Florida State and Local Government Ethics

Government officials and other stakeholders in Miami-Dade County face complex challenges that many areas around the country encounter: a rising cost of living, economic uncertainty and a runaway market – but in one of the country's largest and higher-profile counties. It's critical that companies, developers, property owners, lobbyists and elected officials have representation with a thorough understanding of how to navigate these challenges in the Sunshine State.

Holland & Knight's Florida State and Local Government Ethics Team has distinct experience in Miami-Dade County ethics rules and municipal regulations. Our lawyers have served as county, city and municipal attorneys and bring with them a deep government perspective and extensive government relationships. They leverage these connections and perspectives to advise lobbyists and elected officials on ethics regulations, help guide developers and property owners through development and administrative approval, and assist companies in the competitive bidding process (i.e., RFPs, RFQs, bids).

Local Government Ethics Regulations

We counsel lobbyists and elected and appointed officials on ethics rules and regulations established by local and state government, including administrative laws, Florida Sunshine Law, Florida Public Records laws, Miami-Dade Ethics Code, Florida Ethics Code, local ethics codes and procurement laws, rules and regulations. We also have substantial experience defending our clients before the Miami-Dade Ethics Commission.

The head of the team, Miriam Soler Ramos, most recently served as City Attorney and Chief Ethics Officer for the City of Coral Gables and previously served as deputy general counsel and deputy advocate for the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust. There she trained on the Miami-Dade Ethics Code, provided legal opinions and led prosecutions for violations of the ethics code and other ordinances. This experience provides our team with a critical understanding of the government's perspective — a key to defending and advising our clients.

Development and Administrative Approvals

Many developers and property owners rely on Holland & Knight's Florida State and Local Government Ethics Team to assist them in all phases of the complex, time-consuming approval processes. We work closely with colleagues on our Florida Land Use Team and are exceedingly familiar with the processes required in seeking a variety of government approvals, such as:

• designation/non-designation of a historic property
• seeking of variances
• zoning and land use changes
• representation in code enforcement and construction regulation/unsafe structure matters and hearings

Our lawyers have also appeared in front of a variety of agencies, committees and boards on behalf of our clients, including:

• the Miami-Dade County Commission
• city commissions and councils
• historical preservation boards
• construction regulation boards
• unsafe structure boards
• land use and zoning boards
• code enforcement boards

Local Government Contracts and RFPs

We advise and represent companies interested in doing business with governments local to Miami-Dade County on the competitive RFP bidding process to obtain government contracts. We also work with Florida-based colleagues on our State and Local Government Procurement Team to help our clients file, defend and navigate the bidding process.