Mary Barzee Flores, a shareholder at Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson and former Miami-Dade circuit judge, was nominated Thursday to the federal bench in the Southern District of Florida.

Barzee Flores has been a fixture in high-stakes litigation, most recently appearing as plaintiffs counsel in the Takata air bag multidistrict litigation newly assigned to U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno in Miami. She has been with Stearns Weaver since 2011, where she practices complex commercial and employment litigation.

From 2003 to 2011, she presided in Miami-Dade Circuit criminal and civil matters. She worked in the federal public defender's office from 1990 to 2003, finishing as a supervisory assistant federal public defender. Barzee Flores began her legal career as an associate at Sonnett, Sale and Kuehne.