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DAIJA PAGE LIFSHITZ

EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY, 09  |  UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SCHOOL OF LAW, 12

Daija is a litigation and appellate attorney whose practice focuses on partnering with trial teams to preserve issues, shape strategy, and position cases for success at both trial and on appeal. She regularly serves as embedded trial-support counsel, drafting critical motions, handling jury-instruction issues, managing the record, and preparing post-trial and appellate arguments, so trial lawyers can remain focused on courtroom advocacy.

In addition to her trial-support and appellate work, Daija is also an experienced trial lawyer in her own right. She has served as both first- and second-chair in federal and state court trials. Her practical trial experience directly strengthens her appellate practice: she understands how issues arise in real-time, how trial judges rule in practice, and how to build a clean, preserved record that withstands judicial scrutiny at every stage.

Daija’s experience spans commercial disputes, real estate litigation, products liability, personal injury, fraud, civil rights, local taxation, and governmental matters.

Before entering private practice, Daija served as an Assistant County Attorney for the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office, where she represented the Property Appraiser, Tax Collector, and Special Taxing Districts Division in high-value assessment, valuation, lien, and collection matters. She defended the County in multimillion-dollar property tax disputes and represented the County and its officers in federal civil rights litigation, giving her deep experience with high-stakes governmental litigation.

Daija previously clerked for the Honorable Peter T. Fay on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the Honorable Melanie G. May on the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal. Her clerkship experience brings an insider’s understanding of appellate strategy, judicial decision-making, and trial-level issue preservation to every matter she handles.

Daija earned her J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Miami School of Law, where she served on the executive board of the Charles C. Papy, Jr. Moot Court Board and as Articles & Comments Editor of the University of Miami Law Review. She received her B.A., summa cum laude, from East Carolina University.

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ARTICLES & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Note, Forcing the Issue:  An Examination of Johnson v. United States, 65 U. MIAMI L. REV. 1191 (2011)

REPRESENTATIVE CASES