Practice Area: Criminal Defense

Varinia was born in Bogota, Colombia. At age 14, Varinia moved to the United States where she attended middle and high school.

Upon graduating from High School, Varinia attended University of Florida, earning her degree, Cum Laude in Economics in 1988. Thereafter, Varinia lived in Switzerland for 4 months prior to starting her Law School at Stetson. Varinia earned her J.D. degree from Stetson University College of Law in St. Petersburg in May of 1991.

As a former prosecutor, Varinia worked at the office of the State Attorney in Sarasota, Fl from 1991 to 1998, handling complex criminal cases and trying over 60 jury trials and hundreds of non-jury trials. In her job, Varinia also earned extensive experience in all types of motion practice.

After leaving the Office of the State Attorney, Varinia worked for the Guardian ad Litem program from 1998 to 2001 representing abused and neglected children in dependency court. In 2001 Varinia decided to go into private practice and formed the law firm, formerly known as Van Ness and Van Ness. Now, Van Ness Law Group, P.A. represents clients in the areas of criminal defense, all aspects of Family Law and Foreclosure Defense. Varinia handles exclusively all aspects of criminal defense.

Since starting the practice, Varinia has continued to defend her clients and when necessary, taking the cases to trial and she has now tried over 100 jury trials with a winning success rate.

Varinia is admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court, The Florida Supreme Court, Federal Middle District of Florida and all and District, Circuit and County in Florida. She is a member in good standing with the Florida Bar with no disciplinary complaints against her since her admission into the Bar.

Varinia is also a former president of the Sarasota Chapter of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (FACDL), she sits on the Statewide Board of Directors of the FACDL and is Statewide FACDL’s Chair for the Chapter and Membership Committee. In 2011, she was awarded the President’s Extra Mile award by FACDL. She is also a member of the Sarasota County Bar Association and The Association of Trial Lawyers of America.

Varinia has also served her community by being an active member of the Juniour League of Sarasota for 10 years and now is a sustaining member. She also sat on the board of directors for The Children’s Guardian Fund from 2001 to 2003.

With passionate advocacy and zealousness, Varinia represents her clients to achieve the best possible results.