Today we’d like to introduce you to Nelson.
Hi Nelson, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My story is an immigrant’s tale of a young man growing up in Miami during the wild and crazy 1980s. I’ve come a long way from when I first arrived in the United States in 1971 at the age of six. Not long after, my father passed away, leaving my mother and me on our own. Although she had been a registered nurse in Cuba, her credentials were not recognized in the U.S., and she was forced to take odd jobs, including cleaning motels, just to keep us afloat.
In search of better opportunities, we moved to Miami when I was nine. My mother worked tirelessly in low-paying medical office jobs, all while pursuing a way to regain her nursing license. Eventually, she discovered a bilingual program at the University of Miami that allowed her to qualify for the licensing exam. Her schedule was relentless—school by day, hospital work by night, and studying until the early hours of the morning—but her determination paid off. She earned her nursing license, giving us stability and proving that perseverance can change lives.
Growing up, my mother’s example shaped my character. She taught me that through hard work and sacrifice, anything is possible in America. That sense of accountability to her kept me from falling into the traps that claimed many of my peers in Miami during the 1980s. While some friends ended up incarcerated or worse, I pushed forward—through college, law school, and ultimately into a successful legal career.
My mother lived to 96, and I was blessed to have her guidance for so many years. Her resilience is the foundation of my story, and the reason I strive every day to make her proud.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Growing up with very little supervision, I didn’t have anyone making sure I excelled in school. The truth is the only thing I really excelled at was having fun and getting in trouble. In fact, my proudest high school accomplishment—according to the Hialeah-Miami Lakes yearbook of 1982—was being voted “Most Fun to Be With.” I can’t recall doing much homework, but I do remember plenty of fights and other shenanigans that had little to do with academics.
So when my mother urged me to try community college, I was far from prepared. I’ll never forget standing in the registration line at Tallahassee Community College and asking the woman at the front desk if they offered a “two-week police detective course.” After laughing at me, she steered me toward the study of criminology. That moment was a wake-up call: I had to admit to myself that I was far behind my peers in reading, writing, and arithmetic.
However, instead of giving up on higher education and falling back into the dangerous opportunities waiting for me in Miami, I humbled myself and committed to excelling in the remedial courses I needed to take to get up to speed. My mother’s voice was always in my ear, reminding me that if I applied myself, I could succeed. I took that to heart. Within a year, I went from remedial classes to earning an academic scholarship at Miami Dade Community College. From there, I graduated from FIU with a high GPA and was admitted to every law school I applied to—UM, FSU, and Nova.
I ultimately chose Nova Southeastern Law School, and how that came to be is another story—a true Hialeah tale best saved for another time.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The Pena Law Firm?
I graduated from law school in 1990 and accepted a trial attorney’s position with the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office. Thereafter, I spent ten years sharpening my litigation skills trying all types of cases from DUIs to Homicides and just about everything else in between. In 2000, after leaving the Public Defender’s Office, I opened my private litigation practice in Miami Lakes, focusing exclusively on criminal defense. Building on my trial experience, I quickly earned a reputation as a tenacious litigator who fought tirelessly for clients with energy and passion.
Over time, my practice expanded into personal injury—a shift that proved transformative. Unlike criminal defense, personal injury clients can’t “remain silent”; they must testify. I quickly realized that many attorneys devoted little time to preparing their clients for this critical phase of civil litigation sometimes waiting until the day before the client had to testify to prepare them. Unsurprisingly, those clients often struggled on the witness stand or in their depositions.
Determined to change this fatal flaw, I developed a structured client preparation program. Beginning a month before testimony, my team and I meet weekly with clients to cover every aspect of their case—from liability and medical history to pain and suffering, lost wages, and diminished quality of life. The results have been dramatic: our clients testify with confidence, our case values have risen significantly, and our reputation for winning even the toughest cases has grown.
My approach goes beyond the courtroom. I believe in knowing my cases better than my opponents, which often means personally visiting accident scenes, finding overlooked witnesses, and gathering evidence firsthand. This investigative work gives me a strategic advantage—and, frankly, it keeps me connected to the people in each case. The better I know the people involved in my case, the more effective advocate I can be.
Just as importantly, I make myself available to my clients. Too many lawyers become unreachable after signing a client up, but I believe accessibility to the client is part of my job. They hired me, not my paralegal! They should be able to reach me if they need me. Not long ago, I took a client’s call on a Saturday afternoon. He was shocked—he had never heard of an attorney calling on a weekend. To me, that shouldn’t be extraordinary; it should be the norm.
At the Peña Law Firm, we operate less like a big bureaucracy and more like a commando team—a small, skilled unit of five professionals, each bringing unique strengths to serve one mission: fighting for our clients’ best interests. That has been our philosophy from day one, and it remains the foundation of everything we do.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I’ve been lucky more times than I probably even realize. One moment that stands out was during the height of Miami’s cocaine era. Back then, it seemed like everyone I knew was either using, trafficking, or caught up in the chaos. I was no exception—I had plenty of friends entangled in that world.
One night at a club, I ran into an old friend from the Gene Glick projects where we grew up in Hialeah, Florida. He had once been a high school baseball star destined for the major leagues, but that night he looked like a completely different person—draped in gold chains looking like he was deep into the drug trade. He confided that he was making “easy money” running cocaine to New York and invited me to join him. At the time, I was a broke college student working part-time, so the offer was tempting. But by then I knew my purpose: to become a lawyer, make my mother proud, and serve my community. Without hesitation, I turned him down.
The next day, my friend was shot and killed on his way to New York on the same drug run he had offered me the night previous. Whether it was pure luck or divine destiny, I’m not sure, but it serves as a reminder that knowing who you are and what you stand for can mean the difference between life and death.
I was lucky again in my early days as a young lawyer at the Public Defender’s Office. Still green and a little rough around the edges, I was chosen to participate in a police “drinking lab” designed to train officers to spot impaired drivers. After a few too many drinks and a lingering chip on my shoulder toward law enforcement, I lost my temper with an officer during the roadside exercises. The incident escalated, and I came close to ruining my career before it even started.
What saved me was my supervisor, Kenny Marvin. A true “lawyer’s lawyer,” Kenny calmly diffused the situation, got me out of the building, and—most importantly—never reported me to upper management. If he hadn’t shown that restraint, I likely would have been fired. Instead, I was able to spend nine more years at the PDO, gaining invaluable trial experience and building lifelong friendships.
Looking back, I realize how much of my journey has been shaped not only by hard work and perseverance, but also by pure luck or the grace of God. However, at the end of the day, I’m still the son that wants to make his mother proud, but now I’m also a husband and family man that puts his familia first and most certainly knows who he is and what he stands for.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thepenalawfirm.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepenalawfirm/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/penalawfirm2000/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-pena-law-firm-pa/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@thepenalawfirm
