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Special Feature

New Chamber Chair
Getting ThingsDone

By Gary Bitner

er knack of knowing “how to get things done” is what
Burnadette Norris-Weeks expects to rely on as she
Htakes the role of Chair of the Board of Directors of the
Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce for 2024.
As a Fort Lauderdale attorney with a practice in governmental
law for more than three decades, Norris-Weeks says she
understands how things move through local government entities,
including how they are budgeted through funding cycles, who
to speak with about specific issues and how to be heard.
The firm practices in the areas of governmental law, personal
injury, real estate and corporate law, with Norris-Weeks
leading the governmental practice area for the firm. The firm
currently represents several municipalities throughout the tri-
county area. Norris-Weeks represented the Broward County
Supervisor of Elections Office for more than 16 years, and still
performs legal work for other constitutional officers.
“My work as a city attorney for various municipalities allows
me to stay current and in touch with the business community
and what happens locally,” she said. “I also represent what I
believe is the majority of the type of businesses involved with
the Chamber. Businesses with less than 500 people make up
98 percent of businesses within the county.”
Before relocating to South Florida in the mid-1990s, she
practiced law for a private firm in Tallahassee for five years
and also worked for the Florida Legislature as an attorney. She
holds a Juris Doctor degree from Florida State University.
She married her husband, Aaron Weeks, after relocating to
South Florida from Tallahassee, where the two met. He also
works in a political environment in Miami-Dade County.
Norris-Weeks is a life-long Floridian, born in Rockledge,
Florida and growing up first in Brevard Court before relocating
to Tampa, where she graduated high school and earned
a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida.
Watching the rollercoaster economic prospects of Brevard
County and the Space Coast, she recognizes the importance of
jobs to a community’s ongoing economic success.
“There was a boom there with the Kennedy Space Center in
the ‘60s and ‘70s, and then when government money was

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