Jesse Scheckner
Gov. Ron DeSantis is elevating a sitting judge to a higher bench in Miami-Dade and appointing a new one.
The appointees include Judge Laura González-Marques of Coral Gables and Miami lawyer Ritamaria “Rita” Cuervo. Both replace well-known members of the judiciary.
González-Marques, whose pre-bench legal career since 2011 included two five-year stints with international law firms Kobre & Kim and Holland & Knight, is moving up to the 11th Judicial Circuit Court.
She was among five “rule of law” appointees DeSantis named to the County Court in September 2021 and holds a law degree from Columbia University.
This time, she replaces Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman, who became one of the best-known jurists in the state after ruling over a $1.1 billion settlement in the Surfside condo-collapse case.
He retired in March after 12 years of public service and nearly four decades in the legal profession, citing a desire to begin “the next chapter” of his career.
Cuervo, meanwhile, will don robes on the County Court after five years as an associate at Miami branch of insurance defense law firm Andrews Biernacki Davis, where she specializes in personal injury protection litigation.
She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Business, where she earned a master of business administration in 2000, according to her firm bio.
Cuervo attained her law degree from Florida State University four years later, after which she tried more than 50 jury and bench cases as an assistant public defender.
She replaces trailblazer Fred Seraphin, who made history as Miami-Dade’s first Haitian American judge in 2001, when Gov. Jeb Bush selected him for a judgeship.
The Port-au-Prince native won re-election to another six-year term in August 2022 with 56.5% of the vote to defeat former Rep. Reiner Díaz de la Portilla, the brother of Miami Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla and former Sen. Miguel Díaz de la Portilla.
Seraphin retired earlier this year, according to Trellis Law.
One comment
JD
August 22, 2023 at 8:27 pm
The Koch Brother’s manifesto – take over the states governments and courts, indoctrinate the law via the Federalist society, push the “states rights” agenda to the southern states to flip from the Democrats.
Desantis is an unknowing pawn. I think he believes his BS.
It’s worked well on the long con. Hat’s off to those evil brother bastards, may they rot in hel both living and dead.
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