DBR Announces Florida Legal Awards Honorees
Congratulate this year's honorees: recognized for professional excellence in their legal work across Florida. The DBR's annual legal awards event will be held in-person in May.
March 26, 2021 at 11:00 AM
5 minute read
Spring is here, which means it's time for the Daily Business Review's annual Florida Legal Awards. A full list of honorees is below.
And this year, the remarkable achievements of three prominent Florida legal minds have landed them in the running for the Attorney of the Year Award.
Adam S. Hall, managing partner at Hall, Lamb, Hall & Leto stepped up after the unexpected death of his father to take the reins of hard-fought litigation against Republic of Sudan, on behalf of 56 U.S. Navy sailors who were killed or injured in a terrorist attack against the USS Cole in Yemen. After a 15-year fight, Hall helped secure a $70 million settlement.
Bilzin Sumberg's managing partner Albert E. Dotson Jr. led the way in submitting an unsolicited proposal to Miami-Dade County for the design, construction, financing and operation of a monorail system between Downtown Miami and Miami Beach, and won approval for new Brightline stations in Boca Raton, Aventura and PortMiami. He's also been at the forefront of tackling systemic racism and pushing for diversity in the legal profession, and his leadership allowed the firm to thrive during a pandemic.
Edwards Pottinger founding partner Brad Edwards took on billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after a teenage Courtney Wild shared her story with him in 2008. Edwards went on to represent more than 50 victims of Epstein, challenged his controversial non-prosecution agreement and played a pivotal role in bringing charges against Epstein's alleged accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Edwards' efforts resulted in him being personally sued by Epstein, and allegedly followed and threatened by the financier's associates.
The Attorney of the Year winner will be announced at the DBR's annual awards event, which is slated to be held in-person on May 19 at the JW Marriott Marquis, at 255 Biscayne Boulevard Way in Miami.
After a difficult year, this event is aimed at celebrating big achievements and spreading some cheer — but not to the detriment of health and safety.
During a one-year hiatus, ALM's events team has been working hard to ensure the safety of our guests amid the COVID-19 pandemic. We will be following all social-distancing and sanitation protocols in accordance with federal and local guidelines, and we encourage you to share your questions, concerns or to discuss options with us at: [email protected].
Congratulations to the honorees:
Attorney of the Year finalists
Adam S. Hall, Hall, Lamb, Hall & Leto
Albert E. Dotson Jr., Bilzin Sumberg
Brad Edwards, Edwards Pottinger
Lifetime achievement
Larry J. Hoffman, Greenberg Traurig
Morris "Sandy" Weinberg, Zuckerman Spaeder
Yueh-Mei Kim Nutter, Brinkley Morgan
Distinguished leaders
Susan Eisenberg, Cozen O'Connor
Marbet Lewis, Spiritus Law
Grasford W. Smith, Akerman
Ira Coleman, McDermott Will & Emery
Darren Heitner, Heitner Legal
Daniel Dolan, Dolan Dobrinsky Rosenblum Bluestein
Jeffrey Bast, Bast Amron
Jeffrey C. Schneider, Levine Kellogg Lehman Schneider + Grossman
Stephen Zack, Boies Schiller Flexner
Theodore J. Leopold, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll
Walter J. Andrews, Hunton Andrews Kurth
Hector Chichoni, Duane Morris
Amy Rubin, Fox Rothschild
Neisen Kasdin, Akerman
Best Mentors
Alvin Davis, Squire Patton Boggs
Jennifer Taylor, Cozen O'Connor
David Spector, Holland & Knight
Michelle Suskauer, Dimond Kaplan Rothstein
Tracy L. Gerber, Greenberg Traurig
Jennifer Holt Estrella, Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy
Michael Haggard, the Haggard Law Firm
Mitchell Panter, Panter, Panter & Sampedro
Jason Kellogg, Levine Kellogg Lehman Schneider + Grossman
Sarah I. Zabel, MAZE Resolutions
Sara B. Herald, Bilzin Sumberg
Michael Silva, McDermott Will & Emery
Diversity and Inclusion: Firm
Hamilton, Miller & Birthisel
Osborne & Francis Law Firm
Kim Vaughan Lerner
Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy
Diversity and Inclusion: Individual
Tiffani Lee, Holland & Knight
Lauren Fenton-Valdivia, Bressler, Amery & Ross
Anthony "Tony" Upshaw, McDermott Will & Emery
Chanae Wood, Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman
Yolanda Strader, Carlton Fields
General Counsel Impact
Brian Maciak, executive vice president and general counsel of TBC Corp.
