One side is represented by a five-attorney, public interest law firm whose attorneys take on pro bono cases in the name of human rights and social and economic equity.

The other is perhaps Miami's most prolific real estate attorney who leads Miami's 129-attorney office of Akerman, which sits at No. 94 on the Am Law 100 list of major U.S. firms. Neisen Kasdin won approval for some of the city's biggest, skyline-changing projects.

In the realm of David versus Goliath, this is one such battle as the two square off over the Magic City Innovation District set to rise on 18 acres in Miami's Little Haiti. So far in the biblical metaphor, Goliath is winning.

Community Justice Project Inc. attorney and co-founder Meena Jagannath lost the City Commission fight for residents who say the project will unravel the neighborhood. The firm and Miami attorney David Winker plan to  appeal a City Commission decision to shut out opponents.

Jagannath and Kasdin each see their case as more than a job. They are unshakable in their belief that they are fighting the good fight.

Jagannath represents residents who say Magic City will be unaffordable to them, push up property values and prompt more high-end development. Property owners already are dealing with speculators who want to buy their homes, she said. Noise, traffic and the size of the project also are of concern.

Little Haiti is losing manufacturing and other jobs, which is what is pushing out residents already, Kasdin said. In contrast, he said the sprawling new development will create jobs and training for residents in the technology and creative industries, and prop up struggling businesses.

'Rabble Rousers' 

Kasdin argued opponents' arguments are rooted in emotions stirred by activists — exactly the notion that's most bothersome to Jagannath.

The two sides clashed at a June 27 commission meeting when the project was approved after commissioners shot down the residents' formal application to intervene.

“The thing that irked me is we were being painted as folks who are just throwing out rhetorical, emotional arguments when in fact the advocacy is a product of hundreds of hours of work understanding what's happening on the community side, what are people's impacts, really analyzing all the documents,” she said.

Obtaining intervenor status would have allowed residents present evidence, which could have slowed and possibly stopped the project.

“There's a lot of emotion that is injected but oftentimes ignoring facts and reality of the situation,” Kasdin said, who called opposition arguments a “myth.”

Kasdin noted Community Justice Project filed a motion to intervene in March on behalf of Little Haiti's Family Action Network Movement, which was shot down by the commission. This time, Community Justice project represented residents Warren Perry and Jessica Saint-Fleur.

“You don't keep on getting to go back every time you lose and say, 'OK, how about this person,' and then go back and say, 'How about that person?' ” Kasdin said.

Jean-Luc Adrien Jean-Luc Adrien is an equal justice works, disaster recovery legal corps fellow at the Community Justice Project.

Jagannath, who represented Perry and Saint-Fleur with Community Justice Project attorney Jean-Luc Adrien, countered the March application wasn't properly heard.

For them, it feels as if the commission was disdainful.

“Sometimes I feel like the commission is scolding folks for standing up for their communities. There's a tone of, 'How dare you?' The messaging I feel that we had gotten from the dais was, “Enough.' “ Jagannath said. ”You have a high-powered attorney coming up there saying, 'These folks are rabble rousers. They didn't present a shred of evidence. There's no reason why you should listen to them.' ”

City Commissioner Keon Hardemon, who represents Little Haiti, sided with Kasdin at the June 27 hearing. The intervenors' applications don't meet the legal threshold for showing they would be impacted to a greater extent than the rest of the area, he said.

Perry is a tenant in a rent-controlled building, meaning he would by insulated from gentrification, said Hardemon, a solo practitioner.

Hardemon interrupted Adrien's presentation to ask whether he brought Perry's lease and questioned other arguments by Adrien. The Community Justice Project took issue with the interruptions, saying it wasn't given a chance to present its case.

It should expect to have to defend its argument, Hardemon responded.

“ The unraveling of their argument shows its weakness and not an unwillingness of the City Commission to hear their cause,” he said.

As for the commission “scolding folks,” that's unfounded and inflammatory, Hardemon said.

The commission previously told attorneys to gather more evidence in support of their intervenor status motion but they didn't.

“Their lack of follow through and preparation doomed their requests,” Hardemon said.

David v. Goliath? 

Whether Community Justice Project going against Kasdin is a true David-and-Goliath battle depends on how you slice it.

“It has felt a little bit like a David versus Goliath because of the fact that it is so rare that there is someone on the community's side,” Jagannath said. “We don't have sort of a grab bag of contacts to pull from as we try to build our case and to marshal the resources that are needed.”

Appraisers and architects declined working with Community Justice Project because they anticipate future work from Magic City, Jagannath said.

Outside Magic City, the Community Justice Project is a Goliath, said Winker, who plans to co-file the appeal. Others avoid standing up to them on issues like immigration.

Jagannath worked in Haiti as a women's advocate. She co-founded the firm with Harvard law  graduate Alana Greer and attorney Charles Elsesser, former director of the housing department at Santa Monica, California.

Yet the firm doesn't specialize in land use, one of Akerman's fortes.

Akerman doesn't take up just any project. Kasdin said the firm helps the ones that will make the community better for everyone and ones the firm is proud of. Their projects put Miami on the map as a new-era tourist and investment destination: Brickell City Centre, the Design District and Miami Beach's Faena District.

“I am a land use and zoning and development attorneys, so this is what I do every day,” said the Miami office managing partner and former Miami Beach mayor. “We are good at what we do.”

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