WINCHESTER — Attorney Beth Coyne, who presents legal recommendations for the Departments of Social Services in Winchester and Frederick and Clarke counties, has been selected as the 2019 Woman of the Year by way of the local chapter of the American Association of University Women (AAUW). “I was completely floored,” Coyne said about the respect. A 3-individual committee selected Coyne. The AAUW’s Winchester branch presents the award yearly. A ceremony honoring Coyne could be held at 6 p.m. Friday in the Frederick County Administration Building’s Board of Supervisors assembly room at 107 N. Kent St. The event is open to the public. Coyne said she knew she wanted to be a legal professional after taking a mini-regulation elective in 8th grade. She has been practicing law for 32 years and moved to Winchester to open a law office with her husband, Tim, in 1991, known as Coyne & Coyne. That company merged in 1994 with another regulatory firm, creating the Winchester Law Group. Her husband is now the chief public defender for Winchester as well as Clarke, Frederick, Page, Shenandoah, and Warren counties. The Coynes have kids and a beagle named Scout. Coyne studied history at Boston College and was given her law diploma at the University of Richmond in 1986. Before she started operating solely for the Department of Social Services, she became a
neighborhood eminent domain suggest for the Virginia Department of Transportation till 2009. She also worked in her family law, employee reimbursement protection, landlords and tenants, and adoption. Coyne does litigation concerning toddler abuse and neglect and adult and defensive services in her work with the Department of Social Services. Theresa Merkel, who heads the Woman of the Year committee, said the committee has popular criteria it follows while deciding on a recipient, such as a man’s or a woman’s determination to foster equality. It additionally considers a nominee’s work in public schooling, defending Title IX, and whether she’s a role model to others.
Merkel, a mediator in the courts, said Coyne is this year’s recipient for her work as an attorney in areas that regularly advise girls and kids. Throughout her career, Coyne stated that a number of her maximum profitable paintings were as a parent advocate, that is, a person appointed by the courts to research what solutions are in the “best interest of a child.” “I constantly felt like I was on the side of right side at that point,” Coyne stated. “I felt like I turned into giving voice to kids that don’t have any voice inside the courtroom,” Merkel stated. She’s glad that Coyne is this year’s recipient. “She’s, in reality, a completely modest and adorable person,” Coyne stated. She’s grateful to be acknowledged for her work; however said she’s simply doing her job and that there are numerous other humans, inclusive of social workers with whom she works, who also deserve recognition.