Marc Adesso focuses his practice on representing emerging and established capital markets participants, including issuers, underwriters, and C-Suite executives. With broad-ranging experience advising public and private companies, including special purpose acquisition companies (SPACS) and real…

Kenneth Alberstadt is a senior member of the firm’s Corporate Department. Ken’s practice focuses on M&A, private equity, growth capital and early-stage financing transactions. He has extensive experience representing private equity sponsors, public and private companies and management teams in…

A former Assistant U.S. Attorney with a focus on public corruption and national security, Jacqueline Arango is co-chair of Akerman's White Collar Crime & Government Investigations Practice. She leads a team including former federal prosecutors, senior enforcement lawyers at the SEC, and…

With a practice focused on the laws governing alcoholic beverages, tobacco, cannabis, and other regulated products, Ian Bacheikov assists clients across multiple sectors, including entertainment, hospitality, and retail. He serves as chair of Akerman's Alcohol Beverage Sector Team, a…

Brian Bianco is a registered patent lawyer and intellectual property litigator. He has represented clients in U.S. federal courts across the country in complex patent, trademark and trade dress disputes. With a degree and extensive background in electrical engineering, he has successfully…

Christopher Carver supervises and conducts all aspects of federal and state civil litigation at trial and appellate levels, including case management, motions and pleadings, oral argument, depositions and written discovery, mediation, and trial. Areas of practice include arbitration, admiralty and…

Ellen Castillo is a Senior Urban Planning Consultant in Akerman’s Real Estate Practice Group in Los Angeles. Her practice focuses on providing strategic real property development advice, land use diligence, planning analysis, and entitlement processing across all sectors of development. She offers…

Peter Chiabotti has a broad range of experience in traditional IP matters, including U.S. and foreign patent procurement, patent litigation, trademark portfolio management (including clearance, procurement, litigation, domain name disputes and world-wide brand protection), protection of trade…

An accomplished litigator, Kirk Davis represents hospitals and health systems in complex regulatory compliance issues and disputes with a focus on medical malpractice and peer review hearings. Kirk has decades of experience in the peer review process and has been involved in all aspects of hearings,…

Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law, Martin Dix focuses his practice primarily on pharmacy and drug distribution law. His clients encompass nearly all aspects of the legal drug delivery system, including pharmacies, pharmacists, and pharmacy benefit managers; drug wholesalers; drug and…

Christopher Duke serves as managing partner of Akerman's Palm Beach County Offices. With a diverse practice in employment law and complex commercial litigation, Chris represents clients in federal and state courts, as well as in various arbitration forums and before federal, state, and local…

Recognized by Florida Trend, Benchmark Litigation, and Super Lawyers, Kristen Fiore is a seasoned, board certified appellate attorney, who has handled hundreds of complex commercial appeals and orally argued dozens of those cases, including appeals in all six Florida District Courts of Appeal, the…

A veteran lawyer with three decades of experience, Dean Freitag represents lenders and corporations in a range of financing matters. Notably, Dean has represented clients in hundreds of multimillion dollar loan transactions, of all sizes, including syndicated or participated loans involving mortgage…

Rick Fucci is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group, having practiced with Akerman for 25 years. Rick represents public and private companies and the promoters of private investment funds in a variety of corporate, securities and M&A transactions. He has extensive experience in structuring…

Eric Gordon is the chair of Akerman’s Labor and Employment Practice Group, a national team representing employers in legal compliance, dispute prevention, and employment litigation throughout the United States. An experienced litigator, he represents Fortune 500 companies operating in the…

Irán Hopkins is a partner in Akerman LLP’s Real Estate Practice Group, where she focuses on complex transactions, structuring tax efficient ownership and operations, and regulatory compliance for clients across a range of industries, including real estate private equity, healthcare leasing,…

Scott Kessler litigates complex commercial and intellectual property disputes at both the trial and appellate levels. He has tried and argued numerous cases in federal and state courts. His experience encompasses corporate and private equity transactions, trademarks, copyrights, real estate,…

Jill Klein focuses her practice on U.S. and international franchise laws, including all aspects of risk management, contract negotiations, mergers and acquisitions, litigation, rebranding, and regulatory compliance. She has experience representing start-ups and existing franchisors and…

Lisa Kolieb focuses her practice on land use and real estate development matters, guiding clients through the land use entitlement process from initial site diligence to ultimate project approval, construction and operation, and advising clients on the government and regulatory aspects of real…

Chenxi Li focuses her practice on California transaction matters, including commercial real estate purchase and sale, financing, healthcare leasing, property development, change of use, M&A, and cannabis regulatory compliance. Chenxi has a strong interest in tax and finance, and enjoys…

