It’s personal and it’s business.

It’s not just a legal matter, it’s a business matter... and that’s personal to me.

I grew up being very aware of how my father's work affected our family. As a consequence I treat every case and matter with the urgency and respect for the effect it has on your life and the life of others.

Michelle Otero Valdés

I have achieved fame as the first and only Latina in the State of Florida that is Board Certified in Admiralty and Maritime Law. While this may not get me much except bragging rights, it does say a lot about me. I am tenacious (some would say stubborn), persistent, like to be first, goal-oriented, refuse to accept rejection because of my race or gender and frankly, I believe that my life experiences give me a different perspective than the “other guys” in doing what I do.

I have a laundry list of cases I have handled involving any and all areas of the marine industry and industries supporting the marine industry, but that would just be shameless self-promotion. What I do for all of my clients is provide them what they need—sometimes when they do not even know what they need. I take the time to talk to all of my clients and establish what their “end goal” is. It is amazing to me how many times clients have told me that they have hired numerous lawyers in the past and my talking to them is the first time that they have felt “heard” by a lawyer. I’m sure there are other lawyers out there that listen to their clients, but how many of them can say that they at one time were a client—I was, 8 years as a claims handler for Thomas Miller. I hired lawyers all over the world to defend maritime cases of all sorts—I know what a client needs, the reporting that a client may need to make to “higher ups” and the pressures a client suffers when a litigation drags on or when a transaction gets stalled.

As managing partner of my own firm, I make it a point to make sure that everyone on my team puts the firm’s client's needs first—it is as simple as that.

Email: mov@miamimaritimelaw.co
Mobile: 305 978 8345

Manny Valdés

Manny and I have been together since 1988 and married since 1998. As my husband, Manny is not only my life partner but also my business partner and part of my team. This came about organically when in 2015, I found myself drowning in multiple cases going to trial and could not find a “second chair” to help me. At the time, our practices were in different offices. Manny offered to help in those trials as “of counsel” back in 2015 and the rest is history.

Manny was a private investigator well before he went to law school. That background has been indispensable to the firm, though while we were dating, it was a little disconcerting. Ask me about it sometime. Manny started his law practice handling “door law”, anything that walked through the door. That served him well in handling personal injury, real estate, basic wills and a host of other type of work serving the community. That turned into handling a lot of maritime personal injury, which of course, melds well with my own practice.

Manny is now the office manager, office bookkeeper, handles the preliminary investigations on most of the firm’s cases (for obvious reasons), assists me on some of my larger cases as of counsel and has his own cases he works on. He is a wonderful husband and an indispensable part of this firm—without him, I would not get our bills paid.

Email: mvaldes@miamimaritimelaw.co
Mobile: 305 979 0959

Christian Merida

Christian started with us as a law clerk back in 2019. Christian has had some interesting experience, including working as a paralegal for a PIP law firm before going to law school, working in various jobs as a legal intern and law clerk while in law school and now working as an associate. Christian is a consummate professional and is always ready to provide a helping hand. Christian’s superpower is being able to handle any IT emergency we face in the office.

Email: christian@miamimaritimelaw.co