As Broward County Attorney:

Guided the legal work for land use, federal and state regulatory approvals, procurement, funding, and design and construction contracts for major public infrastructure projects, including:

• Fort Lauderdale International Airport’s new runway and aircraft bridge over US Highway 1, as well as construction of new terminal building and renovation of four others
• Major county convention center expansion and development of waterfront convention center hotel
• Port Everglade’s turning notch improvements, deepening and widening of the Port’s channels, development of intermodal rail line into port, and associated port expansion activities
• New Broward County courthouse, courthouse garage, and improvements in associated courthouse facilities
• Operating and related agreements with the Florida Panthers professional hockey team at the county-owned BBT Arena, incorporating arena improvements, additional public funding, and land conveyance to the county.

Guided the legal work for the full spectrum of issues for Broward County, a sampling of which includes development of ballot language and ordinances for a proposed transportation sales surtax; defense of challenge to county commission decennial redistricting decision; representation of elections canvassing board; successful termination of longstanding federal consent decree governing county detention facilities; continuing issues concerning allocation of responsibilities between county commission and independent constitutional officers and court administration; county-wide comprehensive planning, environmental, and platting regulation; emergency management; insurance and risk management; public sector real estate conveyances and restrictions; municipal finance, community redevelopment agencies, and special assessments; representation of tax collector in sales of tax certificates and deeds; transit, parks, and libraries; comprehensive program of social service delivery; and public sector labor and collective bargaining issues, including Airline Deregulation Act and Davis-Bacon matters.

Argued: Represented Broward County in persuading Supreme Court of Florida to uphold charter-imposed term limits for county commissioners. Telli v. Broward County, 94 So.3d 504 (Fla. 2012).

Represented Miami-Dade County: defense and favorable resolution of $113M Bert Harris Act claim arising from new urbanism regulation; successful defense of first state agency challenge to a local comprehensive plan amendment in Florida; successful defense of lengthy multi-party inverse condemnation case arising from county zoning ordinance regulating development in East Everglades; successful brief and oral argument resulting in en banc decision of state appellate court on admissibility of citizen lay testimony in zoning cases; defense, successful appeal, and favorable resolution of multi-pronged challenge to development of public tennis facility in county park; defense and favorable resolution of estimated $72M federal tax claim against county’s public teaching hospital; significant amicus curiae participation in Supreme Court of Florida decision recognizing that comprehensive planning in Florida is legislative and entitled to appropriate deference in the courts.

• Commercial Real Estate Women Network (CREW) Miami, Member
• American Bar Association, State and Local Government Law Section
• Florida Bar Board of Legal Specialization and Education, Past Member and Chair
• Florida Bar City, County and Local Government Section, Executive Council Member and Past Chair
• Florida Bar Environmental and Land Use Law Section
• Broward County Bar Association
• Dade County Bar Association
• Florida International University Law School, Adjunct Professor
• St. Thomas University Law School, Adjunct Professor
• St. Thomas University Law School, Board of Advisors
• Peter T. Fay Inn of Court, St. Thomas University Law School
• University of Florida Environmental and Land Use Law Program Advisory Board, Past Member
• Florida League of Cities Deepwater Horizon Task Force, Past Member
• University of Miami, former Adjunct Professor, state constitutional law
• Legal Affairs Committee, City of Miami Financial Oversight Board, Past Chair
• Children’s Home Society, Southeast Florida Regional Board, Past Member and Chair

• Broward County Attorney, 2011-2017
• Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office, Section Chief, Zoning, Land Use and Environmental Section
• Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office, Section Chief, Aviation Section
• Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office, Assistant County Attorney
• Judicial Law Clerk, Honorable Peter T. Fay, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit

Joni has written and lectured extensively on land use and local government legal issues. A sample of work includes:

• American Planning Association Florida Gold Coast Chapter, Speaker, Planning Officials Training, May 14, 2024
• Private Property Rights Protection Legislation: Statutory Claims for Relief from Government Regulation, Florida Bar Environmental and Land Use Law Treatise, Vol. III, Chapter 30
• Pincus Professional Education, Persuasive Brief Writing, panelist and speaker, November 2017
• Miami-Dade League of Cities: Municipal Autonomy & Countywide Concerns, panelist and speaker, June 2016
• Broward County Local Government Summit, Presentations Before Local Government Bodies, panelist, January 2016
• Florida Municipal Attorney’s Association, Home Rule and State Law Preemption, panelist and speaker, July 2015
• High Hopes, Hollow Harvest: State Remedies for Partial Regulatory Takings, The Urban Lawyer, Vol. 39, No. 3
• Practical Aspects of Quasi-Judicial Hearings: Basic Tools, Recent Fine-Tuning, Stetson Law Review, Vol. XXX, No. 3
• Trying and Settling Land Use Cases: Substantive and Procedural Law Overview, National Judicial College Land Use Law course for Florida circuit judges
• Florida International University Law School adjunct professor, 2006 - present: courses in land use, state constitutional law, elections, administrative law, environmental law
• St. Thomas University Law School adjunct professor, 2001-present: courses in land use, state constitutional law

• Justice Harry Lee Anstead Florida Bar Board Certified Lawyer of the Year, Florida Bar Board of Legal Specialization and Education
• Ralph Marsicano Award, Florida Bar City, County and Local Government Law Section, for significant contributions to the development of local government law in Florida
• Paul S. Buchman Award, Florida Bar City, County and Local Government Law Section, for outstanding legal public service in Florida
• Florida Bar awards for contributions to public service legal ethics and government service
• Robert L. Shevin Public Service Award, Dade County Bar Association, for significant contributions to public service
• Florida Law-Related Education Association Award for contributions in establishing inter-mural high school mock trials in Florida
• Best Lawyers, 2024-2025, Listed in Florida for Real Estate Law
• Florida Trend's Legal Elite 2005-2022, Inducted into the "Hall of Fame" for Environmental & Land Use
• 20 Women in Law, Daily Business Review 2015