About Me

Rae Shearn is a well regarded lawyer. In 1999, she started working in private criminal defense and opened legal firms in Florida's Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. She was certified as a criminal defense attorney who can defend people against death in 1999. Shearn has always been tenacious and rigorous in her defense of clients, whether they are accused of a capital offense or a DUI.

Prior to beginning her career as a prosecuting attorney for the late Attorney General Janet Reno in 1987, Rae Shearn was a professional ballet and fine arts dancer. She danced professionally for 20 years. She performed for Martha Graham, regarded as the Mother of Modern Dance and one of the most renowned creative directors and choreographers. She also collaborated with choreographer Donald McKayle, well known for the Sophisticated Ladies. The First Miami New World Festival of Dance was when she made her first professional dance debut as a Company Member with Miami Fusion Dance Company. The next month, she started law school.

Before joining Janet Reno at the Miami Dade State Attorney's Office, Rae Shearn served as a Southern District Magistrate. During the Miami Riot trials, Court Broom Sweep, and the Miami River Cops Case, she also worked as a prosecutor. She worked under Janet Reno in the middle to end of the 1980s in the drugs speciality division unit. This was three years prior to her promotion to head of the criminal section by the then Miami Dade State Attorney. She felt the need to move to the accused's defense at this point. She immediately earned a reputation as a highly skilled and fearsome trial lawyer.

Rae Shearn has been known as a Client Champion since she started her legal career. She has mostly focused on criminal defense throughout her career as a private practice attorney, with the highly specialized field of death penalty litigation being her major area of concentration since 1997. She received recognition as one of the National Top 100 Trial Attorneys in 2021 and 2022.

Rae Shearn has served as legal counsel for Alpha Phi Sigma, the National Academic Honor Society for Criminal Justice Students, since 1997. Additionally, she has been on the Miami Florida Criminal Defense Attorneys board of directors since 2019. Since the beginning of her career, she has been a lifelong member of the FACDL.

She is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, a position she has held since 1999, and she also serves as a presenter at the Bring Your Own Case Seminars. She joined the League of Prosecutors in 2002 and has been a founder member ever since. Shearn received the Broward County Pro Bono Service Award for Women in Distress in addition to the Florida CPA Today Editorial Committee Award for Writing Excellence for CPA-Client Confidentiality.

Later, in 2003, Rae Shearn Law took over as the main criminal defense attorney for the American Federation of Labor and Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and the Florida Labor Union for Retired Americans (FLARA) during the widespread, illegitimate G8 WTO arrests of labor union members who were actively exercising their first amendment rights. She was the only criminal defense attorney who could be counted on to oppose the G8 police Action Plan, which cost $8.4 million and was paid for with federal anti-terrorism funding. She was in the vanguard of the defense of hundreds of individuals who were being prosecuted for engaging in a peaceful demonstration outside the Intercontinental Hotel in Miami, Florida while also being charged with breaking the law. Despite the large number of arrests, no one was ever found guilty.

She played a significant role in the revisions to the death laws of Florida and the United States of America that the Florida Supreme Court approved for cases that qualified for the death penalty. In Florida, Rae Shearn is a well-known and highly regarded attorney. Her prodigious legal skills as a prosecution attorney led to a successful legal career. Shearn has earned several important honors, as was already noted, including:

In addition to continuing to be included among the National Top 100 National Trial Attorneys in 2021 and 2022, recognition as a Client Champion from 2005 to 2020 and the Platinum Award for Client Champion from 2020 to 2202. She was honored with the Broward County Pro Bono Service Award for Women in Distress as well as the Florida CPA Today Editorial Committee Award for Writing Excellence for CPA-Client Confidentiality.

the Arthur Goldberg Award from Nova Southeastern Law School for her work advancing the right to counsel guaranteed by the sixth amendment. She has been assisting the legal community since 2019 and was also voted to the Miami Florida Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys. Shearn also served as the Publicity Director for the Executive Board of the Florida Association of Women Lawyers.

Rae Shearn has worked on the Specialty Narcotics under Janet Reno and was assigned to the Prosecutorial Joint Task Force in the Southern District throughout the course of her career as a criminal defense lawyer. After just three years of serving as a prosecutor, Janet Reno promoted her to the position of Chief in crimes.

Along with helping those who were wrongfully imprisoned, Rae Shearn has long supported the Innocence Project of Florida. Additionally, Rae Shearn provides free legal assistance to domestic abuse victims through Legal Aid and Broward County. She developed a reputation for attention to detail in her representation of hard-working, devoted medical physicians and businesspeople, including hospitality specialists, in fraud cases, Medicare, and other medical specialties.

Rae Shearn received the Broward County Women's Distress award for her charitable contributions. People who have contributed to pro bono service are granted the prize. She still takes on a few cases for Put Something Back on a pro gratis basis. The goal of this endeavor is to provide those who cannot afford it representation. The modifications to Florida's death laws also owe a lot to Rae Shearn.