Family Law

• Guardianship
  Guardianship Administration. Florida Statute 744.3201(a) provides that any adult person may petition the court to determine the incapacity of any other person. Upon the petition being filed, the court will appoint an examining committee of three members, one of whom must be a psychiatrist or physician and who must individually examine the alleged incapacitated person and submit a report and finding to the court, upon which it will base its decision. The burden on proving incapacity is on the petitioner and the incapacity hearing is an evidentiary hearing where witnesses may be called and evidence may be admitted on the record. In guardianship matters before the court we can represent the petitioning party, the alleged incapacitated person or other individuals who may choose to object to the appointment of a guardian.
• Annulment
  THE U.S. ELEVENTH CIRCUIT OVERULES ITS DECADES-LONG POSITION ON ANNULMENT OF INTERNATIONAL ARBITRAL AWARDS ISSUED IN THE UNITED STATES For more than…

Criminal Law

• Criminal Defense
• Fraud
  Mr. Vielleville has represented individuals, corporations, sovereign entities, and governments. Most notably, he was part of the legal team representing the Republic of Chile in two important cases: litigation against former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet; and represented Corporación de Fomento de la Producción (CORFO) concerning a massive securities fraud. Among other matters, these actions required filing of numerous petitions for judicial assistance under 28 U.S.C. § 1782. He also represented the IOPF Fund in managing the Maracaibo Lake oil spill claims against the oil tanker Nissos Amorgos and was part of the sub-committee that drafted Venezuela's Maritime Law Act.
• White Collar Crimes
• Theft
• Money Laundering
• Internet Crimes

Business and Corporate Law

• Corporate Law
  The Firm advises owners and business managers on nearly every aspect of corporate governance, management and operations, and government compliance. Assouline & Berlowe often act as “Outside General Counsel” to businesses that do not have in-house legal counsel. Similarly, where companies do have an internal legal function, we can assist with special projects and assignments; or where expertise particular to our firm may further assist that legal department.
• Mergers and Acquisitions
  International Business and Government Law are Mr. Perdue's Flagship area. Having lived abroad, and traveling extensively on deals, he has advised and assisted American and foreign multinational corporations, financial institutions, private businesses, and individuals. He has worked on Mergers and Acquisitions, Construction Projects, Corporate and Project Financing...
• Business Formation
  Kevin D. Klagge Esq. is an attorney who counsels US and international companies, and investors and entrepreneurs, on business formation, cross-border contracts, intellectual property, disputes, and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Klagge works with owners and executives around the world, from emerging companies to Fortune 100 companies. His clients rely on him as a responsive and creative advisor, who provides actionable legal advice leading to company growth and legal protection.
• Business Disputes
  Through the Firm’s eleven attorneys, the firm now has over 250 years of collective business law experience, most of whom have worked and trained in large and prestigious law firms. Our attorneys use this valuable experience to cater to the Firm’s clients at its three South Florida offices.
• Business Transactions
  We perform a wide range of legal services in connection with intellectual property, including filing and prosecuting non-provisional utility patents and design patents, filing provisional patent applications, evaluating new technologies for patentability, formulating and conducting right to use or freedom to operate searches, identifying and policing our clients’ intellectual property rights, providing portfolio counseling, and representing clients at Markman hearings, as well as Trademark Trial and Appeal Board inter partes disputes. We also can structure and negotiate IP business transactions. International Law and Arbitration
• Limited Liability Companies
  The Firm’s partners have been involved in advising clients in all types of entities (limited liability companies, corporations, and partnerships) in a broad range of different industries. Transactions
• Construction Contracts
  The Firm’s Construction skills-set and experience level ranges from design and construction document preparation and negotiation, project management and administration, resolving claims and construction lien issues; handling domestic and international legal issues for high-end residential to mega-million office building and industrial and related infrastructure projects. That experience includes, preparing and issuing Sponsor Invitations and Requests for Proposal (RFPs) to structuring and negotiating international Engineering, Procurement, and Construction contracts (EPC contracts) and related sub-contractors; Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM contracts); and assisting with contract administration including project management, change-order, and other disputes and claims. Our lawyers have represented project sponsors, owners, developers, lenders, general contractors, subcontractors, sureties, suppliers, and architects and designers in virtually all types of construction projects; including in contested matters, representing clients in mediation, dispute review board, and arbitration proceedings and in litigation. The Construction team includes lawyers with degrees and experience in Building Construction, Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, bringing a practical, real world experience to our practice.
• Trade Secrets
• Intellectual Property
  A business’ most important assets may be intangible intellectual property rights. It may be crucial to pursue or defend against litigation related to these rights. For example, if you discover that a competitor within the U.S. is infringing your patent by making and selling an item that contains each element of your patented claim while the patent is in effect, you will have a claim of patent infringement. Patent holders need to bring infringement actions within six years from the infringement date. The business attorneys at our Florida firm handle intellectual property litigation, along with the registration of copyrights, trademarks, and patents.
• Unfair Competition
  ILSA Journal of International and Comparative Law, competed in the Earl E. Zehmer Mock Trial Competition in Orlando, FL in 2017, and earned the CALI Book Award for both UCC Sales and Trademark/Unfair Competition.
• Antitrust

