About Ama
Ama Appiah trained at Albany Law School and earned her J.D. in 2000. She left law school at the start of a career that has moved between public service and private practice. Her early years after graduation provided a foundation in courtroom work and client advocacy.
Her first recorded position after law school was as a law clerk and then lawyer in 2003 at Maura J. Kiefer, P.A. That role preceded a pair of 2005 positions: she served with the Statewide Guardian ad Litem Program and also worked as a Special Assistant Public Defender in the Tenth Judicial Public Defender's Office. Those posts offered experience on both sides of the docket and frequent contact with judges, court staff and vulnerable clients.
In 2008 she opened a solo practice under the name Law Office of Ama N. Appiah. She has maintained that office as her base of operations since then. Alongside her private practice she has taken on pro bono and nonprofit work at various points in her career. From 2010 to 2012 she volunteered with Gulfcoast Legal Services. Later she served on Gulfcoast Legal Services’ board from 2015 through 2019.
Appiah is admitted to practice in Florida and in the U.S. Middle District of Florida. Her background in public defense and guardianship work means she arrived at private practice with courtroom experience and a knowledge of procedures in both state and federal settings. Colleagues describe her approach as steady and direct; she tends to the procedural and practical tasks that move a case forward.
She has participated in local bar and professional groups across the Tampa Bay region. She belongs to the Pinellas County Chapter of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers, a membership she began in 2016 and maintains. Between 2017 and 2019 she held memberships in the St. Petersburg Bar Association, the Clearwater Bar Association and the Fred G. Minnis Bar Association. She also joined the Tampa Bay Women Lawyers Networking Group from 2015 to 2018. In 2013 she served on the Spanish-Language Films Advisory Board for the Sunscreen Film Festival.
Her career reads as a mix of courtroom work, public service and community involvement. She continues to operate the Law Office of Ama N. Appiah, representing clients in matters filed in Florida courts and in the U.S. Middle District of Florida.
