Rachel Morales-Gellis
President
Rachel Ariela Morales was born and raised in Miami. She graduated from Florida State University with a degree in
International Affairs and Villanova University, School of Law. Rachel has been a prosecutor at the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office since March of 2013.where she is currently a Felony Division Chief specializing in homicide cases. She has been an active board member since 2014 and has served on the executive board as the Secretary for two years.
Alberto “Papo” Manrara
Vice President
Alberto “Papo” Manrara is a Senior Litigation Associate at EPGD Business Law, handling commercial litigation cases with an emphasis on partnership disputes. He is a Coral
Gables native who is also active in the Coral Gables War Memorial Youth Center Board of Directors, the Belen Alumni Lawyers Section, the Coral Gables Bar Association, and CABA. Papo earned a B.S. in Psychology and an M.S. in Management at the University of Florida, and worked as a litigation paralegal at Paul Weiss LLP in Manhattan before attending Villanova University for law school. Papo enjoys his free time with his wife, Natalie, and his French Bulldog, Porkchop.
Gabriela Alfaro
Secretary
Gabriela received her Bachelor’s in Psychology from Florida International University in 2013 and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Miami School of Law in 2016. Gabriela was born in Miami and remains active in the community as a member of the Young Professional’s Board of Alfalit, an international organization that strives to provide literacy, basic education and job
She currently handles attempted murders, armed robberies and sexual battery cases.
Raul Chacon
Treasurer
Raúl is a partner in MG+M’s Miami office and is the Chair of the firm’s Maritime Practice Group. His practice focuses on a variety of litigation areas, including maritime, personal
injury, products liability, premises liability, and commercial litigation. He has extensive experience as national and local counsel on many maritime matters and has represented clients from jurisdictions as far north as Canada and throughout the Continental U.S., Hawaii, the Caribbean, and South America. He has tried numerous cases to verdict in the state and federal courts of Florida. He is regularly appointed to act as national and local counsel by insurance companies on admiralty and maritime matters. Raúl has served in executive capacities for the Florida Bar Admiralty & Maritime Law Board Certification Committee, the Florida Bar Maritime Committee, the Cuban American Bar Association, and the League of Prosecutors. He is an adjunct professor of Marine Insurance Law at the University of Miami School of Law, and is Board Certified in Admiralty and Maritime Law by the Florida Bar (certified 2012; re-certified 2017). He has been published and presented on various topics, including maritime law and practice, handling maritime claims in the U.S., management of maintenance and cure, risk shifting in maritime contracts, products liability, and analysis of U.S. Supreme Court decisions. He is a former prosecutor, having tried over 60 jury trials to verdict. Raúl earned his J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law in 1993. He graduated with a B.S.E.E from the University of Miami College of Engineering in 1990.
Nicole Garcia
Nicole Garcia received her bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida in 2011 and obtained her Juris Doctorate from the Stetson University College of Law in 2015. She went on to begin her legal career at the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office and has been with the office since 2015.
Benjamin Gellis
Benjamin is a committed prosecutor with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office. He has served our community as a prosecutor since 2014 and is currently a member of the Gang Strike Force Unit. Benjamin has also previously served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Benjamin earned
Jenisse Grace
Jenisse Grace received her Bachelor’s in Criminology from Florida State University in 2010 and later went on to receive her Juris Doctorate from the University of Cincinnati College of Law in 2013.
Jenisse returned home to Miami and joined the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office in August of 2013. She continues to work for the office and is currently a member of the State Attorney’s Human Trafficking Unit.
Christine Hernandez
Christine Hernandez graduated Fordham University in 2002 and received her Juris Doctorate from University of Miami Law School in 2005 where she was inducted into the Order of the
Barristers and was a member of the Moot Court Board. Upon graduation, Christine joined the Miami Dade State Attorney’s Office in 2005, where she served for 12 years as an Assistant State Attorney assigned to various divisions in the office including the Gang Strike force Homicide Prosecutor position, the Career Criminal Unit and a Division Chief handling homicides. Christine left the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office in 2018, and is currently a federal prosecutor. Christine has served the community in various leadership positions. She was appointed by Governor Rick Scott to the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Nominating Commission in 2011 and has served as both its Vice- Chair in 2012 and Chair in 2013. She has served the Judicial Nominating Commission for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit for the last seven years. She was recognized by the Daily Business Review in 2015 as a Rising Star as one of the top forty lawyers under forty in Miami Dade County. In addition, She has been recognized by Miami Dade County Association of Chiefs of Police as its Prosecutor of the Quarter. Christine was elected to the Board of the League of Prosecutors in 2014 and re-elected in 2018. She was elected Vice-President of the League of Prosecutors in January of 2019.