Ernesto Rubi, senior associate counsel at Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
Marcus Bach Armas, senior director of legal and government affairs at Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium
Innovators
Keith Ferry, Holland & Knight
José Ferrer, Mildred Gomez, Sara B. Herald, Melissa Pallett-Vasquez, Jose Sariego, Bilzin Sumberg's COVID-19 Taskforce
Matt Morgan, Morgan & Morgan
Brett Schneider, Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman's labor and employment division
Candice Maze, Florida Foster Care Review
Litigation Departments of the Year
General litigation:
Podhurst Orseck
Levine Kellogg Lehman Schneider + Grossman
Bankruptcy:
Berger Singerman
Commercial litigation:
AXS Law Group
On the Rise
Alicia J. Lewis, Kelley Kronenberg
Katharine Menéndez de la Cuesta, Holland & Knight
Sara Alpert Lawson, Zuckerman Spaeder
Michael Brevda, Senior Justice Law Firm
Jordi C. Martínez-Cid, Leon Cosgrove
Marianne Curtis, Berger Singerman
Eva M. Spahn, Greenberg Traurig
Sabria McElroy, Boies Schiller Flexner
Jonathan Freidin, Freidin Brown
Jason Sternberg, Hogan Lovells
Elena Otero, Holland & Knight
Olivia Kelman, K&L Gates
Jamie Karpman, U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development
Jamie L. Zuckerman, Segal Zuckerman
Michael Levine, Stewart Tilghman Fox Bianchi & Cain
Maia Aron, Mark Migdal & Hayden
Chad Van Horn, Van Horn Law Group
Joelle Dvir, McDonald Hopkins
Marcus J. Susen, Susen Law Group
Steven Appelbaum, Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr
Yaniv Adar, Mark Migdal & Hayden
Omar Ali Shamaa, Wolfe Pincavage
Sylvie Rampal, Conrad & Scherer
Real Estate Transactions
Bilzin Sumberg
Meland Budwick
Pascal Cohen, Azur Equities
Nancy Lash, Greenberg Traurig
Social Impact
Ian Ross and Erica Perdomo, Stumphauzer Foslid Sloman Kolaya & Ross
Melanie Damian of Damian & Valori | Culmo Trial Attorneys
Aaron Karger, Law Offices of Aaron A. Karger, and the Haggard Law Firm
Unsung Heroes
Michael Caruso, Federal Public Defender for the Southern District of Florida
Maria Sampedro-Iglesia, MAZE Resolutions
Angeli Murthy, Morgan & Morgan
Brian Tannebaum, Bast Amron
Raquel Matas, University of Miami Law School
Jack Cook, Morgan & Morgan
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3 minute readLaw Firms Mentioned
- Boies Schiller Flexner
- Greenberg Traurig
- Carlton Fields
- Hamilton, Miller & Birthisel LLP
- Bressler Amery Ross
- Zuckerman Spaeder
- Cohen, Milstein, Sellers & Toll
- Hogan Lovells
- Morgan & Morgan
- Cozen O'Connor
- Holland & Knight LLP
- Dimond Kaplan Rothstein P.A.
- Hunton Andrews Kurth
- Kelley Kronenberg
- Bilzin Sumberg Dunn Baena Price & Axelrod
- K&L Gates
- Weiss Serota Helfman
- Fox Rothschild
- Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr
- Leon Cosgrove Llc
- Berger Singerman
- Arnstein Lehr
- Duane Morris
- Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP
- Conrad & Scherer
- Brinkley Morgan
- Squire Patton Boggs
- McDonald Hopkins
- McDermott Will & Emery
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David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
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Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
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