Ira Gonzalez had several dream jobs when he was a child. Unlike most people who eventually have to settle on one career, he got to live out all his aspirations.

Gonzalez wanted to play baseball, and he did it in college. He wanted to work for a city inspired by his father, a former Sweetwater mayor, and he did. He wanted to be an attorney after meeting one as student on career day, and he is an attorney.

Gonzalez is a partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson, joining the firm in January after three years at Fowler White Burnett.

The son of Cuban immigrants saw his parents work hard for everything they achieved, his father saving up to buy a vending truck and then working as an administrator for the city of Sweetwater before holding elective office. The young Gonzalez attended and watched his father run meetings.

"Early on I had a deep interest in understanding how we function as a society. What do cities do? What exactly is the role, and what do public officials partake in?" he said. "That was always fascinating to me. How much of an impact does it actually have in representing your community well?"

His baseball pursuit was the fulfillment of an early childhood dream and helped him achieve his goal of not burdening his parents with college tuition bills. Gonzalez earned a full baseball scholarship to Barry University in Miami Shores.

Toward the end of his undergraduate studies, he was faced with a three-way choice of  baseball, legal work or municipal service.

In his junior year, he was offered a free-agent contract with the Anaheim Angels, now the Los Angeles Angels, to play with its Boise Hawks Single-A team in Idaho. Around the same time, he signed up for the LSAT law school entry exam. Then a job offer came in from the office of former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz.

Faced with that scenario, he opted for Diaz's office.

"I didn't think that opportunity would come up very often, so I took that instead of going to law school immediately," he said.

Gonzalez worked as policy coordinator for Diaz and briefly in the office of former City Manager Joe Arriola until being hired to oversee the city's code enforcement department.

"At the age of 24, I was overseeing a department of about 40 or so inspectors for the entire city of Miami, which really served me well in learning the management aspect of municipal government," he said.

Land Use, Zoning

In his late 20s, Gonzalez thought more about pursuing his dream of becoming an attorney, a seed planted back when he was a Sweetwater elementary school student and an attorney came to speak to his class.

"It was the first time that I met a lawyer," he said. "I don't come from a family of lawyers, and ever since I was a kid it really intrigued me to go into law."

Looking back at his decision, Gonzalez said he would change nothing.

He said his time with the city is what makes him a better attorney now. Miami was undergoing a real estate boom, creating plenty of work for the code enforcement department.

"That's what really changed the landscape of Miami, creating the urban core we have now. We had 20 cranes in the sky. It was important not only from issues like dumping, but you also have the high-rises being developed with sufficient parking" and other zoning issues, he said.

This gave him unmatched experience with and understanding of the city zoning code when Miami 21, an major code overhaul that encouraged vertical growth, was being drafted.

"We were part of the team that was allowing the designers of Miami 21 to understand the practical impacts of the new zoning ordinance," he said.

It's no surprise that Gonzalez now focuses on land use and real estate litigation and is confident doing it. There have been cases in Miami where he jumped in and explained the thinking behind Miami 21 provisions, offering city staff his institutional knowledge.

"It was fascinating for me to be part of the city during a time of so much growth. Now even though I am a litigator, I still do land use issues," he said. "I would be sitting in certain scenarios interacting with city employees and can say, 'This was actually the intent if the regulation that may be affecting my client's work.' And they will say, 'Well, I didn't have that background.' "

Cases

Outside Miami, his municipal work experience has helped as well.

Take for example his representation of Dalk Land, a Sugarloaf Key mobile home park opposed to a neighbor's plan to developed an oceanfront home. Peter G. Giampaoli and Elizabeth C. Giampaoli, as trustees of the Giampaoli Family Trust, are the developers but last year lost the first part of the case filed by Gonzalez and Dalk Land.

The case has to do with Federal Emergency Management Agency regulations that set building elevations for high-risk flood areas.

An administrative law judge in the state Department of Administrative Hearings decided a building official who lifted a stop-work order on home construction didn't have the authority to do so.

An upcoming trial over whether the development should have been approved at all is pending.  Gonzalez maintains old, inapplicable building codes were used to OK the project.

"It's an example of how important my background in real estate and code is dating back to my city of Miami time, understanding how a regulator should be looking at a thing like this, be it the building official or other decision-makers in Monroe County, understanding how it impacts a case like this and being able to try the case and convey how it should have been evaluated and how Monroe County failed in that regard."

Born: 1979, Miami

Children: Nicolas, Andrew, Alexander

Spouse: Vanessa Bolano Gonzalez

Education: Loyola University New Orleans, J.D.,  2010; Barry University, MBA, 2005, B.S., 2001

Experience: Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson, 2020; Shareholder, Fowler White Burnett, 2017-2020; Associate, Adams and Reese, 2011-2017; Real estate development director, Fuel Outdoor in Dallas, 2007-2008; Chief of operations for code enforcement, Miami, 2003-2007; Executive assistant to Miami City Manager Joe Arriola, Miami, 2003; Assistant policy coordinator, former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, 2001-2003