Christopher Michael Kise (born 1964 or 1965) is an American lawyer who served as the second Solicitor General of Florida from 2003 to 2006. Kise has served on the board of directors of Enterprise Florida, was an advisor to Republican politicians

Charlie Crist Charles Joseph Crist Jr. ( ; born July 24, 1956) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th List of governors of Florida, governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011 and as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. represen ...

and

Ron DeSantis Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician, attorney, and former United States Navy, naval officer serving as the 46th List of governors of Florida, governor of Florida since 2019. A member of the Republican Pa ...

, and joined

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's legal team in 2022. Other notable clients include

Rick Scott Richard Lynn Scott ( Myers; born December 1, 1952) is an American attorney, businessman, politician, and United States Navy, Navy veteran serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of F ...

and Andrew Gillum.

Early life and education

Kise was born in 1964 or 1965. He graduated from

Florida State University College of Law The Florida State University College of Law is the law school of Florida State University located in Tallahassee, Florida. It is currently the highest ranked law school in Florida and is ranked in the top 40 best law schools in the United States. ...

in 1990 after obtaining a degree in accounting from the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

in 1986. While studying, he also worked as the managing editor and the articles editor of the ''

Florida State University Law Review The ''Florida State University Law Review'' is the flagship law review at the Florida State University College of Law. It publishes four issues per year and is generally recognized among the top 100 student-edited law reviews in the United States. ...

.''

Career

Kise unsuccessfully ran for Senate as a Republican in the 1998 United States Senate elections. In 2002, friend

chose Kise to be second Solicitor General of Florida, his term starting in 2003 and ending in 2006. Later, Kise worked as a legal advisor to Crist. He has won four

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

cases. In 2008, he was criticised by Public Service Commissioner Nancy Argenziano for working as the government's special adviser on energy and climate change while also representing companies responsible for pollution. Until 2016, Kise was on the board of directors of Enterprise Florida. In 2019, Kise was a transition advisor for

. Other clients have included

, and Andrew Gillum. On August 30, 2022, Kise joined the team of lawyers supporting Donald Trump during the FBI investigation into his handling of government documents. The same day, Kise left Tallahassee law firm

Foley & Lardner Foley & Lardner LLP (often referred to simply as "Foley") is an international law firm founded in 1842. In terms of revenue, it ranked 45th on The American Lawyer's 2025 AmLaw 100 rankings of U.S. law firms, with $1.28 billion gross revenue in 2 ...

and joined

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

law firm Continental PLLC to do that work. Kise's fee for the work was US$3 million, and was paid from Trump's Save America

PAC Pac or PAC may refer to: Aviation * IATA code PAC Albrook "Marcos A. Gelabert" International Airport in Panama City, Panama * Pacific Aerospace Corporation, New Zealand, manufacturer of aircraft: ** PAC 750XL ** PAC Cresco ** PAC CT/4 ** PA ...

. A month later, Trump shifted Kise's responsibilities toward other legal work, including legal issues arising from Trump's role in the

January 6 United States Capitol attack On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., was attacked by a mob of supporters of Donald Trump, President Donald Trump in an attempted self-coup,Multiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * * two months afte ...

. On September 26, 2023, Kise was sanctioned along with four other attorneys for making "repetitive, frivolous" arguments on behalf of Trump and the Trump Organization in the context of New York litigation challenging alleged fraud. The court held that the attorneys had been "expressly warned" that the positions they were taking had already been repeatedly rejected by both the trial and appellate court, and concluded that "sanctions are the only way to impress upon defendants' attorneys the consequences of engaging in repetitive, frivolous motion practice after this Court, affirmed by the Appellate Division, expressly warned them against doing so."

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kise, Chris 1960s births Florida lawyers Florida State University alumni Living people Solicitors general of Florida University of Miami alumni Donald Trump attorneys

Early life and education

Career

See also

References

External links