Local Government Law
We possess deep and varied experience in matters relating to local government law. We serve as Special Counsel to St. Lucie County and, additionally, we serve as Special Counsel to the City of Miami Beach on complex and consequential land use disputes. We also represent private sector clients who seek to navigate the complicated local government regulatory regimes that affect how real property can be used and developed. Our private sector clients include hospital systems, real estate investment trusts, family offices, universities, and private developers alike.
Public Private Partnerships
We serve as land use counsel on complex public private partnerships (“P3s”) that involve the entitlement and development of lands. This experience includes serving as the legal counsel who negotiates and drafts statutory development agreements as well as land use responses to the requests for proposals (“RFPs”) that frequently sit at the center of local P3s. Most recently, we served as land use counsel to 13th Floor investments in the public private partnership for the redevelopment of City of South Miami City Hall. Previously, we served as Special Counsel to the City of Miami Beach with respect to dispute that arose in connection with the development of a new residential tower and City Park on Miami Beach. We are quite proud of the work we did for the University of Miami when we negotiated a development agreement with the City of Coral Gables to govern the buildout of the UM Campus.
Trial Practice
We maintain a robust but hyper-focused trial practice in state and federal court. We handle jury and non-jury cases in matters principally focused on the use, development, and regulation of land. “Dirt cases” as they are affectionally called — are just different. They are. The difference dictates a manner and method of trial advocacy that differs from the standard commercial case. We have extensive experience handling cases that involve matters relating to the use, development, regulations, and ownership of real property. Such matters include litigating questions arising as a result of local government action, litigating issues that present under a host of servitudes, reciprocal easement agreements, zoning approvals, development order approvals, purchase and sale agreements, valuation issues, business torts, partnership agreements, declarations of condominium, procurement issues, and probate issues. For clarity, we do not handle trial court proceedings that relate to tax, criminal law, immigration, matrimonial law, or custody issues.