Ms. Kadisha D. Phelps, Esq. was born and raised in Long Island, New York and attended Florida State University, (“FSU”) where she majored in History and minored in Black Studies and Urban and Regional Planning. While attending FSU she interned with Florida Senator, the late,Bob Graham and the Attorney General of Florida Bob Butterworth. After graduating from FSU, she attended Washington and Lee School of law,(“W&L”) located in Lexington, VA where she was a member of the Virginia Capital Case Clearing house clinic, assisting court appointed attorneys that represent defendants facing the death penalty.
Kadisha joined the firm in 2006 and has been practicing Complex Commercial Litigation for over 18 years. She represents clients throughout all stages of litigation, including filing and defending complaints, extensive discovery, motion practice, mediation, arbitration and bench and juror trials in both Federal and State courts. She successfully provides legal representation, legal strategy, and litigation consulting to a variety of corporations, small businesses, financial and medical professionals, Real Estate developers, and athletes.
Some notable cases:
- Kirschhoch vs. Sandals case no: 02-13304 (CA02)
- Foster vs. Sandals case no: 02-9300 (CA24)
- Babineau vs. Sandals case no: 06-27298 (CA 06)
- Access Pictures vs. Shottas Productions case no: 2012-008650 (CA 01)
- Cayard vs. Cherubin case no: 13-018744 (CA 01)
- Rolle vs. BB&T case no: 13-CV-60976-DPG
- Movado Group vs. Swiss timecaseno: 14-047266 (CA 25)
- Pesantes vs. Kauffs, case no: 2014-015264 (CA 01)
- Holborn vs. Brickell Owner, LLC case no: 2018-033508 (CA 44)
- Movado vs. Duty Free World case no: 2019-008014 (CA 09)
- Oden vs.Brown case no: 2021-008650 (CA 01)
- Coles vs. City of Jacksonville case no: 1D21-3099
Outside of the practice of law, Kadisha’s passion is equal access to education, empowering women, children and the under-privileged population. She serves on the Board of Miami-Dade Public School Foundation, a Foundation committed to ensuring that Miami public schools are progressing, competitive and offer education opportunities for underserved schools. She is on the Board of St. John’s Community Development Corporation located in Overtown, Miami where she serves as the Chair of the Legal Affairs committee. She has also served on the Board of Gwen S. Cherry Black Women Lawyer’s Bar Association, in many capacities including Vice President and Historian. And is the former President of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce of Miami-Dade County (2014-2015)
She was one of the founding members of the Judicial Diversity Initiative (JDI), an organization committed to diversifying the bench in South Florida. She engages in local politics and has volunteered on Gubernatorial, Senate, and judicial campaigns. She was also a member of the Political Action Committee for “Referendum 210”in 2022 that provides competitive salaries for Miami-Dade public school teachers.
As a direct result of Kadisha’s professional and community accomplishments she has received the following awards and recognition:
- Miami Herald’s “Cool kids of South Florida”-2014
- Miami Herald’s Black Top 40 Under 40-2015
- Spotlight as“The Executive”in prestigious Indulge magazineof the Miami Herald-2015
- Florida International University’s Women of Influence Award-2015
- National Association of Negro Women’s, “Top Movers & Shakers”-2015
- Black WomenLawyersAssociation of Greater Chicago’s National Summit of Black Women Lawyers-Emerging Leader Award 2017
- Features in prestigious Atlantic magazine,“What it takes to be a trial lawyer if you’re not a man”-September 2018 issue
