Jessica Fonseca-Nader
Head of Appellate Division, Quintero Broche

Jessica Fonseca-Nader recently joined the law firm of Quintero Broche as head of the firm’s appellate division after almost 20 years in higher education. She focuses her practice on criminal and civil pretrial and appellate matters. Most recently, Ms. Fonseca-Nader served as the Dean for Enrollment and Scholarships at St. Thomas University College of Law where she oversaw the College of Law’s enrollment and taught Appellate Advocacy, a Moral Dilemmas Seminar, and assisted the Academic Success and Bar Prep teams. 

Ms. Fonseca-Nader began her legal career as an Associate with the law firm of Bunnell Woulfe Kirshbaum and Birnbaum where she handled pre-suit strategies and appellate matters. Ms. Fonseca-Nader then joined the Third District Court of Appeal as Senior Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable David L. Levy until his retirement. She then served as Senior Law Clerk to the Honorable Barbara Lagoa. In these roles, she was exposed to a wide variety of cases arising under many different practice areas. This experience gave her a unique insight into effective legal writing, oral advocacy, and appellate strategies. 

During her time at the court, Ms. Fonseca-Nader was an adjunct professor at St. Thomas University School of Law. Ms. Fonseca-Nader later joined the full-time faculty at St. Thomas University School of Law as a Professor of Legal Writing where she taught Legal Research and Writing, Advanced Legal Research and Writing, Legal Research Bootcamp—State and Federal, and the Moral Dilemmas Seminar. While a member the faculty at St. Thomas University School of Law, Ms. Fonseca-Nader served as special counsel to Black Srebnick Kornspan & Stumpf where she worked on several large, multi-party commercial cases through the appellate process. 
 
Ms. Fonseca-Nader earned her bachelor’s degree from Nova Southeastern University and her law degree from St. Thomas University School of Law. Ms. Fonseca-Nader was Editor-In-Chief of the St. Thomas Law Review and participated in the Appellate Litigation Clinic, where she argued several criminal cases before the Third District Court of Appeal.