BY LINDA GRASSO
Voters countywide will take part in an election to fill a rare open seat on the Palm Beach County Court bench next month. The vacancy in the Group 2 seat follows the retirement of County Court Judge Ted Booras, who was appointed to the bench in 2006.
The nonpartisan primary election will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 20 with three attorneys seeking the position — Lourdes Casanova, Douglas Leifert and Jean Marie Middleton. The two candidates who receive the most votes will advance to the general election in November, unless one candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote and is elected outright.
Casanova and Leifert have both served as prosecutors and now are in private practice with substantial community service to their credit. Middleton is currently employed by the School District of Palm Beach County and has also devoted substantial time to serving the community. Each shared with the Town-Crier why they believe they are the best choice to serve as a county court judge.
The county court is a limited jurisdiction court and is frequently referred to as “the people’s court.” It hears misdemeanors, traffic hearings, credit card and other debt collection matters, small claims and issues before the Veterans Court. The amount at issue in the county court is limited to $50,000.
Lourdes Casanova
Lifetime resident and community advocate Lourdes Casanova is one of the candidates for the open County Court Judge Group 2 seat. She has legal experience both as a prosecutor and defense attorney and has spent much of her legal career practicing in the County Court.
“I have the legal experience, judgment and integrity to serve our community as county court judge,” Casanova said. “For nearly a decade, I have litigated in the criminal, civil and traffic divisions of our county court. It would be an honor to serve Palm Beach County in our judiciary.”
She founded Casanova Law in Palm Beach County, providing legal services in criminal law, DUI, fish and wildlife, sealing and expunging, traffic tickets, small claims, juvenile court and immigration. Casanova founded her law firm in 2015 as a sole practitioner, and in addition to practicing law, has learned how to run a business. She learned business from the ground up, as she was the first person in her family to start and run a business.
Casanova attended Palm Beach County public schools and was the valedictorian at Royal Palm Beach High School in 2005. She was a University of Florida cum laude graduate, and later obtained her law degree there. Casanova said that she is strongly committed to family values, community service and outreach educational programs. She explained that her commitment is a reflection of the experience of her parents, who immigrated from Cuba to escape the tyranny of a dictatorship. Casanova said that she is grateful for their courage in fleeing oppression every day, and she learned from their experience an appreciation of American legal principles, such as separation of powers, due process and access to the judicial system.
The Judicial Nominating Commission has several times nominated Casanova for a judgeship, reflecting their confidence in her capacity to serve. As a prosecutor, she managed 300 to 400 cases daily, reviewing warrants, examining evidence and preparing witnesses. As a defense attorney, Casanova regularly litigates in the county court.
Casanova noted that she has continued her commitment to community service and is active in many organizations, including the Palm Beach County Hispanic Bar Association (where she served as president in 2023), the Florida Bar Leadership Academy, the Palm Beach County Bar Association, Special Olympics, the Florida Hispanic American Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Association of Women Lawyers.
“I believe that family and community come first. It is necessary to be of service and give back to our community, and especially to those who are in need,” Casanova said.
Visit www.casanovaforjudge.com to learn more about Casanova’s campaign.
Douglas Leifert
Also seeking the Group 2 seat is Douglas Leifert, who has devoted his time since graduating in 1990 from Nova Southeastern University’s law school litigating a variety of matters as both a prosecutor and later as a defense lawyer. However, that was not his original goal in life. Growing up, he instead wanted to become a commercial airline pilot.
“I grew up on the final approach to JFK in New York City, watching international flights, even the Concorde, arrive from all over the world,” he recalled. “I imagined becoming a commercial airline pilot, but my Jewish parents wanted a doctor or a lawyer. I realized that as a lawyer, I could help people, and provide a way to earn a living and support a family.”
Leifert served as an assistant state attorney for five years before entering solo practice as a lawyer. Since 1997, he has been in partnership with his brother, Brian Leifert, in the Leifert and Leifert Law Firm.
Leifert takes pride in being a courtroom lawyer, both previously as a prosecutor and as a defense attorney, in all of Palm Beach County. He views the judicial system as a mechanism to resolve disputes in a way that treats all the parties with respect in a fair and non-biased manner.
The goal of a county court judge, he said, is to follow the rules and fashion a decision that evolves from the best resolution for the parties and is based on the experience of mature lawyers, as well as life experiences.
“A county court judge needs to always be fair, courteous and impartial,” Leifert said. “Most cases can be settled. People don’t want to spend their days in court. They would rather resolve the problem and return to their normal life, and judges should make that happen.”
If elected, he intends to manage his docket by keeping the parties and lawyers to the dates established in the judicial case management system. This is critical, he believes, to the efficient administration of the court calendar.
Leifert noted that this judicial opening is the first to be decided by an election in six years. Often judicial seats are selected by a nominating committee and then appointed by the governor, but this seat will be decided by the people for their court, he said.
Leifert said that the vacancy comes at a good time for him to become a judge, as his children are grown, and he now has fewer financial obligations. He views becoming a county court judge not as a job, but as public service and the pinnacle of his career. If elected, Leifert intends to serve two terms and retire, giving the seat back to the people to select another judge, who will in turn provide excellent service to the people.
Learn more about Leifert’s campaign at www.leifertforjudge.com.
Jean Marie Middleton
Jean Marie Middleton, the third candidate seeking the Group 2 seat, currently serves as assistant general counsel for the School District of Palm Beach County, a role she has held since 2013. Middleton said that her career goal is to become a judge, and her experience makes her uniquely qualified to fill the judicial vacancy.
She currently manages four attorneys, two paralegals and a legal assistant at the school district. She previously worked for the Miami-Dade County school system and managed a larger group there. Middleton is proud that she has held several wonderful legal positions, and most of the time she was asked to apply, rather than apply for an opening.
In her final year at Howard University’s law school, one of the companies that visited the campus was Lincoln Insurance Companies, and they were impressed by her work in one of the legal clinics and asked her to apply for a position. She began her legal career there. “I remember my time at Lincoln Insurance as a wonderful learning experience,” Middleton said, adding that Lincoln trained her to be a lawyer and a manager.
Her brother was working for an insurance company in Miami, and they were looking for an attorney, so she interviewed and moved to Florida. Later she worked for the City of Miami, and then worked a private law firm in West Palm Beach. When she learned that the School District of Palm Beach County was hiring lawyers, she applied and was hired. After three years, her supervisor moved to the Miami-Dade school system, and asked her to come with her, and she became head of litigation there, until Miami-Dade instituted a residential requirement.
Middleton later worked for the City of Lake Worth as assistant city attorney and the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County as a staff attorney before returning to the School District of Palm Beach County in 2013.
“I am fortunate to have substantial legal work in employment, contract, criminal and family law, intellectual property, and landlord-tenant while I was in law school, and that makes me uniquely qualified for county court judge,” Middleton said. “The cases I have won have been upheld by appellate courts. I have written dozens of jury instructions. I have 38 years of trial experience and in-house counsel for Fortune 500 cases, where I have drafted policies and procedures, in addition to legal memos for board members.”
Along the way, Middleton has volunteered with a number of organizations, such as the Palm Beach County Bar Association, the Palm Beach County Sheree Davis Cunningham Black Lawyers Association, the F. Malcolm Cunningham Sr. Bar Association (past president) and the Florida Association of Women Lawyers. She has been vetted by the Judicial Nominating Committee and been sent to the governor for potential appointments to both circuit and country court vacancies.
Visit www.jeanmarieforjudge.com to learn more about Middleton’s campaign.
