County Attorney
Geri Bonzon-Keenan

County Attorney's Office
111 NW 1st Street, Suite 2810
Miami, Florida 33128

Public Records Custodian
Tomeka Ladson

Phone
305.375.5151

Fax
305.375.5634

Contact Us

Attorney Profile

Dennis Kerbel

Practice Areas

  • Land Use & Governmental Operations
  • Annexation, Incorporation, Environmental Policy & Resilience

Education

  • University of Pennsylvania, J.D., 1998
  • Harvard University, B.A. in History, Magna Cum Laude, 1995

Court Admissions

  • The Florida Bar, 2002
  • New York Bar, 1999
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, 2003
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1999
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 1999
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, 2004

Dennis Kerbel

Joined the Office in 2002
Assistant County Attorney
Chief, Zoning, Land Use & Environment Section

[email protected] 305-375-5229

Dennis A. Kerbel is the Chief of the Zoning, Land Use & Environment Section of the Miami-Dade County Attorney's Office. Dennis is a litigator who has practiced in federal and state court, at both the trial and appellate levels.  Dennis handles a broad variety of cases, including zoning appeals, enforcement actions, and federal civil rights claims.  Dennis has successfully defended a variety of challenges to County land use decisions and has defended the County and its police and correctional officers against claims of federal civil rights violations.  Dennis has also initiated and successfully prosecuted numerous civil cases seeking custody of animals found in distress.

In addition, Dennis handles transactional work for the Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources and the Animal Services Department, including the drafting and review of ordinances, resolutions, and contracts.  He also advises the Board of County Commissioners, the Planning Advisory Board, and several Community Zoning Appeals Board on public hearings involving land use matters.

Prior Experience

  • Associate, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, New York, 1998-2001
  • Associate, Bernstein, Litowitz, Berger & Grossmann, LLP, New York, 2001-2002
  • Legal Writing Instructor, St. Thomas University School of Law, 2003-2005
  • Co-Lecturer, Florida International University College of Law, Land Use Law (Spring 2012), Environmental Law (Fall 2013), and Florida Constitutional Law (Spring 2017).
  • Adjunct Professor, St. Thomas University School of Law, Florida Constitutional Law (Summer 2018); Land Use Law (Spring 2019; Spring 2020)
  • Adjunct Professor, Florida International University College of Law, Local Government Law (Summer 2019); Land Use Law (Fall 2019; Fall 2020).

Articles, Publications, & Lectures

  • Article: FLUEDRA: Flawed, but Fixable? Craig H. Coller & Dennis A. Kerbel, 86 Florida Bar Journal 6 (June 2012)
  • Article: Zoning and the Complicated Reliance on Restrictive Covenants, 12 FIU L. Rev. 263 (2017)
  • Lecture: Workforce Housing, Medical Marijuana Dispensaries and Other Current Land Use Issues, 40th Annual Local Govenment Law in Florida, May 12, 2017
  • Panel Lecture: Legislative Breakfast: Solutions for Workforce Housing, Builders Association and Latin Builders Association, March 22, 2017
  • Panel Lecture: American Dream Mall - Obtaining Development Approval, Dade County Bar Association, April 27, 2017
  • Panel Lecture: Zoning Powerhouse Panel: Everything You Want to Know, Dade County Bar Association, February 14, 2018