11TH CIRCUIT JNC ANNOUNCES CIRCUIT AND COUNTY COURT JUDICIAL VACANCIES
The Eleventh Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission has been asked to provide Gov. Ron DeSantis with nominees for the vacancies on the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court (two) and the Miami-Dade County Court (two) created by the enactment of SB 2508.
The Commission requests that interested candidates submit an application for consideration. Applicants must meet the qualifications described in Article V, Section 8 of the Florida Constitution.
Applications must be received by 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, as follows:
- The “Judicial Appointment Application 2025” may be downloaded in pdf and word format at: https://www.flgov.com/eog/info/judicial/applications.
- The original unredacted application shall be emailed in .pdf format to: [email protected] and [email protected].
- A redacted .pdf of the application shall be emailed to the following emails:
| • [email protected] | • [email protected] |
Personal information not subject to public disclosure—such as a social security number—shall be redacted as permitted by Section 119.071 of the Florida Statutes.
- The filename for .pdf applications should be as follows: “FIRST NAME LAST NAME Circuit Application (redacted/unredacted),” “FIRST NAME LAST NAME County Application (redacted/unredacted),” or “FIRST NAME LAST NAME County and Circuit Application (redacted/unredacted),” as appropriate.
Untimely applications will not be considered.
Applicants must strictly follow all requests and instructions in this Notice. Failure to do so could result in an application not being considered.
NOTE TO APPLICANTS: To assist the Judicial Nominating Commission in its review of applications, all questions must be fully and completely answered. Applications must include current contact information, including e-mail addresses, for judges, co-counsel, opposing counsel, and references to facilitate the background investigation that will be conducted by the members of the Commission. Please print to .pdf in lieu of scanning where possible.
Include all letters of recommendation that the applicant wishes the Commission to consider. The letters shall be attachments to the original application and the redacted copy and shall be included with the application saved in the .pdf file. Any additional information that the applicant feels may be helpful to the Commission in assessing the applicant’s qualifications shall be included as attachments to the original application and redacted copy saved in the .pdf file.
The Commission strongly suggests that applications be submitted as soon as they are prepared and well before the deadline.
After the deadline for submitting applications, the Commission will determine which applicants will be interviewed. Applicants granted an interview will be scheduled in the order in which applications are received. At this time, it is anticipated that interviews will be conducted in person on Friday March 13, 2026, although this date is subject to change.
ELEVENTH CIRCUIT JUDICIAL NOMINATING COMMISSION MEMBERS
| Eliot Pedrosa (Chair)
Jones Day 600 Brickell Avenue Miami, FL 33131-3072 Tel: 305-714-9717 |
R. Jordan Richardson (Vice Chair)
Tel: 305-800-4476 |
| Robert H. Fernandez
RHF Law Firm, LLC 2600 South Douglas Road, Suite 305 Coral Gables, FL 33134 Tel.:305-501-5011 |
Scott M. Dimond
Dimond Kaplan & Rothstein, P.A. Offices at Grand Bay Plaza 2665 South Bayshore Dr., PH 2B Miami, FL 33133 Tel: 305-374-1920 |
| Hayden P. O’Byrne
United States Attorney’s Office, SDFL 99 N.E. 4th Street Miami, FL 33132 Tel: 305-961-9447/Fax: 305-530-7679 |
Miguel Gonzalez
Miami-Dade County Attorney's Office 111 NW 1st St Ste 2810 Miami, FL 33128-1930 Tel: 305-375-3332 |
| Jesus M. Suarez
Continental PLLC 255 Alhambra Cir., Suite 640 Coral Gables, FL 33134 Tel: 305-677-2707 |
Michael Pineiro
Marcus Rashbaum Pineiro & Meyers LLP 2 S Biscayne Blvd Ste 2530 Miami, FL 33131-1806 Tel: 305-400-4268 |
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EDITORS: Please note The Florida Bar is not an association and "Association" is not part of our name. Proper reference is "The Florida Bar." Local bar organizations are properly termed "associations."