Employment Law

• Workers Compensation
• Employment Discrimination
  We assist clients in the full range of labor and employment litigation in state and federal courts. We also represent clients before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Department of Labor, the Florida Commission on Human Relations, the Public Employees Relations Commission, and the Agency for Workforce Innovation. We have handled litigation in connection with misappropriation of trade secrets, employment discrimination and retaliation, defamation, wage and hour laws, non-compete and non-solicitation agreements, and sexual harassment.
• Employment Contract
  Employment litigation is not inevitable. We can counsel you on preventative measures to minimize the risk of litigation, including developing workplace discrimination and harassment policies and practices, training employees and managers, and preparing employment agreements and handbooks. Federal, state, and local laws need to be considered in developing company policies. Trust & Estates, Probate, and Guardianships
• Employment Litigation
  With 25 years of experience, Sheri Alter provides legal services and solutions for a wide variety of business and real estate related issues. Ms. Alter is known for quickly assessing her clients' problems and deriving immediate and ongoing case strategies specifically designed to meet their unique challenges and needs. Her practice areas include business litigation and transactions, real estate litigation and transactions, creditor's rights, and employment litigation and counseling. She handles cases at every stage in the legal process, from pre-litigation dispute resolution to final judgment and appeal.
• Non-compete Agreement
• Severance Agreement
• Sexual Harassment
  The Firm also advises clients with labor law related compliance issues. In particular, Ellen Leibovitch, the head of the Labor & Employment department, has trained business managers on issues of diversity, and workplace federal and state law regulations. Similarly, Ms. Leibovitch has provided training to companies as to sexual harassment policies and their implementation as well other workplace labor law compliance.

Property Law

• Real Estate Litigation
  Assouline & Berlowe welcomes Alan Krinzman as its newest partner. Alan brings over 35 years of experience in real estate law to the Firm. One of only 15 LEED AP accredited attorneys in the state of Florida, Mr. Krinzman uses his accreditation to assist clients in their green building initiatives including understanding, evaluating and navigating the LEED certification process. Alan is experienced representing clients in acquiring and developing all types of commercial and residential properties, negotiating construction documents and budgets, interacting with contractors and architects, and navigating the governmental approval and permitting process. Alan will lead the Firm's real estate department. For more information, click here.
• Premises Liability
  Prior to joining the team at Assouline & Berlowe in May 2022, Mr. Barreto worked for three years at a prominent Florida based civil defense firm where he represented various individuals, corporations, and insurance companies before state and federal courts in a broad array of legal matters. His practice focused primarily on automobile negligence, product liability, premises liability, construction defect, and aviation law. He also consulted on various intellectual property and contract matters, with emphasis on trademark prosecution. Since joining Assouline & Berlowe, Mr. Barreto has used his prior litigation experience to zealously advocate on behalf of his clients, and he has continued to grow his intellectual property practice.
• Construction Litigation
  In a Lima, Perú ICC arbitration, represented real estate developers of a five-star hotel in Lima in a construction dispute with a multinational engineering corporation.
• Real Estate Transactions
  The Firm's attorneys have appeared in federal and state courts throughout the country and in various arbitration tribunals. The firm's attorneys have also represented buyers and sellers in corporate and real estate transactions.
• Land Use and Zoning
  As mainstay of our Practice, the Firm is prepared to assist clients on virtually every legal aspect of project development, construction, and disposition. We prefer to work closely with clients in project and budget planning as well as with preparation of complex project documents. Interacting with architects, builders, and contractors, we help navigate the intricacies of governmental regulatory approval and permitting processes; aspects of land use planning and zoning; and real estate-related environmental issues.
• Landlord-Tenant Disputes
  Mr. Assouline has been lead litigation counsel to both national and international clients for many contested commercial and bankruptcy matters, representing landlords, lenders, and suppliers of goods, and involving the application of various articles of the Uniform Commercial Code, including complex and intricate provisions of Article 2 for Sales, and Article 9 for Secured Transactions. He has represented clients in disputes involving real estate partition and acquisition related litigation. And, he has handled several contested commercial landlord tenant lease litigation matters. Mr. Assouline has also litigated a number of creditors' rights matters, through the trial courts in state, federal, and bankruptcy courts, and including post-judgment domestic and international enforcement and Florida Statute § 56.29 proceedings supplementary.

Trusts and Estates

• Estate Planning
  Jason is a member of the American Bar Association, Broward County Bar Association and past member of the North Dade-South Broward Estate Planning Council. Jason is currently on the Board of Directors of the David Posnack Jewish Community Center as well as the Board of Directors of Bookleggers Library, which is a nonprofit, mobile community library in Miami-Dade County; is an annual member of the Steering Committee and Past Co-Chairman of the Planning Committee for the Annual Joint Tax and Estate Planning Seminar; past member of Steering Committee for “Men’s Nite Out” for Jewish Federation of Broward County; Past Vice Chair of Jewish Federation of Broward County Professional Advisory Committee (PAC); Past Steering Committee Member Memorial Foundation & Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Foundation Professional Advisory Council Annual Spring Luncheon; Past member of the Lighthouse of Broward Professional Advisory Committee. Jason has also been active with the Jewish Federation of Broward County, Cooper City Optimist, Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Broward County and the Educational Advisory Board to the Mayor of Cooper City, Florida. He is also a frequent volunteer at local Broward County schools, where he was a teacher for eight years prior to entering the practice of law.
• Wills
  Estate Planning. An estate plan can be described as a process to protect and maximize a person’s wealth during lifetime, arrange for financial management and health care decision making in the event of disability, and transfer assets to, or ensure their continued preservation for, intended beneficiaries upon death, in an orderly and cost-efficient manner. Estate planning includes the implementation of legal documents which may include Wills and/or Trusts to accomplish those objectives as well as other “advance directives” including, but not limited to Powers of Attorney, Living Wills, Designations of Heath Care Surrogates. There are also numerous advanced estate planning techniques designed to limit estate taxation, protect persons with special needs, to facilitate business succession and to accomplish other individual needs of a client.
• Trusts
  Estate and Trust Administration. When an individual passes away, his or her estate may be required to go through a Court process called probate. Probate is primarily a process through which title is transferred from the name of the deceased to the names of the beneficiaries. The probate estate consists of those assets that were owned by the decedent and the decedent alone; for example, an individually titled bank account, a retirement account with no named beneficiary, a house in the decedent’s name with another person as tenants in common. Jointly-owned property does not pass through probate and neither does property with a named beneficiary. The probate process involves the application by a qualified fiduciary to be appointed personal representative, often who is nominated to serve in such role by the decedent in the decedent’s Will. The duties and powers of the personal representative are governed by Florida Statute. Creditors must be notified and given an opportunity to present their claims to the personal representative. Once the assets have been marshaled and the creditors have been satisfied, then the personal representative must account to the beneficiaries for the period of administration and distribute the assets to them. Upon successful completion of administration, the personal representative is discharged from any further duties and liabilities. If the individual owned his or her assets through a well drafted and properly funded living trust, it is possible that no such probate administration is necessary, though the successor trustee needs to administer the distribution of the deceased's assets. We can represent either fiduciaries or beneficiaries in the administration of your loved one’s probate or trust estate.
• Power of Attorney
• Probate

Finance Law

• Bankruptcy
  Assouline & Berlowe represents debtors and creditors in state, federal, and bankruptcy courts in liquidation, reorganization, and adversary proceedings. The Firm's attorneys handle, among other things, commercial collections, enforcement of rights in secured transactions, and adversary proceedings and appeals. The Firm also represents parties in: asset recovery; assignments for benefit of creditors (also known as ABCs); contested garnishment proceedings; judgment enforcement proceedings, including the execution and sale of seized assets; preferential and fraudulent transfers litigation in bankruptcy court; proceedings supplementary, under Fla. Stat. § 56.29; receivership related actions; contested Uniform Commercial Code issues; voluntary and involuntary business bankruptcy; and out of court workouts of troubled or non-performing loans.
• Foreclosure
  In the area of Health Care, Nursing Homes and Assisted Living, Senior Living and Rehab Centers, our Real Estate and Corporate Teams have represented clients in developing new projects, the purchase of existing projects (including projects in bankruptcy and foreclosure), and in compliance with the applicable regulatory agency requirements and procedures. We have a good, working relationship with the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, and have worked with the sometimes difficult local government regulations with respect to this type of facility. Our lawyers have significant experience in all areas of indoor environmental concerns, including microbiological and chemical contamination and have represented health care providers in resolving mold and other microbial contamination issues. Real Estate Finance
• Tax Law