From left to right: Isabel Diaz, Vivian de las Cuevas-Diaz, Barbara Ferrer, Anna Marie Hernandez, Rebecca Mendez
Partners Vivian de las Cuevas-Diaz and Barbara Ferrer and three other Broad and Cassel attorneys have jumped to Holland & Knight's real estate practice group.
Anna Marie Hernandez and Isabel Diaz join Holland & Knight as senior counsel. Rebecca Mendez joins the firm as an associate.
"I've never done anything alone. When I came to Broad and Cassel I brought my associate and paralegal. As we grow the practice and continue to build, this move was imperative and the right move for everybody," said de las Cuevas-Diaz, president of the Cuban American Bar Association. "We service clients on a team dynamic. We work together."
The team has "created a very sophisticated and successful real estate practice and we are extremely pleased to have them join our firm," said John Halula, Holland & Knight's Miami real estate practice group leader. "Additionally, each has an impressive background of leadership and community involvement that fits perfectly with the culture of Holland & Knight."
De las Cuevas-Diaz decided to move to Holland after four years of talking with the firm and seeing the focus of her practice shift from a local focus to a more national practice.
"I service my clients not only in Florida but in other states, and Holland has offices in others states, and I can serve my clients better knowing I can call a partner in Los Angeles," de las Cuevas-Diaz said. "Holland also presented an opportunity with their international platform, what I believe to be the future of the transactional world."
She focuses on banking and institutional lending and government relations. Her list of prominent clients includes Doral developer Sergio Pino, who hired her during the construction boom for the purchase of properties and developments. She represents financial institutions in loan modifications, note sales and property sales as well as litigation throughout Florida.
Ferrer, who was of counsel with Broad and Cassel, is a financing, banking, commercial and construction real estate lending attorney. She also handles public-private financing.
She has represented national and local entities in various deals. She represented Total Bank in the structuring and closing of a construction loan for the expansion and renovation of the Flagler Dog Track/Magic City Casino. Ferrer also represented SunTrust in the closing of a $78 million construction loan for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Miami Beach, an intricate deal that exposed some troubles with maintenance of the 1953 facade, and a $55 million loan to the Ritz-Carlton Club in Jupiter, Fla. Ferrer also has represented BankUnited.
Holland offers an opportunity to enhance and develop a clientele in the international market, Ferrer said.
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