Miriam Soler Ramos, President
Miriam Soler Ramos was appointed to serve as Coral Gables City Attorney in 2017. Ms. Ramos is the chief legal officer and general counsel for the City, serving as counsel to the City Commission, City Officials, and City Departments, providing legal opinions and interpretations on behalf of the City, and supervising the City Attorney’s Office and outside counsel. Ms. Ramos is Board Certified by the Florida Bar in City, County, and Local Government Law.
Read More
A. Dax Bello, Immediate Past President
As part of Stewart Tilghman Fox Bianchi & Cain, P.A., Attorney Bello represents clients throughout Miami, Florida, and beyond. With years of experience, he takes a personal approach to the clients he represents and devotes extensive time, energy, and resources to each and every case.
Read More
Giselle Gutierrez, President-Elect
Giselle Gutierrez is an attorney with Stearns Weaver Miller in the Miami office. She focuses her practice on labor and employment law and commercial litigation.
Read More
Javier A. Ley-Soto, Vice President
Seasoned general counsel with almost 10 years’ experience managing cases on behalf of large public entities. Strong advocate and advisor to agency leaders and staff with expertise in budget management, handling various aspects of litigation in both state and federal court and overseeing general counsel functions and transactional matters as well as providing effective agency representation and legal solutions.
Amanda Fernandez, Treasurer
Ms. Fernandez practices in the areas of Complex Business Litigation, Labor and Employment Litigation, Receivership and Securities Litigation, and Bankruptcy and Creditors’ Rights. Ms. Fernandez is a member of the Florida Bar and is admitted to practice in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Prior to joining Damian & Valori LLP as an attorney, Ms. Fernandez was a law clerk with the firm. Ms. Fernandez was also a Certified Legal Intern with the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office and Villanova’s Farmworker Legal Aid Clinic.
Haydee Sera, Secretary
Haydee Sera represents municipalities on a broad range of issues such as contracts, elections, ethics, public records, procurement, and sunshine law compliance. In that capacity, Haydee drafts and reviews proposed legislation, resolutions, and agreements on a variety of matters, always with an understanding of the broader implications of her clients’ interests. Haydee also provides counsel to elected officials on legal matters, including compliance with state and local ethics laws.
Nory Acosta-Lopez, Director
Ms. Acosta-Lopez received her B.B.A. in Legal Studies, cum laude, with a minor in Spanish from the University of Miami School of Business. She then received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Miami School of Law. Ms. Acosta-Lopez was awarded the Marco A. Vazquez Lit Skills Memorial Scholarship for her achievements in the University of Miami School of Law’s Litigation Skills program. She was also an active law student member of the Cuban American Bar Association (CABA) and Florida Association of Women Lawyers (FAWL). During law school, Ms. Acosta-Lopez clerked for the Hon. Judge Amy Steele Donner in the Family Division, and the Hon. Judge Leslie Rothenberg in the General Civil Division, as well as working with a sophisticated litigation and corporate advice firm in Coral Gables, Florida. Ms. Acosta-Lopez has focused her practice on representing both large and small business clients with numerous issues, including banking issues, commercial foreclosures, UCC-related matters, negotiable instruments, real estate disputes, corporate law, and labor/employment matters.
Diana Arteaga, Director
Diana Arteaga has been involved in CABA for many years. She is the Chair of CABA Briefs and an active member of the CABA on Cuba Committee where she has worked collaboratively on projects amplifying the voices of the Cuban people after the July 11th protests as well as updates to CABA’s report to the OAS on behalf of Oscar Elias Biscet and 75 other Cuban dissidents. In September 2019, she was recognized as CABA’s member of the year. While at FIU Law, she participated in the mentorship program and was awarded CABA’s Mario P. Goderich scholarship Read More
Emily Balter
Emily Balter is associate with Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin & Tapanes. Emily’s legal practice focuses on land use, zoning, and environmental matters.
Read More
Candice Balmori, Director
Candice Balmori is an attorney with RG Law Group in Miami and practices primarily in the fields of corporate law, commercial and real property litigation, and probate. She is also a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, as well as a Juris Doctor and Certificate in International Law and Comparative Law from Tulane University Law School.
Read More
Daniel Buigas, Director
Daniel Buigas is an associate attorney at Lamelas Law, P.A. His practice is focused on handling commercial litigation matters in the state and federal courts based in Florida. He works on a wide variety of commercial issues, commonly representing business owners in real estate, employment, telecommunications, and corporate controversies.
Yara Lorenzo Klukas, Director
Yara L. Klukas currently serves as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of Florida. Prior to that, she was a Senior Associate at Hogan Lovells where she focused on complex commercial disputes before state and federal courts and international arbitral tribunals. Yara’s practice also focused on assisting clients with internal investigations and white collar criminal defense issues. Yara graduated with a degree in political science from Brown University in 2005 and from St. Thomas School of Law in 2009. Following law school, Yara clerked for the Honorable District Court Judge James Lawrence King in the Southern District of Florida and the Honorable Peter T. Fay on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
Jordi Martinez-Cid, Director
Jordi Martínez-Cid is a partner at León Cosgrove LLP where he handles all manner of complex commercial litigation and arbitration. A graduate of Yale Law School and the University of Michigan, Mr. Martínez-Cid clerked for the Honorable Federico A. Moreno in the Southern District of Florida and also spent time in-house with NBCUniversal and Telemundo, where oversaw a broad range of both domestic and international litigation matters.
Daniel Mendez, Director
Daniel is a third generation attorney who joined the firm in 2014. Daniel concentrates his practice on estate planning, probate and guardianship administration and litigation, and civil litigation. Prior to joining the firm as an attorney, Daniel worked as a law clerk for several years and served as a judicial intern for the Honorable Maria Korvick, the administrative judge in the Probate Division for Miami-Dade County. Daniel graduated from Belen Jesuit Preparatory School before attending the University of Florida where he received his undergraduate degree. He went on to attend law school at St. Thomas University where he graduated with honors.
Augusto Perera, Director
Augusto Perera, ESQ. is an active member of the Florida Bar and admitted to practice before the United States District Court Southern District of Florida and the Court of Appeals for Federal Circuit. Attended Shepard Broad College of Law and received his Juris Doctor degree in 2014. Dedicated exclusively to intellectual property matters, specializing in trademark, copyright, licensing, and Internet Law, with a focus on new business development.