Published: April 17, 2020

The Master Negotiator

SPARTAN SPOTLIGHT
Stacy (Estes) Yates ’02

 
Photo by Tina Cardoso of Howie Mac Photography

Former UT soccer star Stacy (Estes) Yates '02 — who graduated with honors, with a major in criminology and criminal justice and a minor in psychology — has always been goal-oriented, both on and off the field.

At 40, she’s now an experienced litigator and a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Court Mediator. In 2019, she was named a “top lawyer” by Tampa Magazine, and she earned the title of “rising star” by Super Lawyers Magazine.

But her path wasn’t always so certain. Yates — now a South Tampa resident, along with her husband, Jason; daughter, Harper, 8; and son, Hagan, 6 — got through college thanks to a combination of athletic and academic scholarships, as well as multiple part-time jobs like hostessing at Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City and working the 5 a.m. shift at a YMCA. She says she never would have become an attorney if she hadn’t been recruited for UT’s 1998 inaugural women’s soccer team.

As a center midfielder (who is still in the UT record books as 10th in assists for women’s soccer), Yates learned how to work with a team, take criticism constructively and be flexible. Being named co-captain by her peers all four years also taught her how to be a leader.

After getting her law degree from Texas Tech University School of Law in 2006, the Arlington, TX, native started working as an assistant state attorney in Tampa and was determined to make partner at a firm by 35. She did — at Pennington, P.A., where she focused on insurance litigation and eventually became the top-producing female lawyer and one of the top-five producers at the firm.

This member of the Athena Society (a group of Tampa professionals who promote women’s equality) has since left Pennington to focus on the next chapter of her career: opening her own litigation and mediation firm and possibly running for office in the future. (“When the time is right,” she says.) This year alone, Yates has already spoken at the National Association of Legal Investigators Conference regarding investigation procedures and discussed mediation for young lawyers for the Florida Defense Lawyers Association.

She’s also examined the pathways to equity partnership for lawyers who are mothers at the Southeast Women Litigators Conference in Atlanta. “It is still very stifling for lawyers who become mothers to become shareholders in firms,” says Yates. “I have been able to do that. It has been very hard, and I think it’s because there haven’t been women in those spots to pave the path for more female attorneys, but I have definitely tried to do that for those who come after me.”

By Patty Adams Martinez