Ursula Ungaro, Retired U.S. District Judge, Southern District of Florida, is an attorney and former United States district judge for the Southern District of Florida, where she served for nearly three decades following her nomination by President George H. W. Bush in 1991 and U.S. Senate confirmation in 1992. Ms. Ungaro has also served on numerous occasions as a visiting judge on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Before taking the federal bench, she was a trial judge for six years in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida. Before that, and since leaving the bench, she has practiced in the area of complex commercial litigation and has been mediating and arbitrating complex commercial disputes.

Known for her extensive legal knowledge and pragmatic, solutions-oriented approach, while on the bench, Ms. Ungaro presided over a wide range of civil and criminal cases, including high-profile disputes in the area of commercial law generally and, more specifically, securities, antitrust and intellectual property claims; mass torts; and disputes arising under the admiralty, employment and civil rights laws. Ms. Ungaro brings deep experience in facilitating the resolution of multifaceted conflicts to her roles as an arbitrator and mediator with JAMS.

Ms. Ungaro’s commitment to alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is evidenced by her experience conducting countless settlement conferences during her years on both the state and federal bench. She has continued this focus in private practice, where she has developed an ADR practice while at the same time litigating “bet the company” cases. Among the matters she has mediated are a $100 million construction case involving 20 parties, a group of adversary proceedings arising out of the liquidation of a foreign insurance company, and several contract cases, including cases in which insurance coverage was disputed. She also has served as an arbitrator in several cases, including as chair of a three-arbitrator panel, has presided over numerous mock trials and has served at the request of local judges as a special master or special magistrate.

Beyond her courtroom achievements, Ms. Ungaro has actively contributed to court administration and community service. She served on the Judicial Resources Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States, chaired key committees in the Southern District of Florida and remains engaged with nonprofit and reentry programs supporting families and former inmates. Her seasoned perspective on complex litigation and ADR embodies a career dedicated to fairness, efficiency and service.

ADR Experience and Qualifications

• Ungaro conducted countless settlement conferences as a federal and state judge.
• Since leaving the bench, Ms. Ungaro has been an active litigator in addition to serving as a mediator, arbitrator and special master/special magistrate.
• As a neutral, Ms. Ungaro has handled a wide variety of complex disputes, including IRS collection cases, condominium/HOA disputes, bankruptcy related matters and RICO claims.
• Ungaro has participated as a judge in numerous mock trials involving antitrust, oil and gas-related contract disputes, ERISA matters and False Claims Act matters.

Representative Matters

• Antitrust & Unfair Competition
• Since leaving the bench, a significant percentage of Ms. Ungaro’s practice as a litigator has been devoted to antitrust and unfair competition cases. The cases with which she has principally been involved arose in the real estate, sports memorabilia, and oil and gas industries.
• As a judge, presided over several antitrust cases, including cases arising in the context of the pharmaceutical industry and raising issues at the intersection of patent and antitrust law
• Business Commercial
• Ms. Ungaro’s commercial litigation experience over her long career runs the gamut from corporate to contract to tort. As a result, she is conversant with relevant statutory, regulatory and common law, and able to apply the law to complex sets of facts.
• As a judge, litigator, mediator and arbitrator, has handled matters such as RICO claims, shareholder derivative actions, breach of fiduciary duty claims (both statutory and common law), claims arising under the Uniform Commercial Code, and contract and unjust enrichment claims
• Has brought and presided over many matters requiring the application of foreign law
• As a judge and litigator, has handled numerous business tort cases alleging defamation and tortious interference with contract and prospective business relationships
• Class Action & Mass Tort
• As a judge, has extensive class action experience as well as experience in mass tort cases
• Presided over several mass tort cases, including aviation accidents, most notably a case requiring the interpretation of a provision of the Montreal Convention as a matter of first impression
• Presided over numerous other class actions alleging violations of securities laws, commodities fraud laws and consumer protection laws, and has extensive experience with class certification and damages analysis in the class action context
• Construction
• In the course of her judicial career, Ms. Ungaro presided over and resolved several cases that required her to apply state and federal laws, including the Miller Act, to surety bond disputes, including the resolution of complicated issues of priority in connection with large construction projects.
• Has mediated and litigated construction matters, including a complex lawsuit alleging negligence in connection with the construction of a hotel that involved approximately 20 parties
• Health Care
• Served as a mock trial judge in a health care qui tam case
• As a judge, handled many health care fraud cases under the False Claims Act (FCA) including qui tam matters
• As a judge, handled a wide variety of payor-provider disputes
• As a judge, presided over numerous medical malpractice
• Insurance
• Has served as judge, litigator, mediator and arbitrator in a wide variety of insurance matters, including coverage disputes and disputes alleging bad faith; as a judge, resolved many of these disputes at summary judgment
• As a litigator, served as part of a team defending insurers in connection with aviation war risk coverage in lawsuits arising from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
• Intellectual Property
• Throughout her judicial career, Ms. Ungaro was called upon to decide numerous trademark, copyright and patent disputes, many of which she resolved by summary judgment.
• As a judge and litigator, handled a variety of trade secret matters
• As a judge, has experience conducting Markman hearings, most notably conducting one in a complicated case involving approximately 20 software patent claims
• Maritime Admiralty
• As a judge, presided over numerous matters arising under the admiralty and related maritime laws
• Apart from routine personal injury matters, served as a judge in class actions against cruise lines and litigation arising from ship collisions
• As a judge, was called upon to decide fault in a case arising from a severed submerged cable that transmitted electricity to a large metropolitan area
• Presided over a large complex case arising from alleged breaches with respect to a shipbuilding contract
• Real Property
• As a judge, litigator and special magistrate, has handled many complex commercial real estate matters
• As a judge, presided over a complex fraud case against a real estate developer and co-conspirators related to government funding for affordable housing developments
• Securities
• Presided over and litigated numerous matters under the securities laws and the laws regulating commodities brokers
• As a judge, presided over a three-month trial alleging fraud on the market against a local bank and its founders, officers and directors and a six-month trial alleging commodities fraud; both cases entailed sophisticated damages analysis
• As a litigator, handled securities fraud matters involving allegations of fraud on the market, including a matter relating to cryptocurrency

