Laurel Marois Ackerman, the granddaughter of Don Anderson, was born and raised in St. Pete, where she attended LCC Day School and graduated from Shorecrest Preparatory School, and is happy to still call it home today! Laurel graduated from the University of Florida with her Bachelor’s degree cum laude in 2015, and from UF’s Levin College of Law with her Juris Doctor cum laude in 2018, making her a PROUD Double Gator. 

 In law school, she clerked at the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Tampa, served as a CLI at the 8th Judicial Circuit Public Defender’s Office in Gainesville, and worked at the United States Department of Justice Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section in Washington, D.C. After law school she worked as an Assistant Public Defender at the 13th Circuit Public Defender’s Office in Tampa for three years in the intake, juvenile, misdemeanor, and felony divisions. She gained experience in social security disability law while clerking at the Administrative Conference of the United States in Washington, D.C. and working at her parents’ business, Anderson Marois & Associates, who are Accredited Disability Representatives and EDPNAs.

Laurel focuses her practice exclusively on Social Security Federal Court Appeals and Criminal Defense. She has had success in federal courts across the country in her social security disability practice, and even takes cases at the admin level. She has tried numerous criminal cases to verdict in misdemeanor, felony, adult, and juvenile cases. 

Laurel and her husband Chris have a son and two dogs! They are avid sports fans and love cheering for her Tampa Bay teams, the Florida Gators, and Ole Miss (her husband’s alma mater)! She serves as an advisor in the Junior League of St. Petersburg, is a member of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club and Pinellas County Gator Club, and an advisor for the USF chapter of her sorority, Sigma Kappa!