Claudia E. Blackwell Attorney at Law

Hard work and dedication runs in my family. My parents came to this country from Germany when they were 20-years-old and built a wonderful life for our family. My father started an interior decorating business in Wisconsin when he arrived in the United States, but his dream was always to build a motel near Disney World in Orlando. He did just that designing a 50-unit motel five miles from Walt Disney World. Our home was actually connected onto the motel located in Kissimmee. Even though we were close to Disney, Kissimmee was still a very rural place growing up. I went to a high school where we got a day off for “rodeo day.” It was an interesting time for me growing up in a bi-lingual house with my parents English being limited, as I was sometimes fearful of getting up in front of a group of people to speak. So it is funny that I now love being in the courtroom and in front of people so much. I also grew up in a very strict household. If I brought a friend over, there were rules they had to follow that were maybe a bit different. Such as, if you didn’t greet my father properly he would send you out of the house and tell you to return to try again. My upbringing made me a stronger person in overcoming my fears through practice and a determination to always do my best. For me, the plan was always to be a doctor or lawyer; growing up there was no in-between. I looked at those two avenues because my parents did not go to college so getting that higher degree was important. My parents definitely instilled that in me. Once I got to college, I knew the law was for me.