A Judicial Profile
by Mark A. Sylvester*
Judge Pedro Echarte, Jr., was born in Havana, Cuba in 1952, and came to the United States in April of 1960. He grew up in Palm Beach County and attended college at Florida State University; graduating in 1975. Judge Echarte then went on to obtain his law degree from the University of Miami School of law in 1979.
“I always wanted to be a lawyer,” the judge said. “I never really gave a thought to a career other than law. My father was a lawyer in Cuba, and going to law school, and working in law was always something I assumed would do. I love the profession and the challenges that come with working in the legal field.”
In his 3rd year of law school, Judge Echarte worked as an intern in the public defender’s office. It was there that he fell in love with litigation and the courtroom. While interning at the Public Defender’s office, Judge Echarte was certified by the Florida Supreme Court to practice law and was given a supervised caseload to handle while still in law school. Upon graduation, Judge Echarte chose to continue his work with the Public Defender’s office. He worked as an assistant public defender for another 5 years before entering private practice with the law firm of Simon, Schindler & Sandberg, P.A.; where he worked for 5 years handling commercial litigation and insurance defense cases. In 1990, Judge Echarte opened his own practice, as Pedro R. Echarte, P.A., handling civil and criminal litigation, and representing the City of North Miami in civil and criminal cases.
As a solo practitioner, Judge Echarte litigated a landmark case in which the City of North Miami was sued by an applicant for employment over a denial of employment due to the fact that she was a smoker. The denial of the applicant was based on a newly adopted City regulation. The employee alleged that the regulation was unconstitutional as it violated her right to privacy. The City’s position, argued by Judge Echarte, was that the City had a compelling interest in saving taxpayer money by decreasing health insurance costs and increasing productivity. The Florida Supreme Court sided with the City and held that the City’s action did not intrude into an aspect of the plaintiff’s life in which she had a legitimate expectation of privacy. See, City of North Miami v. Kurtz, 653 So. 2d 1025 (Fla. 1995).
After 19 years in private practice, Judge Echarte was presented with the opportunity to seek appointment to the Circuit Court bench when Judge Rudy Sorondo, Jr., was elevated to the 3rd DCA. Judge Echarte put his name in for consideration, and in 1998, he was appointed by Governor Lawton Chiles to the Circuit Court.
Judge Echarte career as a judge began in the juvenile division, however, after 6 months he was reassigned to the criminal division where he presided for 6 ½ years. In 2005, Judge Echarte presided for 1 year in the Family Division before being assigned to the general jurisdiction division in 2006; where he currently presides. The next scheduled rotation for Judge Echarte is in 2009.
“Rotating between divisions is challenging and interesting,” the judge said. “Each division is unique. There is a lot of emotion involved in the family, juvenile, and criminal division. The civil is a bit more intellectually challenging, but not as emotionally challenging. The decisions are more purely legal, whereas in the other divisions, you often have to craft your decisions based on many factors; including your intuition and experiences.”
For those practitioners who may appear before the Judge, he offers a few words of advice:
“My advice to anyone who appears before me is to be as prepared as possible. I make every effort to be as prepared as possible, and to decide the issues before me fairly according to the law, so I expect the attorneys who appear before me to be as prepared, if not more prepared,” he said. “In addition, don’t assume anything. Don’t assume that the judge knows the law so you don’t need to be prepared with the law, and don’t assume you will get a favorable ruling in front of one judge just because you received it in front of another judge on a similar issue.”
When asked about a memorable moment in his career, Judge Echarte points to a plaque on his wall that was given to him by jurors from one of his trials.
“In the our Circuit, most of the judges give the jurors a certificate of appreciation at the end of a trial for serving on the jury. In this particular case, when I went to give the jurors their certificates they handed me this plaque which stated their appreciation for the work I did as a Judge. I was speechless. It was a truly gratifying moment, and one of the highlights of my career. It reinforced many of the reasons why I chose to be a judge; one of which was to help this community in the best way I knew how.”
Outside of the courtroom, Judge Echarte has served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Miami School of law for the past 6 years, teaching in the litigation skills program.
In his spare time he enjoys woodworking, crafts, exercising, and spending time with his wife Jill, and his children Pedro Echarte, III, who is 24, and in his first semester of law school, and Isabel who is 13.
The judge is also a big fan of the Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan.
“If I wasn’t a judge and could choose any career, I’d probably like to be a rock n’ roll star. I really enjoy music, but I can’t sing, I can’t play an instrument, and I’m tone deaf; so I had a lot of things working against me in that career.”
Mark A. Sylvester is a partner at the law firm of Leesfield, Leighton & Partners, P.A. He specializes in representing plaintiffs in personal injury and wrongful death cases.
