
Benjamin Gellis
President
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

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.
Shireen Brueggeman
Secretary
Originally from Seattle, Shireen began her legal career in 2007 as an Assistant State Attorney at the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office. After six years, she accepted a position as an Assistant Statewide Prosecutor with the Florida Attorney General’s Office where she prosecuted drug trafficking, organized fraud and racketeering cases.
After three years with the Attorney General’s Office, she took a sabbatical to travel extensively and then relocated to California, where she joined the California Bar. In January 2020, she returned to Miami and rejoined the State Attorney’s Office where she works in its Organized Crime Unit.
Shireen received her Bachelor’s Degree from UC Berkeley with High Honors. She thereafter attended Brooklyn Law School, where she was the graduating student chosen to receive the Ed Byrns Memorial Prize for “.. academic excellence in the area of criminal procedure and … exemplifying high moral character and personal integrity.” In her third year of law school she participated in the Prosecutor’s Clinic with the Kings County District Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, an experience that inspired her to pursue a career as a prosecutor and for which she received the CALI Excellence for the Future Award. She rounded out her legal education with internships in a variety of organizations and cities, including the Attorney General’s office in Washington DC, a domestic violence agency in the Bronx borough of Manhattan, and the Legal Aid Society in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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.

Gabriela Alfaro
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.

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 where she is currently a Felony Division Chief. She has also has served as a member of the State Attorney’s Human Trafficking Unit.

Marbely Hernandez Moye
Marbely is an Assistant State Attorney with the Miami Dade State Attorney’s Office, where she has been practicing for almost eight years. Throughout her time, she has tried numerous cases and served in several units including, Human Trafficking,

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,
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 17 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 homicides, 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.
Alejandra has also taught various topics, such as gang prosecutions and investigations, criminal procedure, and trial practice, at various law enforcement agencies and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.
She has been a member of the League of Prosecutors since 2007. Since that time, she has served on the Board of Directors since 2016 and as President from 2017-2018, and is active in many other community activities. A native of Puerto Rico, Alejandra received her Bachelor of Arts in Government, cum laude, from Harvard University. She went on to receive her Juris Doctor from Tulane University School of Law, 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.

Rachel Morales-Gellis
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 President in 2020 and as Secretary for two years.

Andrea Piloto

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.