Nathan A. Skop

Age: 59

Where they live: Lake Mary (graduated from Lake Mary High School in 1985)

Where they work: Attorney; Law Office of Nathan A. Skop, PLLC

Prior work experience:

Legal Experience: While serving as Assistant State Attorney (Prosecutor) in the 18^th Judicial Circuit (Seminole County), I worked with our dedicated law enforcement officers and victims of crimes to prosecute criminals and keep our community safe. Extensive quasi-judicial experience serving the state of Florida as a Commissioner on the Florida Public Service Commission. Served as General Counsel for a global Aerospace & Defense company. Florida Supreme Court Certified Civil Mediator. Served as a Guardian ad Litem. Completed judicial externship while attending UF Law. Experienced attorney with a multi-disciplined education (JD, MBA, BS Aerospace Engineering) and member of the Florida Bar for over nineteen (19) years.
Aerospace Engineering & Corporate Experience: Built airplanes at Boeing (propulsion engineering and technical integration on Boeing 777, 747, 767, 757), built nuclear submarines at General Dynamics (nuclear submarine propulsion engineer), and built the batteries for the International Space Station at Gates Aerospace Batteries. Extensive corporate and international business experience prior to attending law school later in life.

Prior political or public service experience: “I previously served the state of Florida as a Commissioner on the Florida Public Service Commission. In this quasi-judicial role, I served as the presiding officer and prehearing officer during quasi-judicial hearings, conducted evidentiary hearings, ruled on motions, ruled on objections, issued orders, wrote concurring and dissenting opinions, and adjudicated administrative law cases subject to direct appeal to the Florida Supreme Court.”

Campaign website

Platform: To uphold the law and Constitution in a fair and impartial manner.

Why are you running for office? “As a former prosecutor, I’m running for Seminole County Court Judge to bring experience, leadership, accountability, and professionalism to the bench. As a well-qualified alternative to the status quo, my multi-disciplined education (JD, MBA, BS Aerospace Engineering), legal experience, and work experience (along with common sense, wisdom, and gray hair) would allow me to be a well-rounded judge who actually understands the complex technology, finance, and legal issues that come before the court. Over 4,500 registered voters in Seminole County took the time to sign my ballot petition, and it would be a tremendous honor to serve as your next Seminole County Court Judge in the community where I grew up since 1967.”

Most recent campaign finance report: $83,061

Endorsements:

GySgt Issac Moon, USMC (Ret)
David Reed, USMC veteran
Ed Mullis, US Army veteran
Mike Steinke, US Army (Ret)
George Renna, Disabled Army Veteran (DAV Post Commander)
Longwood City Commissioner Matt Morgan (former WWE Superstar)
K.M. (crime victim)

Fun fact about the candidate: “I helped start the reactor (initial criticality and power range testing) on a nuclear submarine (USS Santa Fe, SSN 763) for the very first time.”

Candidate Q&A: Candidate Q&A: The questions below are based on voter questions and expressed priorities. Each of the candidates within a race were asked the same questions and given the same amount of time to respond. The candidates’ answers were fact checked, checked for spelling and grammar but otherwise unedited.

What professional experiences have best prepared you for the bench?

I grew up here locally, graduated from Lake Mary High School in 1985 and came from very humble beginnings. My dad died at 13, my mother was an alcoholic and I went to live with my legal guardians who were both WWII Marine veterans. I would not have been successful in life without the quality education that I received in Seminole County Public Schools and hard work.

Professionally, I’m an experienced attorney with a multi-disciplined education (JD, MBA, BS aerospace engineering) and have been a member of the Florida Bar in good standing for over 19= years. After a successful aerospace engineering career (which included building the batteries for the Space Station, building nuclear submarines for General Dynamics and building airplanes for Boeing), I went back to law school at the University of Florida later in life.

