Congratulations to FIU Law Class of 2014 alumna, Altanese Phenelus, who is now an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Before her role at the United States Attorney’s Office, Altanese served as an Assistant County Attorney at the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office for nine years.
Altanese practiced commercial and construction litigation and negotiated multi-million-dollar commercial real estate deals while representing Miami International Airport, the County’s general aviation airport. She also represented the environmental and building departments in enforcement actions. Altanese successfully argued two appeals before the Third District Court of Appeal during her tenure. One of these cases involved a constitutional challenge to Miami-Dade County’s environmental regulations, while the other centered on notice and sovereign immunity in a tort action. Remarkably, Altanese spearheaded the debarment of County contractors responsible for defrauding Miami International Airport of approximately $5 million.
Altanese earned her Juris Doctor and Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Florida International University, where she served on the executive board of the FIU Law Review and assumed the presidency of the National Conference of Law Reviews. Altanese received book awards in Trial Advocacy, Evidence, Constitutional Law, and Federal Courts. In addition, she won the FIU Law Moot Court Competition, having the distinction of arguing before two senior circuit judges of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the then chief judge of the Third District Court of Appeal.