Podhurst Partner Named Rep to ABA Judiciary Committee

MIAMI, FL – December 3, 2013 – Peter Prieto, a partner at Miami-based litigation boutique Podhurst Orseck, has been appointed by the President of the American Bar Association to the ABA’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary as the representative for the Eleventh Circuit. Appointment to the Committee is for a three-year term, and is based on a lawyer’s possession of the highest professional stature and integrity. Prieto assumed his duties in November 2013. 

The ABA’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary consists of fifteen members who, at the request of the White House, evaluate the qualifications of prospective nominees to the U.S. District Courts, the Circuit Courts of Appeals, the Court of International Trade, as well as several territorial district courts, in advance of the President making a nomination.  The Committee’s objective is to provide thorough and impartial peer-review evaluations of prospective judicial nominees in order to assist the White House in assessing whether such individuals should be nominated to the federal judiciary.  In assessing a prospective nominee, the Committee focuses strictly on professional qualifications: integrity, professional competence and judicial temperament.  The Standing Committee also evaluates the professional qualifications of nominees to the United States Supreme Court on a post-nomination basis.

For more than two decades, Prieto has focused his practice on complex commercial litigation, including class action matters, and white collar criminal defense.   He has represented clients, both individual and corporate, in a wide array of civil litigation, including business and employment disputes, healthcare, antitrust, products liability, RICO and class action litigation.  During his career, including several years as a federal prosecutor, Prieto has obtained substantial trial and appellate experience.  He has tried over 25 criminal and civil cases and has argued over a dozen appeals before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Prieto previously served, pursuant to appointments by Governors Lawton Chiles and Jeb Bush, as a Commissioner on Florida's Commission on Ethics.  He serves on the Advisory Board of the University of Miami School of Law's Center for Ethics & Public Service and on the Alumni Advisory Board of the University of Miami Law Review.  He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of  St. Thomas University. 

Prieto was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1985, and is also a member of various other Bars, including the Supreme Court of the United States, Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida Trial Bar, the Dade County Bar, the American Bar Association and the Cuban-American Bar Association.  Prieto received his Bachelor’s Degree, summa cum laude, from St. Thomas University, and his Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from the University of Miami School of Law. 

About Podhurst Orseck, P.A.

Miami-based Podhurst Orseck, P.A. established over four decades ago, is a top flight boutique firm concentrating exclusively in trial and appellate litigation.  The firm is dedicated to offering the highest caliber legal representation in both federal and state trial and appellate courts throughout the United States.  The firm’s commercial practice focuses on complex civil litigation of all types.  The firm serves as general litigation counsel to several major corporations, as well as represents companies and individuals in substantial matters of commercial litigation.  The firm’s general tort practice places a major emphasis upon representing claimants in aviation, mass torts and products liability litigation.  From its inception, the firm also has cultivated an appellate practice, handling appeals of not only the firm’s trial lawyers, but of other lawyers throughout the nation, in the various state and federal appellate courts, including the United States Supreme Court.  The firm’s practice serves clients residing or based throughout the United States, and in several foreign countries.  The firm has consistently received an AV-Rating from Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, the highest possible rating, based on legal ability and general ethical standards.  For more information, please visit www.podhurst.com.