Meet Annika Ashton, Coral Springs resident appointed new Broward County Attorney
The incoming Broward County Attorney will be Annika E. Ashton, a Coral Springs resident, county commissioners have decided.
The current Broward County Deputy Attorney, Ashton will replace sitting county attorney Andrew Meyers, who notified the board in February that he would be retiring in the fall.
During a March 26 meeting, county commissioners unanimously voted to appoint Ashton as county attorney starting Sept. 10.
After graduating from Princeton University and then Columbia Law School, Ashton began working for Broward in 2014 as an assistant county attorney. Over the past 11 years, she worked her way up to senior assistant county attorney before assuming the role of a deputy county attorney in 2019.
“I’m very excited to work with a really great office of people and have the support of the Broward County Commission,” Ashton told the Coral Springs News on March 31. “I’m honored the board unanimously appointed me, which shows the confidence the board has in me and the whole office under Andrew Meyers, the current county attorney.”
Ashton said she’s worked on a wide breadth of projects during her time with the county, including litigating federal court cases, drafting ordinances and working on the landmark $1 billion expansion of the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale.
“Drew Meyers has really facilitated my ability to oversee a lot of projects, including the Omni Hotel Convention Center expansion, which involved a lot of problem solving to ensure we had a successful project,” she said.
Ashton added there will of course be a “learning curve,” but her years of experience and the nearly six months notice she has before she’ll fully transition into the role will help prepare her for what lies ahead.
“It’s not just providing legal advice, it’s making sure the goals of our commission and agencies are accomplished,” she said.
Commissioner Nan Rich praised Ashton, adding the county attorney job is one of only three positions in the government the board is responsible for, so the commissioners “do not take that responsibility lightly.”
“Annika is the most qualified person to lead the County Attorney’s Office, and today’s vote reflects the tremendous amount of trust she has earned from both her colleagues within the County Attorney’s Office, as well as the Board of County Commissioners,” Rich wrote on social media after the March 26 meeting.
Ashton leads the Finance, Real Property and Housing practice group and serves as counsel to the county’s Office of Management and Budget, the Finance and Administrative Services Department, the Real Property Section, and the Housing Finance Authority, among others.
“I have complete confidence in her ability to lead this office and build on the success of her predecessor, and I’m glad that my colleagues supported this motion without objection,” Rich said.
Ashton is also a past president of the Caribbean Bar Association, former board member of the Young Lawyers Division of the Florida Bar, and she clerked for the Hon. Adalberto Jordan on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
She praised the work of her predecessor, saying Meyers set the example for how to do the job.
Before moving to Coral Springs a few years ago, Ashton lived in the North Lauderdale and Margate area, attending Silver Lakes Middle and Boyd H. Anderson High School.