Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle is a second-generation attorney committed to administering Smart Justice for all. After her appointment in 1993, residents made history in 1994 by electing her as the first Cuban-American State Attorney in Miami-Dade County and the State of Florida. She was subsequently re-elected to eight terms as the county’s top law enforcement officer.
Before her initial appointment, Fernandez Rundle served our community for 15 years as an Assistant State Attorney, serving as Chief Assistant State Attorney and Legal Counsel to the Dade County Grand Jury under then-State Attorney and future United States Attorney General, Janet Reno and Legal Counsel to the Dade County Grand Jury.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami and post-graduate and law degrees from the University of Cambridge Law School in England.
The State Attorney’s dedication to smart justice is rooted in her family’s commitment to public service. Her father, Dr. Carlos Benito Fernandez, served as Miami’s first Hispanic judge and a founder of the Cuban American Bar Association (CABA). Ms. Fernandez Rundle followed in her father’s footsteps when her peers elected her CABA’s first female president in 1991. State Attorney Fernandez Rundle is a renowned prosecutorial innovator recognized for many ground-breaking accomplishments that have transformed the administration of justice.
Through her Community Outreach Division, the State Attorney delivers community services and crime prevention assistance directly to residents throughout the county. Many residents capitalize on their “Second Chance” by attending her highly anticipated monthly “Sealing and Expungement” events which provide eligible individuals who have been arrested, the opportunity to have their record sealed or expunged.
As a pioneer in the fight against sex trafficking, the State Attorney’s Human Trafficking Task Force works with multiple law enforcement partners to protect children from exploitation. The task force aggressively finds ways to save and rehabilitate victims and prosecutes those who prey on them.