Practice Areas

The Firm handles complex local governmental law, land use and environmental matters before governmental entities at the local, state, and federal levels. The Firm serves as counsel to individual property owners and corporations, as well as local government and state agencies on a broad range of matters related to the use of real estate. The Firm also serves as counsel to respondents to requests for proposals, which involves assisting with structuring the responses as well as advocacy before the reviewing bodies.

The Firm handles all aspects of real property entitlement, as well as civil litigation related to the following issues:

• Zoning approvals
• Amendment of local government comprehensive plans
• Platting and site plan approval
• Traffic impacts and mitigation
• Proportionate Share Agreements and Impact fees
• Development Agreements
• Developments of regional impact
• Due diligence review
• Administrative and Civil land use appeals
• Inverse Condemnation and Regulatory Takings
• FOIA and Florida Sunshine Law Issues

The Firm focuses its business litigation practice on complex financial-based disputes in federal and state courts.

The mission of the Firm’s litigators is to provide strategic advice and direction to their clients in order to lead to successful resolutions of complex financial disputes. The Firm considers its lawyers to be advisors and counselors as well as advocates. If a pre-trial solution cannot be found, the Firm has highly skilled and experienced trial lawyers ready to represent clients before judges and juries.

The Firm has represented, as plaintiffs and defendants, countries, states, corporations, and individuals before federal and state juries, trial courts, appellate courts, and arbitration panels. Its lawyers have represented clients nationwide, in almost many areas of financial and commercial law, including contractual disputes, UCC, securities, real estate, partnership and joint venture disputes, fraud, lender liability, aviation, construction, intellectual property, employment, international arbitration, administrative law, and regulatory actions.

The Firm has also been engaged to prosecute and defend numerous business torts ranging from intentional interference with contractual relationships to defamation. It has obtained injunctions and defended actions to enjoin theft of trade secrets and unfair competition. It has prosecuted and defended actions for conversion, civil theft, unfair trade practices, antitrust, RICO, and many other statutory and common law torts.

Unparalleled Trial Experience

The Firm is unparalleled in its experience in actually trying cases involving complex business disputes. The Firm has tried cases before judges and juries in such arcane and complicated legal areas as interest rate swaps, reverse repurchase transactions, lender liability, securities, partnership disputes, corporate governance issues, construction defects, and bankruptcy avoidance issues.

The Firm’s receivership group has more than 50 years of combined experience in federal and state receivership matters.  Members of the Firm have served as federal and state equity receivers, and have also represented equity receivers, in major fraud cases at the request of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Florida Department of Financial Services, and the Florida Attorney General.

As indicated in the attached biographies, the major cases where members of the group have acted as federal equity receivers at the request of the SEC include the $315 million ESM government securities fraud, and the separate cases of Pension Fund of America, Inc., et al. ($130 million), Viatical Capital, Inc., et al. ($60 million), Medco, Inc. and SunState FX, Inc.

A member of the Firm also serves as the Conservator of the $250 million Future First Financial Group, Inc. viatical proceeding commended by the Florida Department of Financial Services.  Major matters in which the Firm has represented federal and state equity receivers include International Medical Centers (Florida Department Financial Services), VIS Holdings Corp. d/b/a VIS Auto Finance (Miami-Dade County, Florida Circuit Court auto finance company receivership) Guarantee Security Life (Florida Department of Financial Services); FTC v. Slim America (FTC); Unique Gems International Corp. (State Receiver); Future First Financial Group, Inc. (Florida Department of Financial Services); Pension Fund of America, Inc., et al. (SEC); Viatical Capital, Inc., et al. (SEC); and SunState FX, Inc. (SEC).

The Firm also represented a large group of investors in connection with an $85 million claim in the Mutual Benefits Corp. federal receivership.