Not every serious wrong is a personal injury. A partner who breached your trust, a customer who never paid, a contract that was honored until it became inconvenient, a lawsuit that arrived without warning — these can threaten the survival of a business as surely as any accident threatens a person. I represent small and mid-size companies and the people who own them (partners, members, shareholders) in commercial disputes where something real is at stake, whether they are bringing the claim, defending it, or both at once.
I began my career defending corporations in exactly these cases. I now represent whichever side has the better argument and the worse resources — which, in most business disputes, is the smaller party.
What I do
Plaintiff-side litigation
- Breach of contract with vendors and customers, and commercial collection where the amount justifies the fight
- Partnership, LLC, and shareholder disputes: breach of fiduciary duty, freeze-outs, misappropriation, dissolution
- Fraud, fraudulent inducement, and business torts
- Unfair competition, trade secret, and tortious interference claims
- Construction disputes and defects
- Business-to-business claims under Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act
Defense and counterclaims
- Defending individuals and companies wrongly sued
- Asserting counterclaims that convert a defense into leverage
Before a lawsuit
- Responding to demand letters and subpoenas
- Internal investigations of suspected fraud, embezzlement, or misconduct
Counsel between disputes
- Outside general counsel for small and mid-size businesses, as needed
- General transactional work, including drafting and negotiating contracts, operating agreements, and separation terms with litigation in mind
- Consulting on business decisions that carry legal risk
How I approach a business matter
Litigation is a business decision, and it should be made with numbers. Before recommending anything, I want to know what the dispute is worth, what it will cost to pursue or defend, what the realistic outcomes are, whether a judgment could actually be collected, and what a resolution would need to look like to be worth taking. Sometimes the right answer is an aggressive suit. Sometimes it’s a demand letter that makes a suit unnecessary — and a demand letter is leverage not because it sounds forceful, but because the preparation behind it makes the alternative costly. Sometimes it’s advice not to spend money on a fight you’ll win on paper and lose on the balance sheet. You’ll get that assessment early and in writing, and I’ll revisit it with you as the case develops.
I also plan cases from the end backward: what must be proved, which witness proves it, which document corroborates that witness, which motion could end the case, and which remedy can actually be enforced. Trial preparation starts with those questions, not with the trial date. And credibility is a strategic asset — precise claims and a defensible damages model are what let me be uncompromising on the issues that actually decide the case.
When it can’t wait
Some disputes don’t move at litigation speed. Money is being transferred. Data is being copied. A partner is locking you out. A key asset is about to be sold. Courts can grant emergency relief, but they demand a clear right, specific imminent harm, and real evidence — moving too slowly surrenders the objective, and moving too fast with a thin record burns your credibility. If something irreversible is about to happen to your business, call today, not after it happens, and preserve everything in the meantime.
What to expect
Early assessment. Before anything is filed or answered, I read the documents and build the timeline. You get a recommendation that measures your exposure early.
Positioning. The first job is preserving the evidence. Then comes the demand or the response and, where it’s useful, an early mediation, before either side has spent the money that makes settlement harder.
Litigation or arbitration. In state or federal court, that means pleadings, discovery, motions, and trial; where the contract requires arbitration, I take the case there. I have obtained substantial arbitration awards in commercial and construction disputes and first-chaired jury trials in federal and state court. Please note that prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case depends on its own facts and circumstances.
Resolution. Most commercial cases settle. Those that settle well do so because the other side has priced in a trial.
Why me for this
I spent years in large-firm corporate defense, clerked for three federal judges, became a partner at a boutique litigation firm, and now run a solo trial practice built around a small caseload. My clients get a lawyer who has argued in front of federal judges, drafted the motions that decide commercial cases, and sat on the defense side of the table long enough to know what the other side’s client is being told.
Business FAQs
What should I bring to the first conversation?
The operative contracts, a short chronology, the names of the key people and entities, the handful of communications that matter most, a rough sense of the money at stake, any insurance information, and the outcome you actually want. Ten documents that tell the story beat a thousand unsorted pages.
What does it cost?
I offer flexible fee arrangements tailored to each matter, including an hourly rate, a flat fee for a defined project, a contingency fee where the claim and the collectability of a judgment justify it, a hybrid of hourly and contingency, or another alternative fee arrangement. I’ll propose a structure that fits the matter and your budget, and everything is set out in a written engagement agreement before work begins.
On a contingency fee, there’s no attorney’s fee unless there’s a recovery. You will not owe me for case costs I advance if there is no recovery. On an hourly or hybrid arrangement, the hourly fees are owed whether or not there is a recovery, and you may be responsible for case costs I advance even without a recovery.
One more thing worth knowing before you start: a party who loses a lawsuit can generally be ordered to pay the other side’s court costs. Where a contract or a statute provides for attorney’s fees — Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act among them — the losing party can owe the other side’s fees too, and the same risk can follow a claim into arbitration. Those risks run both directions, and I’ll explain how they apply to your matter when I evaluate it.
We’ve been sued. How fast do we need to act?
Fast. A defendant typically has twenty days to respond to a complaint in Florida state court and twenty-one in federal court, and a default can be entered if you miss it. Call the day you’re served — and before you do anything else, send notice to every insurer that might conceivably cover the claim.
Will insurance cover this?
More often than people assume. General liability, D&O, E&O, employment practices, and cyber policies can fund a defense or an indemnity, subject to exclusions and notice requirements. Give notice promptly, and don’t treat a denial as final without having it reviewed.
What if the other side can’t pay a judgment?
Then I find that out before you spend money chasing one. Collectability — assets, insurance, guaranties, transfers that can be unwound — is part of my early assessment, because a paper victory is still paper.
Is my dispute big enough?
If the amount in controversy is well into six figures, or the dispute threatens ownership or the survival of the business, it’s worth a conversation. Smaller matters may be better served by a demand letter, a collections firm, or county court, and I’ll tell you that.
Can you work with our existing lawyers?
Yes. I can serve as trial or arbitration counsel alongside a company’s regular counsel, or take a defined piece — a dispositive motion, an evidentiary hearing, an arbitration — with roles, fees, and communication set out clearly at the start.
If I’m not the right lawyer
Some matters need a larger team, a securities lawyer, or an intellectual property litigator. I’ll say so and introduce you to lawyers I trust.
Call (305) 926-9452 or send a message.
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