Carmen Manrara Cartaya is an experienced trial attorney who focuses her practice on Complex Commercial Litigation, Bankruptcy & Receivership and Employment matters. She also leads the firm’s Labor & Employment practice group.

Prior to joining the firm, Carmen was a trial attorney for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Miami District Office. At the EEOC, she counseled EEOC staff on investigations including ones with multiple allegations of sexual harassment against a single individual.

Carmen handled several high-profile cases, including successfully winning a Summary Judgment against UPS in a disability discrimination case; negotiating a $2.5M settlement to 17 black Haitian dishwashers against SLS Hotel South Beach (sbe) in a discrimination lawsuit; and securing a $2.85M settlement in a nationwide class age discrimination lawsuit against Seasons 52, part of the Darden family of restaurants, to name a few.

Prior to that, Carmen worked for a global law firm, where she focused on complex civil litigation and international arbitration matters. She also served as a Judicial Law Clerk for Judge Federico A. Moreno, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Florida.

Carmen serves as Chair to her Alumnae Networking Committee of Our Lady of Lourdes Academy. Carmen is also involved in the Finance & Government Committee for The Underline, a ten-mile park under the Miami-Metrorail. During her time at the EEOC, Carmen led multiple seminars for human resources groups, and was named “Most Effective Lawyer” for Employment Law by The Daily Business Review in 2018.

Carmen is fluent in Spanish.