Ruppe Law Firm
Defending clients in criminal cases may not be where Kristie Ruppe saw herself when she graduated from Rutgers Law School in New Jersey. “I thought I’d be an executive attorney working in stylish suits on Wall Street,” she said with a chuckle.
Yet spending five minutes with Ruppe in her downtown Brooksville office inside the newly renovated Lowman Law building makes it unmistakably clear. She chose exactly the path she was meant to travel.
Ruppe stands no more than 5’4″. She is slim built, tiny by some descriptions, with a demeanor that is much too sweet to battle aggressive prosecutors in a cold courtroom. But make no mistake. She not only goes head to head in defense of her clients, she doesn’t back down.
In fact, her sweet nature is one part of Ruppe’s dynamic personality that builds trust with her clients.
“She really cares about her clients,” said Tammy Smith of Brooksville. Smith battled a prescription drug addiction which landed her in jail, a rehab program and house arrest. As Smith’s attorney, Ruppe was responsible for facilitating the court ordered rehab and house arrest instead of a jail sentence. And she was a vital player in getting Smith’s house arrest terminated a year early.
Ruppe, of course, takes only some credit with humility. “(Smith) did everything she was supposed to do,” Ruppe said. “She accomplished what the system was meant to do. She deserved to be rewarded for it.”
Like many young and eager law students, Ruppe began her journey in law with a vision of how her career might unfold. She was fiercely independent with a passion for the truth. And she approached Rutgers Law School in Camden, New Jersey with an unbridled enthusiasm.
As part of her internship, Ruppe worked with a team that fought for the rights of special needs children in public education.
Children with disabilities, she explained, are guaranteed the same public education as full functioning children. “The school is still responsible for that child and giving them a free appropriate education as the law requires,” she said. “We volunteered on cases for disabled children to make sure they got all the services they needed.”
After completing Rutgers and passing the Bar, Ruppe did another year interning for the Office of Administrative Law in Trenton, New Jersey. All special needs cases went through the Office of Administrative Law. “We worked on a lot of decisions for the judges and helped them draft their opinions on each case.”
Within a year, Ruppe was drafted by a special education law firm. “I represented all kinds of children with all kinds of disabilities, from mildly hearing disabled to serious brain dysfunctions and everything else.”
Ruppe has fond memories of her time spent up north, gaining momentum as a special needs attorney. But her family, who lived in New Hampshire at the time, relocated to Florida. “I had nothing holding me there but my job,” she said. “So I came to Florida, retook the bar, and started all over again.”
Within a few months she was hired at the State Attorney’s Office in Pasco County where she worked while studying to take the Florida BAR.
And that’s where Ruppe got much of her fight training, working as a prosecutor on tough criminal cases. She eventually took the plunge and branched out on her own.
She now resides in the Lowmans Law building as an independent criminal attorney with a unique compassion for her clients.
Any day can bring a new challenge or adventure. But Ruppe said most of her cases center on DUIs.
The holiday season right around the corner will likely affect how busy her office will be toward the end of January. Many of the arrests made for DUIs in November and December won’t process until well after the first of the year.
Common during the holiday season, drinking and driving becomes an issue when the driver is over the legal limit of .08.
“But it’s not illegal to drink and drive,” Ruppe explained. “Many people don’t understand that. It’s illegal to drink and drive to the point where you’re faculties are impaired. You can have a glass of wine and drive. That’s not illegal.”
Knowing whether or not you are physically and judgmentally impaired is the difficult part. “Someone who would blow a .05 is probably ok to drive,” Ruppe said. “They should still have all their faculties. But everyone is different.”
But the only true way to know for sure is if the breath or blood alcohol level is above the legal limit of .08 or the driver fails a field sobriety test.
While many of her cases center around common themes, no two clients are the same. And Ruppe has been blessed to represent clients who have made dramatic impressions on her, making her work that much more meaningful.
“I’m most compassionate about anyone who gets in trouble who has never been in trouble before,” she said. “That’s either someone who made a bad decision or was at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Ruppe takes those cases seriously because the wrong plea might ruin any chance for getting the case expunged later, keeping it off the client’s permanent record. “I hate to see them ruin their lives, their careers, lose their driving privileges for a bad five minutes,” she said.
Like Tammy Smith who was at the height of her life when several illnesses after the birth of her third child lead to a prescription drug dependency that sent her down a path of destruction.
“I had never been in trouble before,” Smith said.
Smith just started a new job, was reissued her driving privileges and is walking the path to a much better future.
Thanks to Kristie Ruppe, Smith said. “I absolutely love her. She’s so professional but at the same time very caring.”
Website: www.RuppeLaw.com
Biz at a Glance
Name: The Ruppe Law Firm
Address: 31 South Main Street, Suite 3, Brooksville
Phone: (352) 650-3657
Website: www.RuppeLaw.com
