The Daily Business Review's coverage of South Florida candidates in the August primary election features Q&As with candidates in judicial races across South Florida. This installment focuses on the race for Miami-Dade County Court judge, Group 2. Here's what real estate attorney Rosy Annette Aponte and prosecutor Kristy Nunez have to say about their qualifications for the bench. Responses have been edited for style and content.

Rosy Annette Aponte

Rosy Annette Aponte was born in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, and grew up in Miami since the age of 3. She graduated from Miami-Dade College, Barry University and Whittier Law School. Before becoming an attorney, she was also an elementary school teacher for the public school system for many years. Aponte attended Whittier Law School in the evening, for four of those seven years. When the foreclosure boom hit in 2008, she was of counsel for various law firms and was a permanent staple litigating in civil court on a daily basis and helping many people modify their mortgage and save their homes. Aponte has done hundreds of trials, motion calendars and evidentiary hearings. She has been a civil rights attorney, helping people fight discrimination in the workplace from the beginning of her legal career until now. She has also dedicated her legal career to real estate litigation, personal injury, insurance litigation, bankruptcy law, commercial litigation and family law.

Why do you want to be a county court judge?

Aponte: To be able to enforce the law and serve the community and continue my cause for civil rights by having a discrimination-free courtroom, regardless of economic and/or social status, nationality, religion, race, age or gender.

What about your experience qualifies you for the position?

Aponte: I have been an advocate for civil rights and am a former public school teacher. The county court is the people's court, which is what I have dedicated my career to.

What's your biggest achievement so far?

Aponte: The biggest achievement is being born in a small island on a farm, then after coming to this country penniless as a child with my single mother, through hard work — always working full time while studying — earning my doctorate degree and being able to now have the honor to qualify to run for county court.

What would a successful term look like for you?

Aponte: A successful term would be successfully moving the cases along and having done such a good job that I have mostly good praises from the community, attorneys that came before me and other judges.

What is the most important issue facing the Miami-Dade County courts at the moment?

Aponte: The abundance of cases lasting years on the docket without resolution.

Kristy Nunez

Kristy Nunez was born and raised in Miami. She graduated from Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart and attended the University of Miami, where she earned a bachelor's degree in business administration. Nunez then earned her law degree from St. Thomas University School of Law. While in law school, she served as a judicial law clerk for U.S. Magistrate Judge Ted E. Bandstra, and interned at the Office of the State Attorney in Miami-Dade County. She later accepted a full-time position as assistant state attorney, which she has held for the past 13 years. Nunez has prosecuted thousands of criminal cases, argued hundreds of motions, and tried approximately 50 cases before a jury. Since 2016, she has served as the chief of the Human Trafficking Unit, where she prosecutes sex and labor trafficking cases, as well as supervises the unit. She is also former chief of the Felony Division, where she focused on investigating and prosecuting homicide cases, and training junior prosecutors. Nunez specialized in prosecuting violent career criminals during her time in the Career Criminal and Robbery Unit, and spent almost four years in the Sexual Battery and Child Abuse Unit, advocating for the rights and safety of minor victims and rape victims.

Why do you want to be a county court judge?

Nunez: I have dedicated my professional career and personal life to public service. It is my passion for the law, as well as my love for the community, that ignites my desire to serve Miami-Dade County from the bench.

What about your experience qualifies you for the position?

Nunez: As an assistant state attorney for the past 13 years, I have prosecuted thousands of criminal cases, argued hundreds of motions, and tried approximately 50 cases before a jury. I have spent almost every day since I became an attorney inside of a courtroom, and have the experience and expertise on the rules of evidence to effectively sit on the bench.

I also have a deep understanding and love for our Miami-Dade County community. I was born, raised and educated in Miami, and have always worked in this community. Additionally, as co-founder of a nonprofit organization in the inner-city communities, and chief of the Human Trafficking Unit at the State Attorney's Office, I have worked closely with many of the under-resourced communities, and understand their needs.

What's your biggest achievement so far?

Nunez: That is a tough question because being a prosecutor has allowed me the opportunity to work on protecting the most vulnerable and defenseless victims. Particularly, victims of human trafficking, minor victims under the age of 11, who have been sexually and physically abused, and women and teenagers who were victims of attacks committed by serial rapists.

As chief of the Human Trafficking Unit, I was able to change two laws in the 2017 Criminal Statutes that now allow for greater protection for our community against traffickers, and improved the trial process for our human-trafficking victims.

Outside of my job, my greatest achievement as been co-founding Urban Promise Miami, a nonprofit organization committed to serving at-risk youth and their families in under-resourced communities within Miami-Dade County. Since its inception in 2010, UPM has accomplished a 100 percent high school graduation rate in an area where only approximately 40 percent of high school students typically graduate.

What would a successful term look like for you?

Nunez: A successful term would be one in which all who appear before me feel as if they have been heard, whether the ruling resulted in their favor or not. It would also be a term in which the division caseload would be reduced and legally sound rulings would be made.

What is the most important issue facing the Miami-Dade County courts at the moment?

Nunez: An excessively high caseload is the biggest issue facing Miami-Dade County courts at the moment. Finding a balance between efficiency, and giving each person their day in court, is the challenge in reducing the caseload. As a county court judge, I would add an additional calendar call in the afternoons, or early mornings, in order to try to eliminate the clogging of the docket and the long wait times of those appearing in court.