Jesse Scheckner
Judge Tarlika Nunez-Navarro of the 17th Judicial Circuit Court is moving her office northwestward, after Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Friday he has appointed her to the 9th Judicial Circuit Court.
In her new position, Nunez-Navarro will preside over cases concerning roughly 1.3 million residents and thousands of businesses in Orange and Osceola counties. The Governor’s Office did not say over which courts in the district she will rule.
In the role she will soon vacate, Nunez-Navarro is the presiding Judge over Juvenile Drug Court and Felony Drug Court for Broward County, according to the Broward Hispanic Bar. U.S. Sen. Rick Scott appointed her to the position when he was Governor in March 2018. She filled a vacancy former Judge Alfred Horowitz created upon his resignation.
She has also presided over the Domestic Violence and Unified Family Court divisions.
Before her appointment to the bench, Nunez-Navarro practiced law on both sides of the criminal justice system, her bio with the American Institute of Legal Counsel says.
Born in Lake Placid, she worked as an Assistant State Attorney for Broward County, where she prosecuted more than 100 jury and non-jury trials and was a lead prosecutor in the office’s felony trial unit.
Nunez-Navarro then went into private practice as managing partner at Fort Lauderdale-based law firm Haddad & Navarro, where she represented clients in criminal defense and women’s rights cases. The firm dissolved in June 2017, according to state records.
She also was a co-founder of the Bacchus and Navarro Law Group, where she founded the Florida Women’s Law Center to aid women in legal issues.
Navarro-Nunez has been federally admitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern and Middle District of Florida and the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
A graduate of the University of Miami, where she earned a bachelor’s degreee in broadcast journalism and anthropology, Navarro-Nunez earned her law degree from the St. Thomas University School of Law in 2010, according to her bio at Trellis Law. She was admitted to the Florida Bar that September.
Her involvements include service as a judicial liaison for the Broward County Young Lawyers Section, the Florida Association of Women Lawyers and the Broward County Hispanic Bar Association.
