Judge Chiaka Ihekwaba is a Miami-Dade County Court Judge in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida. She was appointed to the County Court bench by Governor Ron DeSantis in 2020 and currently serves in the Civil Division. She is assigned to the North Dade Justice Center where she presides over cases that deal with Personal Injury Protection (PIP); Landlord & Tenant Evictions; Contract and Indebtedness; Auto Negligence and Small Claims, amongst others.
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Prior to her service on the bench, Judge Ihekwaba served as an Assistant State Attorney for over 19 years in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit. She was a Division Chief for 11 years with supervisory responsibility over other attorneys in a Felony Division assigned to investigating and seeking justice in homicide cases. She also served as a senior member of the Organized Crime Unit where she was involved in complex litigation. During her tenure at the State Attorney’s Office, she tried over 75 cases ranging from simple misdemeanors to death penalty cases.
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"In this world there is no force equal to the strength of a woman determined to rise."
— W.E.B. Dubois |
For several years during her career as a prosecutor, she was involved in the recruitment process for new attorneys and was actively involved in their training and mentoring. Prior to her career as an Assistant State Attorney, Judge Ihekwaba served for 2 years as a Volunteer Arbitrator for the Better Business Bureau (BBB) dealing with Lemon Law cases.
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Judge Ihekwaba is a qualified attorney from Nigeria with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree and Barrister at Law (B.L) degree after attending Nigerian Law School. Judge Ihekwaba also has a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree from King’s College, London (United Kingdom), and her Juris Doctor (JD) degree from St. Thomas University School of Law in Miami.
Judge Ihekwaba has continued with her mentoring quest as a judge and is now involved in volunteering for moot court competitions and mock trials for both Law School Students and High Schoolers. She is also a member of organizations such as Gwen Cherry Black Women Lawyers Association; Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr Bar Association; Cuban American Bar Association (CABA); National Black Prosecutors Association (NBPA); Dade County Bar Association (DCBA) and National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ) among others.
Judge Ihekwaba lives in Miami with her husband to whom she has been married for over 25 years and they have 5 children.
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