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

Memberships and Affiliations

• Florida Bar, 1975–2025
• Federal Bar
• Florida Association for Women Lawyers
• Miami-Dade Bar
• Board Member, Miami-Dade Family Learning Partnership, 2021–2025

Bar Admissions

• Florida
• Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals
• Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Selected Awards and Honors

• Women of Distinction Award, Miami-Dade Florida Association for Women Lawyers, 2025
• Circle of Excellence Award (Bankruptcy Category), Miami-Dade Bar, 2024
• Lifetime Achievement, American Lawyer Daily Business Review, 2022
• Lifetime Achievement Award, Women of Influence and Power in the Law, 2022
• Recognized by Best Lawyers as one of the Best Lawyers in America, Commercial Litigation, 2022–2025
• Distinguished Leadership Award, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, 2007
• Exemplary Leadership Award, Miami-Dade Family Learning Partnership, 2006
• Patricia A. Seitz Award on behalf of Riverside House, 2021
• Jurisprudence Award, Organization for Rehabilitation through Training (ORT) of America, Greater Miami Region, 2009

Selected Publications

• Co-Author, “The safety and security of U.S. judges must be a bipartisan priority,” The Hill, 2025
• Co-Author, “Florida Civil Procedure Changes Introduce Tricky Discovery Rules,” Bloomberg Law, 2025
• Author, Foreword for “The Evolution of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals: A New Era of Diversity on the Bench,” 69 U. Miami Law Review 929, 2015 
• Author, “Judgments,” Business and Commercial Litigation In Federal Courts (Robert L. Haig, 4th Ed., 5th Ed.)
• Author, “Professionalism and the Courts,” 8 St. Thomas L. Rev. 175, 1995
• Author, “Rulemaking and Adjudication Under the New Florida Administrative Procedures Act,” 27 U. Fla. L. Rev. 755, 1975

Background and Education

• Partner, Boies Schiller Flexner, 2021–2025
• Board Member, Longeveron, 2021–2025
• District Judge, U.S. Southern District of Florida, 1992–2021
• Circuit Judge, Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida, 1987–1992
• Shareholder; Sparber, Shevin, Shapo & Heilbronner, P.A.; 1985–1987
• Partner, Finley Kumble Heine Underberg Manley & Casey (formerly Tew Critchlow Sonberg Traum & Friedbauer), 1980–1985
• Associate, Blackwell Walker Gray Powers Flick & Hoehl, 1978–1980
• Associate, Frates Floyd Pearson Stewart Richman & Greer, 1976–1978
• Staff Attorney, Deltona Corporation, 1975–1976
• J.D., With Honors, University of Florida Levin College of Law, 1975
  • Member, Law Review Editorial Board
• B.A., University of Miami, 1973
• Smith College, 1968–1970