Maria Teresa Bates, Esq.

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Maria Bates is licensed in Florida and Washington D.C. and the principal of Maria Bates Law PLLC.  She received her B.A. in Human Development with a minor in Latin American Studies from Eckerd College in 1997, her J.D. from Stetson University College of Law in 2007, and her LLM in Business Law from Florida State University in 2021.     

Maria was born in Alaska to homesteading parents, with much of her childhood spent in West Virginia. Maria started her Farmer Lawyer blog in 2017. Maria was always dreaming of having a farm. Well, in 2019 that dream became a reality as she closed on her 10-acre property and began the steps to build her farm. While Maria doesn't have the responsibility of being a farmer for income, she does have some of the labor of being one. She built her own (crooked) three-strand barbed wire fence with her kids, wrangled a few cows back into the pasture, and raised a variety of animals. Maria is in awe of the entire agricultural and food production system and those who keep it going. 

Although Maria is a lawyer, she first started her career as a counselor for teenagers dealing with addictions and mental health issues. She then transitioned to special projects consulting where she designed systems, new departments, policies and procedures, and strategic plans. She also worked on unique events and projects including fundraising for a political campaign. After a decade of practice in family formation and policy law, she returned to school for her Master’s of Law in Business Law and has added on business, nonprofit, and food and farm law to her practice areas.    

When Maria isn’t working, she is spending time with her four wild and wonderful children on the road or at their small family farm. Together with her children, they have been to almost all 50 states by car, train, plane, or travel trailer.  

Maria loves seeing new places, experiencing new cultures and languages, and meeting incredible people. She also enjoys dancing, off-roading in her Jeep, and participating in community activism. 

Her family is her greatest joy and she doesn't believe she would be the lawyer she is today without her experiences as a mother. She is thankful to be raising her children on her farm, where they can grow up experiencing farm life and the level of responsibility that entails. She dreams of passing her family farm down to her children once she is ready to hang up her boots.

She loves helping people along their journeys, which is why building families, organizations, and communities (even when the task may seem daunting) is her life's work.   

LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariatbates/