Deborah A. Ruster

Background Prior to joining Peterson & Myers, Ms. Ruster was a law clerk to Judge Monterey Campbell of the Second District Court of Appeal; an assistant public defender with the Public Defenders Office in Bartow, Florida; Assistant State Attorney, with the State Attorneys Office in Tampa, Florida; and senior condemnation attorney at the Department of Transportation for six years. Ms. Ruster handled eminent domain litigation in a twelve county region acquiring over fifteen million dollars of real estate for the Florida Department of Transportation. Education Ms. Ruster received her B. A. degree, with high honors, in 1978, and her law degree in 1981, both from the University of Tennessee. Admissions and Associations Ms. Ruster is a member of the Florida Bar, the Eminent Domain Committee of the Florida Bar and the Lakeland Bar Association. Currently, Ms. Ruster is on the Tenth Circuits Diversity Committee. Ms. Ruster served on the Tenth Circuit Grievance Committee. She was Chairman of the Tenth Judicial Circuit Historical Society. Ms. Ruster served on the Board of Directors of Camp Fire for seven years. She has been active on the Eminent Domain Committee of the Florida Bar for over thirty years. Ms. Ruster served as Chairman of the Committee in 1996 and as Vice-Chair in 2019. She lectures extensively at Continuing Legal Education seminars on condemnation issues. Ms. Ruster was honored to speak twice to the Florida Circuit Judges Conference about the area of Eminent Domain law.