Raising the Bar with Roland Sanchez-Medina Jr.

Founding Partner, SMGQ Law

Roland Sanchez-Medina, Jr. is a Coral Gables attorney who both lives and practices in the city. His focus is on corporate and transactional law, navigating the legal maze for firms seeking construction loans, initial public offerings, revolving lines of credit, profit sharing agreements, real estate acquisitions, and private equity investments, among other client needs. 

His family fled Cuba when he was three, initially seeking political asylum in South Africa, then relocating to the U.S. and finally to Miami “like all good Cubans,” where he attended Belen Jesuit prep school and then University of Miami. After working at Holland & Knight, Greenberg & Traurig, and McDermott Will & Emery, he founded the SMGQ law firm with two other attorneys.

Latest Achievement

Last month, Sanchez-Medina, Jr. will be sworn in as the president of the Florida Bar, the regulatory association for the 112,000 attorneys who practice law in the state of Florida. It is the latest of many accolades for Sanchez-Medina, whose firm has grown to 25 attorneys since it was founded in 2005. Among other achievements, he was named president of the Cuban Bar Association in 2011, served as a member of the Orange Bowl Committee and on the Board of Governors of the Florida Bar, was named a “Super Lawyer” by Law & Politics magazine, and was selected as a Best Lawyer in America®.

What He Says

“The imposter syndrome is alive and well in me because it’s quite an honor to be chosen as president of the third-largest bar in the U.S.,” he says. (Only California and Texas are larger.) “I’m not sure it has completely hit me. It has left me speechless, and if you knew me you’d know how hard that is.”

As for his role as president of the Bar, Sanchez-Medina intends to continue and enhance its legacy. “A major part of what we do is regulating attorneys so they are doing the right thing, not stealing people’s money. It’s vitally important that people have faith in attorneys and in the legal system.”

Read about other notable Gableites in our People section.