About Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins

Danielle Cohen Higgins was elected to represent District 8 on the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners on August 23, 2022. She was originally appointed to the office on December 7, 2020. Commissioner Cohen Higgins currently serves as Chairwoman of the PortMiami, Resiliency, and Sustainability Committee (PMRSC), and Vice Chairwoman of the Transportation, Mobility and Planning Committee (TMPC). She also serves on the Airport and Economic Development Committee (AEDC). Commissioner Cohen Higgins is the Chairwoman for the County’s Biscayne Bay Watershed Management Advisory Board and a member of the State’s Biscayne Bay Commission.

Cohen Higgins is a mother of two young children, wife, attorney, and small business owner. As a first-generation American, she is the daughter of Jamaican immigrants who came to the United States in search of better opportunities and the American Dream.

From extremely humble beginnings, she was born at the County's public hospital, attended all Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and spent the early part of her life in what is now public housing. She graduated high school in the top 2 percent of her class earning a scholarship to the University of Florida where she became a University Scholar. She is the first in her family to attend and graduate college.

After graduating from the University of Florida in 2003, Cohen Higgins attended law school at Florida State University. She earned her Juris Doctorate degree from FSU and was admitted to the practice of law at the age of 24. She began her legal career right away in 2006 at the prestigious law firm of Greenberg Traurig where she focused on Civil Litigation. In 2009, she opened her own civil litigation law firm, Cohen Law, with the mission of providing excellent yet cost-efficient legal services to small businesses and individuals. Cohen Higgins continues to run her law practice in addition to serving as the Miami-Dade County Commissioner for District 8.

Prior to becoming a County Commissioner, Cohen Higgins sat on the Board of Directors for the South Florida American Heart Association, served as a Young Ambassador to the Miami Children’s Health Foundation, and worked as a mentor and Board Member with Take Stock in Children and was elected to sit on the largest statewide board of trial attorneys, the Florida Justice Association. Her current policy priorities include innovating government to be more proactive than reactive, providing real transportation solutions, championing the environment, promoting public safety, and tackling the affordability crisis.