Trish MacAskill focuses her practice on domestic and international franchise and distribution laws, as well as business transactions. Trish applies her significant general counsel experience when advising clients, providing practical legal solutions to her clients’ business goals. She…

With broad litigation experience in business and real estate disputes, Josh Mandell devotes his practice to all aspects of commercial litigation, including breach of contract matters, fraud claims, lender liability issues, and business torts. He represents financial institutions, secured lenders,…

Tom Mandler represents employers on a nationwide basis in the full spectrum of issues dealing with their employees, whether or not they are employed at-will, pursuant to an employment agreement, or represented by a union. A substantial portion of his practice is devoted to advising employers on how…

LaKeisha Marsh serves as the chair of Akerman’s Government Affairs and Public Policy Practice Group. She leads a bipartisan team of professionals providing strategic counsel on policy and regulatory issues in the United States. With a comprehensive legal background serving the higher education…

Adam Massaro is an intellectual property and corporate litigator. Adam handles complex, multi-million dollar matters, including the representation of international clients ranging from South Korea to India. He has tried multiple cases, including obtaining a seven-figure jury verdict and defending a…

Sam Miller focuses his practice in investigating and prosecuting fraudulent conduct on behalf of his clients. With a wide range of experience, he is able to work efficiently and creatively to solve his client’s problems. From representing receivers and Bankruptcy trustees in cases arising from Ponzi…

Kristen Morris provides advice to marijuana, hemp, and ancillary business clients in matters such as regulatory compliance, licensure and license defense, commercial contracts, intellectual property, and dispute resolution. Kristen advises clients in cannabis business ownership, investment,…

Kourtney Mulcahy focuses her practice on managing domestic and international trademark portfolios. She regularly implements cost-effective trademark clearance, procurement, and protection strategies for her clients. Kourtney has experience in all areas of trademark law, including: domain name…

International Trade and Customs Felicia Leborgne Nowels is Board Certified in International law, and focuses her practice on international trade and customs law. Felicia assists domestic and foreign companies with cross-border movement of goods and services. Whether drafting international…

Jeff Pertnoy is a versatile litigator, trial lawyer, trusted counselor, and problem solver. Jeff represents clients in high stakes business disputes and class actions. He has a wide-ranging practice spanning multiple sectors, including telecommunications, consumer goods and services, banking,…

Richard Pinsky has 35 years of government affairs experience in Florida and Washington, D.C. He has an extensive background representing clients before the legislature as well as local government from helping to navigate the budget and appropriation process to issue advocacy. Helping clients…

Jonathan Robbins serves as chair of Akerman's Cannabis Practice, counseling clients on the evolving, complex legal and business issues impacting companies with interests in the regulated substances industries. Ranked by Chambers USA as a top lawyer in Cannabis Law and recognized in 2018 by the…

With a wide-ranging corporate practice, Daniel Andres Silva is experienced in M&A, private equity investments, joint ventures, securities transactions, and day-to-day corporate governance matters. He has counseled public, private, and start-up companies in a variety of corporate matters…

Rick Spees represents public and private entities in their interactions with the federal government helping them secure funding from Congress and address issues raised by complex federal laws and regulations. Rick represents a wide range of clients in the education, government, healthcare, and…

Bill Sullivan focuses on a broad range of federal and state income tax planning matters, including tax issues related to M&A, joint ventures, dispositions, financings, reorganizations, restructurings, partnership transactions, and private equity transactions. Bill has worked on numerous private…

Stephen Tilbrook has more than 25 years of experience practicing land use and environmental law, and he focuses his practice on complex land use, development, and environmental matters throughout the state of Florida. He represents property owners, expanding businesses, developers, financial…

Ashlee Tising's more than 15 years of experience in Florida politics started when she interned with U.S. Senator Bill Nelson in 2004. Since then, she has called Florida her home and has successfully advocated before the Florida Legislature and Cabinet on behalf of both public and private sector…

Cecilia Torres-Toledo practices in the area of land use and development and is a member of our Alcohol Beverage Sector Team. She represents real estate developers, landowners, institutional clients, lenders and other property owners in all aspects of local and state real estate permitting and…

Joyce Williams focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation and dispute resolution. She represents and counsels individuals and businesses of all sizes in various industries including franchising, real estate, construction, and cannabis. Joyce has first- and second-chair trial and…

Robert Winner focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, corporate and finance, venture capital, private securities offerings, and general commercial transactions. Robert has more than twenty years of transactional experience working with startups, developers, established privately-held…