FAIRUZE SOFIA

Fairuze Sofia was born in the Midwest and has lived in South Florida since she was in middle school. She graduated from Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach, Florida in 2002. Following high school, she studied International Relations at Florida International University where she was inducted into the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa honor society and graduated with high honors. While a student at FIU, Fairuze studied abroad in Paris at L'Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences-Po) taking courses entirely in French. 

Fairuze attended law school at the University of Florida Levin College of Law in Gainesville, Florida. While in law school, Fairuze participated in the UF Honor Court first as a member of the Attorney General's Staff and then as the Chief Defense Counsel. She was also awarded the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship for advanced Portuguese language study. Following her second year of law school, Fairuze worked as a law clerk at the NASA Kennedy Space Center Office of the Chief Counsel in Cape Canaveral, Florida where she worked on everything from labor disputes to government contracts (and stood on the launchpad next to the shuttle!). 

During her last year of law school, Fairuze earned the book award in her "Trial Practice" course. She was also a Certified Legal Intern at the Public Defender's Office in Gainesville, Florida. Following law school, Fairuze worked as an Assistant Public Defender in Broward County where she aggressively represented her clients at both the misdemeanor and felony levels in all stages of the criminal process. Fairuze has handled thousands of criminal cases and has tried over 90 trials ranging from misdemeanors to murder. Following her time at the Public Defender's Office, Fairuze briefly worked for the immigration law firm of Kurzban, Kurzban, Tetzeli & Pratt under the guidance of Ira Kurzban where she worked on extremely complex cases including federal court litigation. 

Fairuze opened The Sofia Law Firm in January 2011 and has been using her unique experience and style to represent clients in the areas of criminal defense and immigration law since then. She has developed a specialization in the representation non-citizen clients with pending criminal cases or prior criminal convictions. 

Fairuze has been a Board Certified Expert in Criminal Trial Law since 2015. Board Certification is a distinction held by only 7% of attorneys in Florida and it requires additional testing, practical experience, and judicial and peer review. She is also a SuperLawyer which recognizes the top 5% of attorneys in each state. She has experience in a wide variety of cases and specializes in the intersection of criminal law with immigration law. She has handled diverse immigration law cases in courts throughout the country. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Fairuze has won many cases that other attorneys thought were unwinnable. 

Fairuze speaks Portuguese, Spanish, and French and has lived abroad in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Paris, France. In her spare time, she likes to travel and attend concerts.