Judicial Assignment
Circuit Civil "AF", December 29, 2022
Circuit Judge Carolyn Bell
The Honorable Carolyn Bell was appointed as a Circuit Court Judge for the 15th Judicial Circuit in May 2018, and is currently assigned to the Civil Division. She previously served in the Juvenile Division where she oversaw delinquency, dependency, and Unified Family Court proceedings. While in the Juvenile Division, Judge Bell was the presiding judge of the Circuit's Juvenile Drug Court. Judge Bell has also sat as an Associate Judge for the Fourth District Court of Appeal.
Before her appointment to the bench, Judge Bell was a federal prosecutor in the West Palm Beach office of the Southern District of Florida. While there, she prosecuted hundreds of criminal matters, including federal narcotics offenses, weapons offenses, smuggling offenses and violent crimes. The bulk of her cases targeted sophisticated white-collar crime, such as health care fraud, securities fraud, and Ponzi schemes. In addition to her regular caseload, Judge Bell served as in-house ethics counsel to the over 200 Assistant U.S. Attorneys in South Florida. She was also the Criminal Bankruptcy Fraud Coordinator for the District, as well as the Criminal Tax Liaison between the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Outside of the office, Judge Bell has long been involved in state and local bar activities. Recently, Judge Bell was named a judicial member of the first 15th Judicial Circuit Local Professionalism Panel, which was created by Order of the Florida Supreme Court to act upon referrals of unprofessional conduct in the Circuit. She is also currently the Vice-Chair of the Florida Bar Standing Committee on Professionalism, and a member of a number of other state and local Bar Associations, including the Florida Supreme Court Committee on Standard Jury Instructions - Contract and Business cases, the Palm Beach County Bar Association Judicial Relations and Professionalism Committees, and the Craig S. Barnard American Inn of Court. She previously served as Chair of the Florida Bar Standing Committee on Professional Ethics, Chair of the Florida Bar Standing Committee on Advertising, and Chair of the Professionalism Committee of the Palm Beach County Bar Association. She has also served on the Board of Trustees of a number of community organizations.
Prior to coming to Florida, Judge Bell was a Senior Trial Attorney at the Department of Justice, Criminal Tax, in Washington, D.C. In addition to prosecuting criminal tax cases throughout the country, her service at Main Justice included assignments in the Misdemeanor Section in the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of Columbia, and policy work as part of the Deputy Attorney General's staff. While in Washington, Judge Bell also worked as an Adjunct Professor at George Washington University Law School teaching legal writing and trial advocacy.
Judge Bell began her career as a civil litigator at a large commercial law firm in Los Angeles. She received her law degree and undergraduate degree with high honors from the University of California, Berkeley.
Throughout her career, Judge Bell has regularly lectured on a wide range of subjects to attorneys, law enforcement agencies, private bar associations, educational institutions, community groups, and her judicial colleagues. Topics have included trial advocacy, ethics, evidence, professionalism, criminal and civil discovery, victim rights, white-collar crimes, remote court proceedings and juvenile justice. She is currently serving as a Steering Judge for the 2024 Florida Conference for Circuit Court Judges.
Mentoring the next generation of the legal profession is important to Judge Bell. She is active in the Florida Association of Women Lawyers mentorship program, and informally mentors less experienced lawyers on a regular basis. She enjoys volunteering for high school and college level Mock Trial programs throughout Florida. This year, she and the Honorable Lisa Small initiated the CourtCounsel program in Palm Beach County, through which attorneys are invited to free, monthly brown-bag lunches with judges at the courthouse to discuss courtroom experiences, practice tips, and professionalism.
Judge Bell has received numerous honors and awards throughout her career, including Outstanding Trial Attorney for the Tax Division, United States Department of Justice, and the Director's Award from the Executive Office of United States Attorneys. Since taking the bench, Judge Bell has been selected as the 2022 Distinguished Jurist of the Year by the Palm Beach County Chapter of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers. She was also honored by the Palm Beach County Chapter of the Federal Bar Association as the recipient of its 2020-2021 Kenneth L. Ryskamp Award for her distinguished contribution to enhancing the quality of the practice of law in the Southern District of Florida.