Frandley Julien is a former Miami-Dade County prosecutor. He is also a prolific essayist whose writings on Haitian politics are regularly published by The Miami Herald, The Sun Sentinel, Jamaica Observer and Le National, a Haitian daily of which he is a partner. He currently practices criminal defense, immigration, personal injury and family law out of his office located North Miami Beach.
From 2001 to 2004, Julien published a slew of articles on the notion of social contract in Haiti’s Le Nouvelliste. These pieces were informed by his thesis that Haiti’s shortcomings stem from its elites’ failure to reach an arrangement that would benefit all social strata by ensuring equality of opportunity and inclusion. Through these articles, he attempted to provide an answer to three questions: (1) how to contain government’s propensity to dispossess the citizenry of the exercise of sovereignty, (2) how, through a consensual vision of the future, to integrate in the shaping of the collective interest, the interests of the different social strata, and (3) how to instill in the Haitian citizen the sense of allegiance to the nation without which no social cohesion can be reached.
At the same period, Julien served as the leader of Initiative Citoyenne (Citizens’ Initiative), a civil society organization based in Cap-Haitien, which was promoting values like accountability, human rights, peaceful political alternation and the shift from a cult of personality to a democracy of opinion. In this capacity, Julien attended two fact-finding missions at the United States Congress, the State Department and the Pentagon. He also made numerous media appearances on programs as diverse as NPR’s The Tavis Smiley Show, On Point, and Radio France International’s news bulletin. He also presented two lectures on Haiti in Washington D.C., one on poverty for Inter-American Dialogue, and the other, on the political process, for Haiti Democracy Project. Finally, he was part of a delegation comprised of different Haitian sectors which, two years in a row, travelled to Oslo, Norway and tried to reach a political agreement between former President Aristide and The Convergence Démocratique.
Around the same time, Mr. Julien participated in the U.S. State Department’s International Visitors Program.
In 2006, Julien immigrated to the United States. Shortly thereafter, he started publishing his views on ways the Haitian diaspora can contribute to a better Haiti. His writings, published in American media outlets like The Miami Herald and The Sun Sentinel aim at defining transnational ways in which the diaspora can better contribute to progress and democracy in Haiti by (1) defining a consensual vision amongst its heteroclite members, (2) breaking the culture of dependency and promoting a business mentality, (3) transferring knowledge, know-how and technology to Haiti, (4) finding concrete ways in which it can contribute to Haiti’s development, (5) effecting change in Haiti’s constitution so its members can assume important political roles in the motherland, with an eye on changing a system which is not conducive to productivity and democracy.
From 2010 to 2012, Julien worked as a case analyst at Miami’s State Attorney’s Office, in the child support division. From March 2012 through April 10, 2015, he worked as a communication officer for Carnival Cruise Line. In this capacity, he drafted training manuals, policies and procedures, and managed guest communication.
Julien has also written several pieces on the denationalization of 250.000 Dominicans of Haitian descent by the Dominican Republic’s Constitutional Court. He also volunteered on this issue with Haitian Americans for Progress, a PAC based in Miami, Florida.
In 2017, Julien published a book, Les Non-Dits de l’Affaire Guy Philippe, in which he explains the intricacies of Haitian, American and international law in light of the concept of extraordinary rendition. He Graduated Magna Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Florida International University’s Honors College. He was presented with FIU English Department’s “Outstanding Achievements in English” award. He obtained his law degree from that same institution and was presented with the “Outstanding Contribution to the Trial Team Award.” He is also a member of the Phi Theta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi and Tau Sigma fraternities.
