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AJC Miami and Broward will honor prominent trial lawyer Peter Prieto of Podhurst Orseck with the 2025 Judge Learned Hand Award in recognition of his professional accomplishments and community involvement across South Florida.
The award, considered among the highest of honors within the legal profession and business community, recognizes an individual’s dedication to humanitarian principles, individual rights and democratic values that advance a more just society.
Prieto will be presented with the award during AJC’s annual Judge Learned Hand Award Dinner in Miami. Brian Bilzin, founding partner of Bilzin Sumberg; Harley Tropin, founding partner of Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton; Aaron Podhurst, founding member of Podhurst Orseck, and businessman and philanthropist Manny Kadre will serve as this year’s event co-chairs.
“From opposing counsel to sitting judges, the sentiment surrounding Peter Prieto’s character is universally positive,” Brian Bilzin said. “As evidenced through his tireless commitment to justice and advocacy for victims and their families, this recognition serves as a reminder that our shared values of freedom, resilience, and respect are stronger when we unite in support of one another. Prieto is a champion for the AJC’s values and our community is better off because of his work.”
For more than 30 years, Prieto has focused his practice on high-stakes litigation, first as a federal prosecutor and later as a civil trial lawyer handling complex commercial litigation and class actions. His professional journey has taken him from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami to Washington, DC, to a national law firm, and finally to a boutique litigation powerhouse where he has spent the past 15 years. His experience as a former federal prosecutor and sometimes corporate defense lawyer gives him a unique perspective on pursuing cases on behalf of plaintiffs, including consumers in class actions. Today, Prieto heads up one of the preeminent class action and commercial litigation practices in the country at Podhurst Orseck.
Under his leadership, the firm has secured landmark settlements and precedent-setting rulings across a wide range of cases, including antitrust, products liability, automotive defect and consumer protection cases. Prieto has served as Plaintiffs’ Chair Lead Counsel, overseeing both class actions and personal injury actions, in the Takata Airbags Product Liability MDL, the largest automotive recall in U.S. history, where he has been instrumental in recovering more than $1.55 billion in settlements for consumers.
Prieto also has overseen class actions against financial institutions, including the Checking Account Overdraft MDL, resulting in more than $1 billion in settlements, as well as the recent class action against the Norwegian salmon farming industry, which concluded with a $85 million settlement on behalf of direct purchasers of salmon.
“Peter Prieto’s outstanding leadership and contributions over the years both to the practice of law and to the community speak for themselves,” said Brian Siegal, director of AJC’s Miami and Broward Regional Office. “His dedication to the principles of democracy and the rule of law coupled with his commitment to standing up for equality and justice make him the ideal recipient for this award. We are proud to have him join a distinguished group of Judge Learned Hand honorees.”
Prieto’s work has earned him wide-reaching recognition. He has been inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, honoring those who have excelled in the craft of trying cases before judges and juries.
Outside of the courtroom, he is recognized as a pillar in the South Florida community. He serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board for the University of Miami School of Law, as well as the Alumni Advisory Board of the University of Miami Law Review.
Prieto has served as a member of the Board of Trustees of St. Thomas University and was appointed by two Florida governors to serve on Florida’s Commission on Ethics. He has been recognized by his peers in Chambers USA and Best Lawyers in America and Florida Trend recently recognized him as one of Florida’s 500 most influential business leaders.
Founded in 1906, AJC is a non-profit organization dedicated to advocating for the Jewish people. AJC is the leading global Jewish advocacy organization and is committed to advancing human rights and democratic values in the U.S. and worldwide.
AJC established the annual award in 1964 to recognize leaders in the legal profession for their excellence and contributions to the practice of law. The award honors the memory of Judge Learned Hand, a highly distinguished individual recognized as heir to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’ legacy of a Jurist and Poet of Liberty. Judge Hand, a graduate of Harvard and its law school, was widely admired as a dean among American jurists, and was well-known for the extensive range of decisions he tendered that centered on questions of constitutional rights and antitrust legislation.
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