Rachel J. Wise

Rachel J. Wise doesn't just show up for her clients — She shows up ready. Ready to fight, ready to strategize, and ready to walk into any courtroom prepared to win. With thousands of criminal cases under her belt and a career built on going to battle for people when it matters most, Rachel is the kind of advocate you want standing next to you. Having served as lead or co-counsel on a wide variety of cases from DUI and Domestic Violence to Drug Trafficking, Kidnapping, and First-Degree Murder, she has stood at the front of the courtroom and fought hard no matter the case. That experience doesn't just follow her into the room; it shapes every strategy, every motion, and every negotiation she undertakes on your behalf.

Rachel's legal foundation was built with distinction at Stetson University College of Law, where she earned her Juris Doctor in 2020 with a Certificate of Concentration in Advocacy. As a student, she was a member of the Stetson Trial Team, which has been nationally ranked first for more than two decades, where she earned a state championship title at the Chester Bedell Mock Trial Competition. Ever the dedicated advocate even among her peers, Rachel was elected President of the Student Bar Association and worked tirelessly to promote law students’ interests on campus and beyond. She also had the rare opportunity to study Comparative Trial Advocacy at Oxford University, bringing a truly global perspective to her practice. While in law school, Rachel interned at the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Middle District of Florida and served as a Certified Legal Intern in the Public Defender's Office in Pinellas County, putting her courtroom skills to work long before graduation.

Prior to joining Brunvand, Wise & Farinella, Rachel spent five years as an Assistant Public Defender in the Sixth Judicial Circuit in Clearwater, Florida, where she honed her trial skills on an extraordinary range of cases and consistently delivered for clients facing life-altering consequences. Now, as a member of the firm, she continues that same relentless commitment to her clients and gives back to the next generation of trial lawyers by serving as both a Trial Team Coach and Adjunct Professor of Trial Advocacy at Stetson Law.

Rachel earned dual bachelor's degrees from the University of Florida, where she was selected as one of only eight John V. Lombardi Scholars, one of the university's most prestigious academic distinctions.

She is admitted to the Florida Bar and the United States District Courts for the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Florida. Rachel is an active member of the Pinellas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Pinellas County Association of Trial Lawyers, the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Florida Association for Women Lawyers, the Federal Bar Association, the Clearwater Bar Association, the St. Pete Bar Association, and the Criminal Law Section of the Florida Bar.