Dennis Kerbel: Akerman partner chairs county charter review task force

Since May of 2024, Dennis Kerbel has been with the Akerman law firm after more than 21 years with the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office.

After having served as chief of Miami-Dade’s Zoning, Land Use, and Environment Section since 2015 and as assistant Miami-Dade county attorney, Mr. Kerbel is now working in Akerman’s national real estate practice group as chair of its Florida land use and entitlements practice.

Mr. Kerbel said that he plans to keep pushing forward the transformative developments that Akerman has been known for, not just in Miami but on a larger scale and in other jurisdictions throughout Florida. 

“I want to increase our presence even more,” he said. “I particularly enjoy, and I think one of the unique skills that I bring here, is the litigation aspect of land use.”

Mr. Kerbel joined a team of 27 accomplished land use lawyers and planners in Florida, who possess extensive experience in local government. With nearly 160 real estate lawyers and development professionals nationally, Akerman has one of the country’s largest legal teams working with the real estate industry. 

Lawyers within the Miami land use and development team are responsible for leading the creation of Miami’s Downtown Master Plan and the Miami 21 Zoning Code and for advancing groundbreaking client projects: Brickell City Centre, Faena District, Little Haiti, Miami’s Design District, Miami Worldcenter, Midtown Miami, Lauderdale Marine Center, Pier 66, and Wynwood. 

The law firm, which has over 700 lawyers and business professionals collaborating with some of the world’s most successful enterprises and entrepreneurs and offers comprehensive and fully integrated project counsel services to clients across the United States and Latin America, presented a career-elevating offer Mr. Kerbel said he couldn’t pass up.

“Akerman has given me a fresh and new perspective on the practice of law,” he told Miami Today.

Mr. Kerbel has been a dedicated public servant and one of the most accomplished land use lawyers in Florida, including handling land use appeals and litigation. He has been at the center of many important land use regulations and policy issues that have advanced Miami-Dade County as a leader in urban development and innovation. 

A Harvard University and University of Pennsylvania Law School graduate, where he served as a senior editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Mr. Kerbel is a litigator with experience in federal and state courts at both trial and appellate levels. He handles a broad variety of cases, including comprehensive plan challenges, zoning appeals, enforcement actions, inverse condemnation, and federal civil rights claims.

As former chief of the Zoning, Land Use, and Environment Section of the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office, Mr. Kerbel represented and advised Miami-Dade County on planning, zoning, environmental, platting, impact fee, historic preservation, and code enforcement matters, as well as drafting significant land use and environmental legislation. 

He was involved with several community zoning appeals boards in public hearings involving land use matters, and defended a variety of challenges to county land use decisions in state and federal courts and administrative tribunals.

During his career with the county, he said, he was heavily involved in civil rights and animal services matters, including defending the county and its police and correctional officers against claims of federal civil rights violations. 

Mr. Kerbel’s vast knowledge and experience are still being used by the county as the chair of Miami-Dade’s Charter Review Task Force, where he is currently reviewing the newly established constitutional officers, which include the Sheriff’s Office, Property Appraiser, Tax Collector, Supervisor of Elections, and the Clerk’s Office.

“We have been figuring out how these new constitutional offices will fit with the structure of the county’s government and Miami-Dade’s unique home rule authority,” he said, “which is one of the things that has allowed Miami-Dade as a whole to progress in the manner that it has.”

A law school professor at Florida International University and St. Thomas University, Mr. Kerbel said his overall career objective and trajectory is to position Miami-Dade as one of the greatest counties in the nation for future generations to take full advantage of. 

“I want to be able to say that I left a positive mark on the community and helped Miami-Dade County progress forward,” he added.

Mr. Kerbel spoke with Miami Today reporter Abraham Galvan.

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