Lody Jean, a former president of the Haitian Lawyers Association who campaigned for greater diversity on the Miami-Dade bench, personally succeeded. The native of Haiti of Lebanese descent was named a county court judge last November and celebrated the achievement at her formal investiture. She is Miami-Dade's second Haitian-American judge and was sworn in by the first, County Court Judge Fred Seraphin. Jean, a former Coral Gables criminal defense and immigration attorney, fills a seat that opened with the retirement of Judge Wendell Graham. She is serving in a civil division at the North Dade Justice Center. The former state prosecutor rose to the position of felony division chief and prosecuted murder cases while supervising other prosecutors. Her pro bono work included clinics on temporary protected status, citizenship, evictions and small claims suits. She clerked for retired Third District Court of Appeal Judge Melvia Green and interned at the court as well as the Miami-Dade Public Defender's Office and Broward State Attorney's Office.