November 2002

Anthanette (Toni) Fields asks that her former classmates and friends at UM Law keep their eyes open for "A Summer at Comedy Camp," currently airing on PBS. Filmed on location at L.A.'s renowned Laugh Factory, the documentary tracks the summer of six underprivileged teens who, under the tutelage of comedians, are coached to use humor to deal with life's adversities. As the Director of Corporate Development for Laugh Factory Management, Toni appears in the documentary alongside A-list comedians such as Chris Tucker, Shawn Wayans, Jamie Foxx, and Rob Schneider.

Toni worked on the project while pursuing an MBA at Loyola Marymount University. She intended to do the joint JD/MBA at Miami, but due to family illnesses, Toni and her fiancé moved to Atlanta after her second year of law school where she completed her remaining courses at Emory University as a visiting student. Before moving to Atlanta, Toni was a summer associate at Dorsey & Whitney in Minneapolis. The summer position was followed by a job offer that the firm was willing to hold for her for an additional year while she went to business school.

After completing the MBA in 2000, Toni spent the better part of the next two years in Minneapolis working as a trademark attorney for the Intellectual Property Group at Dorsey & Whitney. Toni says she enjoyed working at the large firm and that the resources and training at her disposal made Dorsey & Whitney a great place to work, but after two years in Minnesota, she was ready to make the transition back home to California.

She is currently an attorney for NASD Dispute Resolution in Los Angeles where she is manages securities arbitrations within L.A. county. Toni works with securities arbitrators who decide complex securities cases primarily involving either customer brokerage accounts or inter-industry disputes amongst brokers and dealers. Toni advises arbitrators and parties on arbitration procedure and applicable securities laws. In this economy's post-Enron environment, Toni stays busy administering over 250 securities arbitrations and managing her staff.

Toni ran track in collage at Fordham University (1500m and 1800m races) and like so many other athletes in search of an ideal training location, she was attracted to South Florida's favorable climate. However, it was a conversation with the late Professor Waters that convinced her that Miami was the place for her. "I was selected to UM's James Weldon Jonhson Summer Institute and Professor Waters was the Director. He called me up and started telling me about the wonderful things that I could expect from the summer institute and the law school. His phone call was the reason I chose Miami. It was the best decision I ever made and I developed friendships from the law school that continue to this day."

Toni brought her endurance and energy from the track to law school. While in law school, she authored articles for Miami's Business Law Review and Emory University's Intellectual Property Online Law Review. During her second year, as a judicial intern for the Honorable William M. Hoeveler at Miami's federal court, Toni worked on a monumental drug racketeering trial of the Cali drug cartel. She was the Student Representative on the Admissions Committee, the Treasurer of the Black Law Students Association, and she managed the Student Book Exchange. She was also a valuable athlete for the law school in the annual Dean's Cup competition with the medical school. She proudly reports that she is still running and playing basketball regularly.