Jennifer Olmedo-Rodriguez, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney shareholder and Miami office head. Courtesy Photo

Jennifer Olmedo-Rodriguez's story is about her and two generations of two families that left communist Cuba for the United States.

Her father used to get up hours before school in New Jersey to shovel snow or clean windows. Her mother also had a job while in school, and her grandmothers worked all day in factories and came home to sell Tupperware or Avon products.

Their hard work was meant to pave a path to a brighter future for the next generation, and Olmedo-Rodriguez more than validated their hard work.

She the first in her family to get a college degree and became the Miami managing shareholder at Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney.

Succeeding was a duty but not a burden, she said.

"I never really saw the things that I was achieving for me. It wasn't solely, 'I was getting a degree.' It wasn't solely, 'I was taking the LSAT and getting into law school or passing the bar.' I really saw it as a responsibility and obligation that I had to make everything that they did worthwhile," said Olmedo-Rodriguez, who choked up telling her family story. "They left everything behind to come over here to give us a better life, to give future generations a better life. They worked really hard."

In high school, she set out to be a journalist, inspired by her late grandfather, Manuel Olmedo, who explored the field but couldn't dedicate himself full-time because he had to "make ends meet" for his family, she said. He started the family business, Olmedo Printing, a commercial print shop.

In her junior year, Olmedo-Rodriguez took a constitutional law class. Her First Amendment team won district and state debate competitions and placed in the top 10 in nationals.

"That was it. At that point I just fell completely in love with the law," she said.

On a latent level, her career path also was influenced by her grandfather, who shared with Olmedo-Rodriguez the importance of freedom and democracy during talks on the porch when she was 11 or younger. He just had a palpable personality that left a lasting effect.

"I really wasn't understanding it at the time, but it was almost like he was planting those little seeds in my subconscious as to the importance and just how precious our freedoms are and our democracy is," she said.

Woman Litigator

One thing that quickly comes across about Olmedo-Rodriguez is that she is warmhearted and good-natured, perhaps not the qualities that immediately come to mind for litigators.

But don't be fooled. She succeeded in complex business litigation in state, federal and appellate courts. Her experience includes defending against class actions under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and litigating noncomplete, partnership, employment, real estate and Uniform Commercial Code disputes across the U.S.

She defended Miami plastic surgery clinic My Cosmetic Surgery Inc. in a TCPA class action filed in 2016 over unsolicited text messages. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Peter Lopez dismissed the case after a joint stipulation of dismissal was filed following a settlement.

She also successfully fought off two summary judgment motions in a lawsuit she brought on behalf of a court reporting and support services business that sued a former consultant and his court reporting business, which the plaintiff had acquired, over threats to siphon away clients and confidential information. Then-Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Stanford Blake approved a joint stipulation of dismissal.

Olmedo-Rodriguez started her career in 2002 when women litigators were likely to be called "sweetheart" or something similar by judges or opposing counsel, she added.

For her, the most hurtful comment came from a judge outside Miami who told her he couldn't understand her accent. But there was an upside.

"Focus on the positive. When that happened to me with that judge, I can't tell you how many practitioners came up to me after the hearing and apologized to me, saying that that was inappropriate," she said.

Olmedo-Rodriguez has her own way of dealing with challenges that involves thinking about her grandparents sending her 15-year-old father to Mexico before he was required to join Castro's military. This puts things into perspective for Olmedo-Rodriguez, a mother of two.

"I can't imagine as a mother of a 13-year-old in two years finding myself in a situation where I am so desperate that I literally kiss him on the forehead and put him on a plane and send him off to another country. I always keep that top of mind when something challenging presents itself or when I feel the need to push myself to achieve more or sacrifices that we have to make in our lives," she said. "I always think about that and I am like, 'You know what. This is nothing compared to what they ended up having to do.' "

Family 

Her father eventually moved in with another family in Union City, New Jersey, while his parents and brother first moved to Spain before joining him.

Olmedo-Rodriguez's mother left Cuba when she was 9 with her parents on a Freedom Flight, eventually landing in Union City. Her parents were high school sweethearts.

Olmedo Printing burned down in 1987 after a fire spread from next door, requiring the family to start over for a second time. They moved to Miami and reopened the business just off Eighth Street.

They "started once again from scratch. You have no clientele, you have no customers, nobody knows who you are. So my dad, my uncle, my grandfather, all once again kind of pulled themselves up by their bootstraps," she said.

Olmedo-Rodriguez inherited this work ethic and grit.

"I have always been of the mentality, 'No one is going to outwork me. No one is ever going to work harder than me,' " she said. " I get a lot of satisfaction when I put in the time and I am able to very successfully execute on an oral argument before a trial court or an appellate court and achieve a good result for the client."

She loves the rush of courtroom presentations and persuading a judge that her client should be granted the desired relief.

For Olmedo-Rodriguez, it comes down to fighting for her clients and validating her parents' and grandparents' hard work to pave her path to the American dream.

"I really feel like I am a protector of that for my family. I have to just make sure that what I do isn't a waste. I want to make sure that their sacrifices aren't wasted, that I take full advantage of those opportunities that they gave me."

Born: Secaucus, New Jersey, 1978

Spouse: Alexander Rodriguez

Children: Christian and Sebastian

Education: University of Florida, J.D., 2002; Florida International University, B.A., 1999

Experience: Shareholder, Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, 2009-present; Associate, The Bray Law Firm, 2007-2009; Associate, Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, 2003-2006; Clerk to Senior U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King, 2002-2003; Summer associate, Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, 2001