The graduating class of the School of Law is a mosaic of experience, but few students embody the power as dramatically as Thomas S. Pudas and Elizabeth Ruiz Navarro. With professional backgrounds ranging from tax accounting in the U.S. Army Reserve to intellectual property law in Latin America, their stories serve as a powerful testament to the value of seasoned experience in the halls of legal academia.
Thomas Pudas: A strategic path to tax and estate planning law
For Pudas, the path to a J.D. was a carefully calculated strategy shaped by his professional experience as a tax accountant and his service in the Army Reserve. Before arriving at law school, Pudas had already established a rigorous career profile. He holds a Master of Accounting from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and previously worked as a tax associate at KPMG. Even while navigating the demands of law school, he continued his six-and-a-half years of service as a Military Intelligence Officer in the U.S. Army Reserve.
Pudas chose to complement his J.D. with an LL.M. in Taxation, which he will complete following his J.D., leveraging his accounting background to prepare for a career in tax, trusts and estates. This focus not only shaped his coursework but also his academic contributions. He served as a staff editor for the University of Miami Law Review, where he penned a thought-provoking piece analyzing KPMG’s controversial approval to practice law in Arizona. His article, titled KPMG’s Approval to Practice Law Reignites Debate Around Alternative Business Structures, allowed him to contribute to the national conversation about the modernization of legal practice and the changing landscape of the profession.
Pudas is set to join the West Palm Beach office of Gunster, a prominent Florida law firm, where he will apply his unique combination of tax law knowledge, accounting acumen, and military experience to complex tax and estate planning matters.
"Pursuing an LL.M. in Taxation alongside my J.D. allowed me to translate my accounting background into legal strategy,” said Pudas. “That specialized coursework, combined with my time on the University of Miami Law Review, directly prepared me for a career in tax, trusts and estates."
Elizabeth Ruiz Navarro: A veteran of international legal service
When Navarro began her J.D. at the University of Miami, she brought with her a deep, preexisting legal foundation built over more than a decade of practice in Cuba, giving her a unique vantage point from day one. Her early career as an attorney at LEX S.A. was centered on intellectual property, where she developed significant experience in trademark, corporate, and transactional matters. She further strengthened her legal proficiency through a two-year tenure as a legal assistant in the United States before entering law school.
Navarro strengthened her international perspective during law school by pursuing an LL.M. in U.S. and Transnational Law alongside her J.D. This specialization allowed her to engage in meaningful, real-world work, including her time with the Health Rights Clinic, where she assisted in successfully navigating a complex naturalization matter for a client. She was also awarded the Cuban American Bar Association Scholarship and received the CALI Award for the Transactional Skills course taught by professor Marcia Narine Weldon.
Her law school experience was marked by immersion in the judicial process and high-level litigation.
As a Dean’s Fellow, Navarro worked closely with former United States District Judge Eduardo Robreno, the Distinguished Jurist in Residence at the School of Law, in his course “Introduction to U.S. Law.” Judge Robreno, the first Cuban-born American appointed to the federal bench, provided an invaluable mentorship that deepened her understanding of the U.S judicial system.
Navarro also gained extensive experience as a law clerk at Rivero Mestre LLP, where she worked with the firm’s litigation team on both the preparation and trial phases of Echeverria v. Expedia before the 11th Circuit.
Navarro also spent a full year working with Professor Renée Schimkat as a Dean’s Fellow for Legal Communication. This experience became a defining part of her legal education. Professor Schimkat, an exceptional attorney and educator, played a pivotal role in shaping Navarro’s development in U.S. legal writing, and serving as Schimkat’s Dean Fellow was a particularly meaningful and formative opportunity.
Navarro’s law clerkship and dual-degree specialization have positioned her for an immediate and demanding career at the intersection of international law and commercial business litigation, leveraging her years of experience in both the courtroom and the corporate legal environment.
"Studying at the University of Miami, pursuing both the J.D. and the LL.M. has been an invaluable experience and an extraordinary opportunity to continue growing as an attorney,” said Navarro. “Working with Judge Robreno and Professor Schimkat profoundly shaped my development; they are two lawyers I deeply admire. My clerkship at Rivero Mestre also opened my perspective to complex litigation, expanding my understanding far beyond my transactional background.”
The success of Pudas and Navarro is a powerful affirmation that there is no singular background required for excellence in law. Whether pivoting from professional experience in tax and military intelligence, as in Pudas’s case, or building upon a foundation of international practice and litigation support, as Navarro did, these graduates exemplify how diverse, pre-law experiences can translate into outstanding legal careers. As they move forward, they carry the distinction of being Miami Law graduates who are not just beginning their careers but are building on an already accomplished professional life to tackle the most intricate challenges of the legal world.
Read more about Miami Law’s tax law area of study.
Read more about Miami Law’s international law area of study.
