The Village of Pinecrest abruptly fired its legal counsel at last week’s council meeting and just as quickly hired new representation.

In a 3-2 vote, the council terminated the contract of the Broward county-based firm of Josia, Goren, Cherof, Doody and Ezrol, with Councilmen Barry Blaxberg and Bob Hingston voting against the action. The firm had been under retainer to the Village for the last two years.

The Council then quickly voted 4-1 to hire Cynthia Everett and her law firm as the village’s new legal counsel. Blaxberg was the only dissenting vote.

Everett, a Kendall-area resident and a former US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, will assume her new duties with Pinecrest immediately. She will resign her post as city attorney for Opa-Locka and join the law firm of Simmons & Kline to service Pinecrest as a client under a retainer-agreement of $7,500 per month.

"It feels great as it is any time you’re selected for a new position," said Everett. "I’m looking forward to it. My immediate plan is to get to know the plans of the council members and get with staff to find out what the game plan has been since the inception of the village and see how I fit in to help them achieve their goals."

"I felt the mayor had just reasons for asking for a change of attorneys," said Councilman Leslie Bowe. "What we initially were looking for when we hired the Broward firm, we no longer needed. Our interests changed and since the firm was in Broward county and not as up to speed with [Miami-]Dade County government, they were lacking. We wanted to find someone who was local and Ms. Everett will fill that role. And, she comes to us with some municipal government experience."

Councilman Blaxberg said he voted against firing Josia, Goren, Cherof, Doody and Ezrol because the basis for the termination was something that could have been addressed and corrected.

"Plenty of law firms have offices in more than one location," he said. "In fact, the firm that we hired is mostly located in Port St. Lucie, with a couple of representatives in the city of Coral Gables. It’s touted by their own material as the largest minority and women’s law firm in Florida."

Blaxberg said he also objected to the manner in which the matter was handled.

"It was sort of like a Saturday night massacre," he said, adding that while he supported Everett’s appointment, he had some reservations about the law firm she was associating herself with, saying it had "a lack of depth and experience."

Everett brings an impressive resume to Pinecrest. She is a 1978 graduate of Florida State University, where she majored in government. She graduated George Washington University in 1982 with a law degree and immediately went to work as an assistant state attorney in Miami’s 11th judicial circuit. She was named chief of the felony division in 1987, prosecuting homicide and specially assigned criminal cases.

Everett moved on to the civil division of the U.S. Attorney’s office in Miami in 1989, where she defended the government in civil lawsuits and prosecuted fraud cases. She went into private practice and joined the Miami law firm of Williams & Associates in 1995, then moved on to the city of Opa-Locka in 1997.

Everett is president-elect of the Black Lawyers Association of Dade County, a member of the Florida Bar’s Executive Council Trial Lawyers Section and was a member of the Board of Governors special committee on Election Reform, to mention only a few of her affiliations