Legal Defense Plan & Benefits
Benefits
- 24/7 LABOR and LEGAL protection for ALL incidents while acting in a capacity as a police officer under the color of law. (This includes off-duty details).
- An FOP criminal defense attorney and labor representative will respond (24/7) to ALL officer involved shootings and critical incidents, and will handle them from start to finish.
- There are NO caps or limits on coverage.Coverage for non-duty related cases including arbitration.
- Coverage within the State of Florida for non-duty incidents related to the use of a concealed firearm, while carried lawfully, in defense of one’s self or others (HR218 coverage).
- Additional benefit of up to 5 hours of attorney coverage for any NON-work related incident/arrest of an FOP Labor plan member.FOP attorneys and labor representatives are LOCAL.
- All labor representatives are retired police officers and work in tandem with our FOP attorneys.
- Our FOP attorneys handle ALL arbitrations.
- The Florida Labor Council is governed by a board of directors comprised by FULL-TIME active police officers that are elected by the membership.
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General Counsel Paul Daragjati
Paul Daragjati serves as General Counsel to the Florida State Lodge Fraternal Order of Police, having held that position since 2018.
Mr. Daragjati graduated from the University of North Florida in 1993, and thereafter entered service with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, where he worked as a police officer until 2001. At that time, Mr. Daragjati attended the Florida State University School of Law, and upon graduation in 2003, entered service with the Office of the State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida, where he prosecuted both felonies and misdemeanors.
In 2007, Mr. Daragjati was retained by the Fraternal Order of Police, Jacksonville Consolidated Lodge 5-30, where he served as General Counsel. As General Counsel to the Jacksonville FOP, Mr. Daragjati represented over 2500 police and correctional officers in labor, employment, criminal and administrative matters, as well as civil and appellate litigation in state and federal courts.
Since 2007, Mr. Daragjati has represented over 175 officers in deadly force encounters and has defended over 115 law enforcement officers sued in their personal capacities in federal civil rights cases.
In 2013, Mr. Daragjati joined Klausner, Kaufman, Jensen & Levinson, a firm specializing in the representation of public employee pension funds, where he served many retirement systems in their daily operations and in resolving complex legal issues.
Since 2003, Mr. Daragjati has represented clients in front of administrative bodies, state and federal trial and appellate courts and in arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution forums.
Mr. Daragjati has tried 24 cases to a verdict in both state and federal, civil and criminal courts, and had prosecuted administrative actions in arbitration, civil service forums, career service forums, and in front of administrative agencies. Moreover, Mr. Daragjati has 19 appellate decisions.
Mr. Daragjati is a member of the Bars of Florida and Georgia and is admitted to practice in the United States Courts for the Middle and Southern Districts of Florida, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the United State Supreme Court. Mr. Daragjati’s professional memberships have included the Florida Bars Fourth Circuit Grievance Committee, where he served as chairman and the labor & Employment and administrative Law Sections of the Florida Bar.