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Cherine Smith Valbrun
Chair, Insurance Practice Group
 

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Cherine Smith Valbrun is a partner at Kim Vaughan Lerner LLP and the Chair of the firm’s Insurance Practice Group. She focuses her practice on commercial litigation, with particular emphasis on contractual disputes, insurance defense, business torts, shareholder disputes, product liability, and premises liability. She has successfully represented clients in high-stakes matters and domesticated foreign money judgments, skillfully navigating jurisdictional and procedural requirements to secure recognition in Florida.

 

Over the course of her 20-year practice, Cherine has represented a diverse range of clients—from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses and individuals—guiding them through all phases of litigation, trial and alternative dispute resolution. Her work spans a variety of industries, including insurance, manufacturing, telecommunications, tobacco, food and beverage, retail, finance, information technology, and homeowners’ associations. Cherine takes a strategic, results-driven approach, tailoring litigation strategies to align with each client’s objectives.

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Representative Experience
 

  • Represent clients in high-stake trials, achieving favorable outcomes.

  • Prepare and defend corporate representatives during various legal proceedings.

  • Represent insurers pre-suit and through all phases of litigation, including trial.

  • Represent multi-national telecommunications company in business tort case alleging federal RICO and telecommunications fraud claims.

  • Represent foreign state and agency in breach of contract dispute and domestication of out-of-country foreign judgment.

  • Defended governmental agencies in premises liability actions.

  • Represent financial institutions and FDIC in litigation matters.

  • Defended chemical manufacturer/distributor in an environmental contamination jury trial.

  • Represented business investors in a six-day trial challenging recognition of an out-of-country foreign judgment.

  • Prevailed on summary judgment against developer and buyer in a breach of contract case on behalf of real estate investor.

  • Obtained award of damages, attorneys’ fees, costs and statutory penalties for real estate investor in arbitration.

  • Obtained judgments against a commercial retailer’s vendors and the vendor’s guarantors.

  • Secured release of client’s escrowed deposit in a dispute over the purchase and sale of a yacht.

  • Obtained temporary injunction for minority shareholder in dispute over multimillion dollar sale of business.

  • Defended corporation in class-action claim for breach of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, breaches of warranties and fraud.

  • Defended accounting consulting firm from professional liability claims.

  • Negotiated complex commercial construction agreement on behalf of auto parts warehouse.

  • Drafted and negotiated commercial leases on behalf of landlord.

  • Drafted and negotiated termination of commercial lease agreements on behalf of international clients and separation agreements between shareholders/members as a result of shareholder disputes.

  • Domesticated out-of-country foreign money-judgments for foreign individuals and corporations.

  • Obtained favorable rulings for pro bono client in two separate one-day domestic violence and child custody trials.

 

Honors & Recognitions
 

  • Top Lawyer - Commercial Litigation, BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA, 2023 – present

  • Florida Super Lawyer, 2023 – present

  • NOTABLE Women Leader in Law, FLORIDA TREND, 2023

  • 40 Under 40, Honoree, Broward County Bar Association, 2021

  • Florida Rising Star, SUPER LAWYERS, 2010, 2015-2016, 2018-2022

  • Florida Legal Elite, Up & Comer, FLORIDA TREND, 2015-2016

  • Up & Comer Finalist, Law, SOUTH FLORIDA BUSINESS & WEALTH, 2016

  • President's Distinguished Leadership Recognition, Dade County Bar Assn., 2017

  • Award for Recognition of Pro Bono Service, BROWARD LAWYERS CARE, 2014

  • 40 Under 40 Leaders of Today and Tomorrow, LEGACY MAGAZINE, 2014

  • Influential Caribbean Women, KARIB NATION, INC., 2011

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Professional & Community Activities
 

  • The Florida Bar

    • Professional Ethics Committee, 2025 - present

    • Appointed Member, Standing Committee on Professionalism 2015-2021

    • Former Governor, 17th Judicial Circuit, Board of Governors, Young Lawyers Division, 2015 – 2021

    • Vice Chair, IOTA Task Force, Business Law Section 2020-2021

    • YLD Representative, Business Law Section of the Florida Bar, 2017-2021

    • Fellow, Class III, Leadership Academy

    • Business Law Fellow, 2013-2015

  • ​​Broward County Bar Association,

    • Co-Chair, Women in Leadership Committee, Broward County Bar Association, 2025-present

    • Bench & Bar Committee, Broward Bar Association, 2021-present

  • Caribbean Bar Foundation, Board Member, 2010–present

  • Caribbean Bar Association

    • Past-President, 2009-2010

    • Board Member, 2007-2011 

  • Legal Services of Greater Miami, Board Member

  • Bernice Gaines Dorn Black Women Lawyers Association, Board Member​

 

Teaching
 

  • Settlement Strategy Without Sacrificing Trial, In-house Training

  • 8th Annual Circuit Court and Litigation Boot Camp: The Nuts and Bolts, 2019

  • E-Discovery for Trial Lawyers, Florida Bar 2019

  • Using Documents at Depositions, Legal Services of Greater Miami

  • Written & Electronic Discovery, Legal Services of Greater Miami

  • Legal Malpractice Summit, Case Law Update, Broward County Bar Association

  • Remembering Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, The Florida Bar Journal 2016

 

Education
 

  • Georgetown University Law Center, J.D.

  • University of Miami, B.A., cum laude

 

Bar Admissions

 

  • All Florida state courts

  • United States District Court, Southern District of Florida

 

Professional Background

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  • Kim Vaughan Lerner LLP, Chair, Insurance Practice Group

  • Steel Hector & Davis LLP (now Squire Patton Boggs), Legal Intern

  • Rental Housing Commission, Washington, DC, Law Clerk

  • District of Columbia Public Defender’s Office, Legal Extern

  • DunnCox Law Firm, Law Clerk

  • Washington Gas & Light Co., Legal Department​

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