Miami City Attorney, Victoria Mendez

Victoria Mendez is the City of Miami Attorney. She joined the City Attorney's Office in 2004 and quickly became an important member of their legal team. In 2013, the City of Miami Commission voted to elevate her to the top job, wherein she has been instrumental in advising the Miami Commission and Mayor on critical issues involving governance.

City Attorney Mendez is a Miami native. In fact, she was born at the former Cedars Hospital, just a few blocks from the State Attorney's Office where she began her legal career. She received her Bachelor's Degree, Masters of Public Administration, and Juris Doctorate from the University of Miami.

After participating in a law school internship program at the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office (SAO), Ms. Mendez knew that she wanted to be a trial attorney. She joined the Office of the State Attorney in 2000. "Vicky always understood the importance of each case that she handled to the people who had been victimized and who now turned to her for justice", said State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.  "That personal sense of responsibility helped make her a hero in the eyes of crime victims.  Good work habits always lead to good results.  I saw it in her courtroom work and I know the citizens of the City of Miami see it in their new City Attorney."

Ms. Mendez also knew that she wanted to make a difference in the community in which she grew up. "I couldn't think of a better place to do this than the SAO," she says.In her career as a prosecutor, Ms. Mendez handled a wide range of cases from misdemeanors to life felonies. She often received praise from her supervisors and from the community.

Ms. Mendez fondly remembers the feeling of family and mentoring that she received at the Office of the State Attorney. She is grateful to State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle for her leadership and for giving her the opportunity to serve as an Assistant State Attorney. To this day, she employs lessons learned from her training attorney, now Judge Samantha Ruiz-Cohen, her Division Chiefs, and her colleagues in the SAO Class of 2000.

"Some of the greatest rewards of being an Assistant State Attorney in Miami," she says, "are the excitement of working as a trial attorney: prepping cases for trial, looking for witnesses, talking to the police in the middle of the night while drafting warrants, and taking cases to trial. Most of all, I cherished seeking justice in a trial and giving victims a voice."

She believes that few jobs give an attorney the level of personal and professional satisfaction that the SAO does. She knows that her years at the Miami-Dade SAO helped shape her and make her who she is today. To current prosecutors, she recommends that they "seize the moment and enjoy the ride".

In addition to her many duties as the City Attorney, Ms. Mendez is an American Bar Foundation and The Florida Bar Foundation Fellow. She is a former Board Member of the League of Prosecutors and the CABA Pro Bono Project. She is a past 2011 CABA Delegate for the Florida Bar Association and to the American Bar Association in 2013. Ms. Mendez has received accolades from numerous organizations including being named a Top Government Attorney in Florida Trend's Legal Elite from 2008 to 2014. She has recently been named one of the Daily Business Review's Top 20 South Florida Women for Legal Achievement and has been recognized by the University of Miami as a Distinguished Alumni.