Attorney Profile

R.A. Cuevas, Jr. was appointed County Attorney in May, 2007.  He previously served as First Assistant County Attorney, and prior to that led many of the office’s practice groups, including the Tax, Eminent Domain, Transit and Commercial sections.  Mr. Cuevas is experienced as both a litigator and as a transactional lawyer.

As a litigator, Mr. Cuevas has practiced extensively in federal and state court at both trial and appellate levels.  He tried numerous cases involving such issues as the County’s authority to build a tennis stadium for the NASDAQ 100 Tennis Tournament at Crandon Park, and whether the U.S.  Government had the ability to change a record of decision to convey the former Homestead Air Force Base to the County for public airport usage.  Mr. Cuevas has also handled numerous appeals, including cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

As a transactional lawyer, Mr. Cuevas worked on Stage One of the Rapid Transit Project between 1978 and 1984, a $1.5 billion project that included construction of Miami-Dade County’s Metrorail and Metromover.  Mr. Cuevas handled nearly all of the related land acquisitions through purchase and eminent domain.  Mr. Cuevas also handled the project’s single largest land acquisition, which was approximately 12 miles of the former Florida East Coast Railway right-of-way from downtown Miami to Dadeland, an acquisition valued at approximately $21 million. 

From 1994 to 2005, Mr. Cuevas led the Office’s Commercial practice.  That section handles all of the County’s contracts, leases, procurement, bid protests, and construction litigation.

Mr. Cuevas is a former chair and member of the Legal Affairs Committee of the American Public Transportation Association.  The Committee is comprised of lawyers representing all of the transit properties in the United States, as well as those from the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (currently the Federal Transit Administration) of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Mr. Cuevas has earned an AV peer review rating on Martindale-Hubbell.  That rating indicates that Mr. Cuevas is recognized by his peers as having reached the height of excellence, skill and integrity in the legal profession.