After graduating from law school, I served the State of Florida in a quasi-judicial role as a commissioner on the Florida Public Service Commission. As a commissioner, I served as the presiding officer and prehearing officer during quasi-judicial hearings, conducted evidentiary hearings, ruled on motions, ruled on objections, issued orders, wrote concurring and dissenting opinions, and adjudicated administrative law cases subject to direct appeal to the Florida Supreme Court. Every major newspaper in the state of Florida commended my integrity, ethics, and qualifications while serving the state of Florida as a commissioner.

Additionally, while serving as a former Assistant State Attorney (prosecutor) in Seminole County, I worked with our law enforcement officers and victims of crimes to prosecute criminals and keep our community safe. My experience includes prosecuting felony and misdemeanor delinquency cases before the Circuit Court, and prosecuting criminal misdemeanor cases (including DUI, BUI, domestic violence, battery, petit theft and solicitation cases) in Seminole County Court. In this role, I represented the state of Florida before Circuit and County Court judges at initial appearances, arraignments, bond hearings, motion hearings, suppression hearings, violation of probation dockets, pre-trial conferences, docket review and jury trials.

My legal career also includes serving as the general counsel, executive vice president and corporate officer for a privately held aerospace and defense company. In this role, I effectively managed all legal, litigation, compliance, corporate governance, contracts, risk management, industrial security and government/regulatory affairs activities for eight domestic and international companies.

I am also a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator, have a published case comment in a law journal [Nathan A. Skop, Comment, Patent Law: Four Factors to Injunctions in the Wake of eBay, 12 U. FLA. J. TECH. L. & POL’Y , 135, 140 (2007)], and previously served the State of Florida as a Guardian ad Litem.

Why does this matter? We need judges who are fair and impartial, but equally need more well-rounded judges who have the ability to understand the complex technology and finance issues that come before the court.

Many of the 4,500+ Seminole County registered voters who took the time to sign my ballot petition liked my humble background, liked that I actually grew up and went to school in Seminole County, liked that I haven’t been an attorney my entire career, liked my multi-disciplined education and work experience, and liked that I served as former Assistant State Attorney (prosecutor) in Seminole County.

In closing, my professional experience and local upbringing would allow me to bring experience, trusted leadership, professionalism, common sense and years of wisdom to the bench as your next Seminole County Court Judge. It would be a tremendous honor to serve as your judge in the community where I grew up. I would love to earn your trust and vote on or before August 18, 2026.

What role should personal values play in judicial decision-making?

Prior to taking the bench, a judge takes an oath to uphold the law and Constitution. Simply put, a judge is bound to follow the law in judicial decision-making situations even if the judge personally disagrees with the law. Judicial opinions often reflect this separation of powers conflict where judges follow the law as written, but suggest that the underlying law is defective or should be changed for various reasons.

Personal values do seem to have an appropriate role in judicial decision-making where judges have the ability to exercise their judicial discretion (e.g., sentencing) relying on common sense, life experiences, wisdom and knowing right from wrong.

How do you balance precedent with evolving societal standards?

A judge is legally bound to follow binding legal precedent (controlling case law) even if the judge personally disagrees with the precedent. As societal standards evolve over time, the law is subject to being revised through legislative action, Constitutional amendments or subsequent judicial decisions. Until such time as the binding legal precedent (controlling case law) changes, the judge is legally bound to follow the law consistent with their oath of office prior to taking the bench.

What steps do you take to avoid conflicts of interest?

Ethics and integrity are very important to me. Exercising sound judgment and doing the right thing are typically sufficient to avoid any conflicts of interest. When a potential conflict does unexpectedly arise (e.g., the judge personally knows one of the parties appearing before the court), the judge should immediately disclose the potential conflict and offer to recuse themselves and/or reassign the case to another docket openly disclosing the reason for doing so.

What barriers to justice do you see in the current system, and how would you address them?

A current barrier to justice in the court system is lack of access to the courts and congested court dockets. Both of these issues can be addressed by additional funding and resources for the courts (e.g., additional judges to address the population growth in Florida) along with adopting best practices for judicial docket management (mandatory aged case review) to help keep cases moving along and reduce the open case backlog.

Tallahassee holding open a Seminole County Court judicial vacancy for over seven months was also unnecessary and counterproductive to reducing the open case backlog.