Kelly Overstreet Johnson, president of the Florida Bar: 'a woman of her word, a builder of consensus'.

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Kelly Overstreet Johnson, president of the Florida Bar: 'a woman of her word, a builder of consensus'.

On an outing to Deer Valley in Utah, a ski instructor asks Kelly Overstreet Johnson: "What do you want to get out of these private lessons?"

Just then, a woman zig-zags down a snowy slope with dazzling, perfect form.

"I want to ski like that," Johnson answers matter-of-factly. The instructor retorts with a grin: "That's good. Her name is Heidi Voelker, and she's a member of the U.S. Ski Team and is a World Cup competitor."

Wendy Mitchler, a Ft. Lauderdale lawyer who was at that ski lesson too, tells that story to underscore that anything her good friend Johnson takes on, she is driven to excel--whether it's downhill skiing, litigating a huge class-action case, managing delayed motherhood of three-year-old twins, or serving as the new president of The Florida Bar.

"She is not a mere mortal like the rest of us," says Mitchler with a laugh. "Kelly is so organized and focused. She always carries these three-by-three notepads, where she writes everything down in her nice, little neat script."

Nina Ashenafi, president of the Tallahassee Bar Association, marvels: "She will respond to an e-mail at a dizzying speed. I am in awe of that. Kelly considers herself late if she is five minutes early."

Hal Johnson, the self-described "calmer, more laid-back" partner in a marriage of two dozen years, says of his wife: "She has a double-A personality. She is a perfectionist. She expects people to meet expectations, and she is very forceful if they don't."

Such meticulousness comes naturally.

Once, Mitchler got a peek at Johnson's grade-school report cards. Besides the expected straight As, a teacher's handwritten comments revealed:"Kelly is such a little perfectionist. We worry about her. If she doesn't get everything fight, she gets upset."

Flash forward to the present: M. Stephen Turner, managing partner at Broad and Cassel's Tallahassee office, where 46-year-old Johnson has worked for 14 years, puts it concisely: 'There is nothing that Kelly can't do, and she always does it right."

As for leading the Bar, Turner predicts: "She will do a magnificent job. She is a top-drawer person and a top-drawer lawyer."

Kelly Overstreet Johnson serves as a role model for those who want to have it all: high-powered careers, yet time and energy to spend on family, friends, and fun.

"She really understands the struggles women and men have as they balance the demands of family and career," said Mary Sweet, a Talla...

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