Rene F. Ruiz

For over two decades, Rene Ruiz has partnered with private and public sector employers to formulate strategies for achieving effective labor relations and other business goals. He has been honing his craft as a labor and employment attorney in Miami since his admission to the Florida Bar in 2001, at the age of 23.  Rene has helped save his clients millions of dollars through negotiation and labor management relations.  

Areas of Concentration

Labor Management Relations

• Collective Bargaining
• Administrating Union Grievances
• Handling Arbitrations
• Defending unfair labor disputes before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Public Employees Relations Committee
• Managing union certifications and elections
• Training employers on union avoidance and strike preparation
• Navigating through actual and threatened strikes and other work stoppages

Employment Litigation

• Wage and hour disputes
• Discrimination, retaliation, whistleblower and harassment cases
• Matters arising under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Planning, Opening, and Operation of Public Charter Schools

• Hiring local management for school sites and subsequent school oversight
• Conducting governmental authorization and charter approval process
• Land acquisition, construction and maintenance of each school facility
• Compliance with local ordinances and permitting issues
• Trademark and copyright protection
• Advertising and marketing in each local community
• Vendor negotiation
• Establishing partnerships with local businesses
• Recruiting students
• Obtaining high student achievement

Rene partners with private and public sector employers to formulate winning strategies for achieving effective labor relations and other business goals.  A skilled negotiator, Rene has helped save his clients millions of dollars through collective bargaining, administrating union grievances, handling arbitrations, defending unfair labor disputes before the National Labor Relations Board and the Public Employees Relations Committee, and managing union certifications and elections.  In addition, Rene trains employers on union avoidance and strike preparation, and has successfully navigated through actual and threatened strikes and other work stoppages. Rene also litigates wage and hour disputes, discrimination, retaliation, whistleblower and harassment cases, and matters arising under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

Rene serves as chief labor counsel for Florida Crystals, American Sugar Refining, and their related affiliates and counsel to various other international and national clients. He has successfully negotiated numerous collective bargaining agreements for his unionized clients that were ratified by the respective labor unions without a work stoppage. These labor agreements have helped save his clients costs by expanding their management rights, restructuring pensions and other future liabilities, and attaining numerous union concessions.  

Rene also serves as General Counsel for Armando Christian Perez, the artist known internationally as “Pitbull,” and helps direct his business affairs. Rene negotiated the naming rights agreement for “Pitbull Stadium” at Florida International University. Along with Pitbull, Rene was a part of former Florida Governor JEB Bush’s bid to purchase the Miami Marlins in 2017. 

Rene serves as the Chairman and President of Pitbull’s philanthropic SELF 1^st Foundation. SELF 1^st seeks to “strengthen education and level the field” (SELF) by bridging the educational gap for disadvantaged communities by creating and enhancing educational programs on all levels of education, from elementary and middle school to high school and trade schools.  SELF 1^st empowers young minds, fosters academic excellence, and cultivates future leaders. 

Rene and Pitbull also co-founded the Sports Leadership Arts and Management (SLAM!) network of public charter schools. SLAM! serves an overwhelmingly minority and underserved student population and unlocks seemingly unattainable opportunities within the sports industry for its students by preparing them for a myriad of sports-related careers including broadcasting, sports medicine, media production, physical therapy, marketing, nutrition, entertainment, entrepreneurship and management.  This has allowed Rene to develop extensive experience with the process of opening charter schools in many different states. Rene has used this experience to successfully assist clients in navigating the regulatory procedures of differing school districts and establish new charter schools and their supporting foundations.

Rene continues to serve on the Board of Directors for the national SLAM! network of schools, which currently has campuses in Miami, Las Vegas, Palm Beach, Orlando, Tampa, Apollo Beach, Atlanta, Miami Beach, Boca Raton, San Antonio, and Phoenix serving approximately 10,000 students nation-wide.  Rene also serves on the Board of Directors for the SLAM! Foundation, which helps direct the network’s growing list of corporate partnerships and supports the network’s current campuses, as well as the upcoming replications of its successful model throughout the country.

With Pitbull’s dedicated support, SLAM! has garnered significant national attention through features on The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Tonight Show, the Katie Couric Show, National Public Radio, The Washington Post, ABC Nightline, and CNN, among countless others. SLAM!’s journey from “305 to Worldwide” took an important step in 2016, when it was awarded a channel on Sirius XM Satellite Radio to be produced by students of the SLAM! network, the first and only school to receive such an honor. SLAM! Radio delivers award-winning student generated and produced content every day on Sirius XM Channel 145.

Rene began his career at a prominent national law firm, and was mentored by John-Edward Alley, a titan in the labor law field. Rene was voted into partnership at the age of 30, becoming the youngest equity partner in the history of that law firm.

Rene Ruiz also serves as a member of the firm’s Board of Directors.