Robert F. Rosenwald, Jr.

Education: California University of Pennsylvania, California, Pa. (B.A. 1993); University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. (J.D. 1997).

Member: Florida Bar; Pennsylvania Bar; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit; U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida; U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida; U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.

Rob Rosenwald joined the City Attorney's Office in 2010.  His principal areas of practice include constitutional law, employment law, police liability, and civil rights litigation in state and federal courts.  Since joining the City Attorney’s Office, Mr. Rosenwald has successfully defended various City of Miami Beach departments, including the Miami Beach Police Department, the Miami Beach Fire Department, and the Miami Beach Parking Department.

Prior to joining the City Attorney's Office, Mr. Rosenwald was the Director of the LGBT Advocacy Project at the ACLU of Florida.  There, Rob focused on a variety of public policy issues impacting the gay and transgender community in Florida, including the anti-gay initiative threatening protections for same-sex couples, discrimination in Florida’s adoption policies, and discrimination and harassment against gay and transgender youth in the public schools.  Rob has testified before committees of the Florida legislature on the need for anti-bullying and harassment to protect gay and transgender students at school.  He has also represented gay and transgender students throughout Florida to insure them safe access to their education.

Mr. Rosenwald was recognized by the Miami Daily Business Review in 2009 as one of South Florida’s Most Effective Lawyers.

Notably, in October 2008, Mr. Rosenwald litigated the landmark ACLU trial In the Matter of the Adoption of John Doe and James Doe, successfully invalidating Florida’s ban on adoption by gay people.  On September 22, 2010, Florida’s Third District Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed the trial court’s decision and ended Florida’s thirty-three year ban.

Also in 2008, Rob was lead counsel in the novel ACLU case Gay-Straight Alliance of Okeechobee High School v. School Board of Okeechobee County, where, for the first time, a federal district court held that high school gay-straight alliances do not imperil the well-being of students.

Mr. Rosenwald is a 1997 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh Law School, and clerked from 1997 -1998 for the late Judge C. Clyde Atkins of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.