Marbely Hernandez
Marbely was born and raised in Miami, Florida. She completed her undergraduate studies at Florida International University and received her Juris Doctorate from St. Thomas University School of Law in 2013. Upon graduation from law school,
Eddie Holiday
Eddie Holiday’s practice includes various aspects of complex civil litigation in state and federal courts. Recognized as a “Rising Star 40 Under 40” in the Daily Business Review, his practice consists of representing Global 500 clients with a focus on the defense of product liability, premise liability, negligent security and toxic tort claims. Prior to joining the firm,
Robbery Unit. Eddie graduated from the Howard University School of Law where he competed on the Charles Hamilton Houston National Moot Court Team and represented indigent clients
before the Superior Court of the District of Columbia as a Student-Attorney with Howard’s Criminal Justice Clinic. Eddie continues his commitment to serving his community by coaching
Florida International University’s undergraduate Mock Trial Team and speaking to youth at various forums.
Alejandra Lopez
Alejandra has been a prosecutor for 14 years. For 12 of those years, she was an Assistant State Attorney at the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, where she served in a variety of roles, including as a homicide prosecutor in the Gang Strike Force Unit and as a Felony Division Chief. Alejandra has handled all types of federal and state
criminal matters, including homcides, violent street crimes, criminal conspiracies, child pornography, human trafficking, and narcotics trafficking. For her work, Alejandra has been recognized by the Daily Business Review as one of 2017’s Most Effective Lawyers. She has been a member of the League of Prosecutors since 2007. In that time, she has served on the Board of Directors since 2016 and as President from 2017-2018, and she is active in many other community activities. A native of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, Alejandra received her Bachelor of Acts, cum laude, in Government from Harvard University in 2003. She went on to receive her Juris Doctor from Tulane University School of Law in 2006, where she was a member of Moot Court and the Criminal Law Clinic.
Marie Mato
Marie Elizabeth Mato is a dedicated prosecutor with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office. She has served our community as an Assistant State Attorney since 2001 and for the last
15 years has specialized in homicide cases. Over the years, her work has been recognized by various organizations, including the League in 2014 with the Prosecutor of the Year Award and by the Dade Chiefs of Police in 2016 with the L.E.O. Award for Prosecutor of the Year. Marie has been an active board member since 2010 and has held several posts on the executive
board, including serving as President from 2015-2017.
Stephen Mitchell
Stephen Mitchell joined the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office in 2007 where he has served in a variety of roles. Since 2019, Mr. Mitchell has been the Division Chief of the Gang Strike Force Unit. Before that, he had been a homicide prosecutor in the Gang Strike Force Unit focusing his attention on violent street crimes, criminal conspiracies, and narcotics trafficking. He is also an instructor for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking
Area program (HIDTA), a drug-prohibition enforcement program run by the United States Office of National Drug Control Policy. A native of South Florida, Mr. Mitchell received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Miami School of Law in 2007 and received his Bachelors of Science in Finance from the University of Florida in 2004.
Omar Ortega
Omar Ortega is a founding partner of the law firm of Dorta & Ortega, P.A. Omar was a prosecutor with the Miami Dade County State Attorney’s Office from 1996 through 2000. Since leaving the public service, he has dedicated his practice to complex commercial litigation.
Kioceaia Stenson
Kioceaia Stenson received her Bachelor’s in Political Science from Spelman College in 2011. She later went
to obtain her Juris Doctorate from Emory University School of Law in 2014. Kioceaia joined the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office in 2014. She is currently an Assistant Chief in the Career Criminal and Robbery Unit, where she prosecutes recidivist defendants and violent crimes.
