The Love of Law
Peggy Rowe-Linn
A.A., 1975
Peggy Rowe-Linn whizzed through her undergraduate college programs more than 40 years ago with two strategies in mind: avoid unnecessary extra classes and finish successfully.
“I was a young girl in a hurry and on a mission,’’ the West Palm Beach marital and family law attorney said. As the fourth of nine children, she understood early that her mother and father, a U.S. Navy veteran, did not have the financial means to fund the college educations of all of their children. To finish college on limited funds required a strategy.
“I knew enough about economics to know that the less time I spent in college, the more money I could earn,’’ she said.
The tenacity and strategic thinking that helped her complete her education swiftly at Palm Beach Junior College, Florida State University and later the Shepard Broad College of Law at Nova Southeastern University, have been among the cornerstones of her success as the sole attorney in her practice. The married mother of four adult children has two paralegals on her staff, including Steven, her husband of 39 years.
Now in her 34th year of practice, Rowe-Linn has handled over 2,000 cases, which she says “demonstrates how blessed I really am. That’s a lot of cases for a single lawyer to handle.”
Rowe-Linn is board certified in marital and family law, a distinction she said has been achieved by only six percent of The Florida Bar Association’s more than 100,000 members. Among her numerous certifications and licenses, she also is a Florida Supreme Court certified family mediator, a Florida Supreme Court guardian ad litem and a State of Florida parenting coordinator.
After graduating from high school in 1974, she enrolled in PBJC and waived virtually all of her first semester classes through her high scores on the College Level Entrance Program Test (CLEPT). She graduated in one year and transferred to Florida State University where she received her bachelor’s degree in political science in 1977.
While attending PBJC, she worked as secretary for the law firm of her now deceased uncle, William James Bosso. While at FSU, she determined that she would follow in her uncle’s footsteps, and to help fund her education and gain additional experience, she got a job at a Tallahassee law firm.
“My uncle was a lawyer, and I absolutely worshipped and adored everything about him,’’ she said. “He had a tremendous sense of humor, a great work ethic and loved life. I wanted to turn out just like him.”
She said she loves the challenge of marital and family law, and having grown up in a large household gives her the passion to work with her clients each day on cases dealing with divorce, child custody, dependency, adoption and custody by an extended family member.
“I very much felt like I could get people to be rational. When people are at their worst, I can pretty much restore them to being at their best. I see really good people on their worst day. Unfortunately, most people are not at their best when they are going through a divorce.”
Despite her success in the legal field, Rowe-Linn said her greatest accomplishment is her longstanding marriage to her husband and raising their four children. “This is a job. How we raise our families — that’s what really makes a difference.”