Family Law

• Divorce
• Child Support
  Bringing and defending claims of paternity effectively and efficiently, while addressing the delicate, sensitive and confidential issues inherent in these types of cases, requires effective, experienced representation.  The relationship status of parents to one another, and to others, often generates issues that require creative solutions. Entitlement to child support, time sharing and shared parenting, whether by agreement or otherwise, are carefully evaluated.  Our group is committed to helping our clients navigate through the paternity process, providing candid evaluation and advice, empowering them to make well-informed decisions.
• Paternity
  We are available to represent clients in all facets of marital and family law.  We offer experienced counsel in negotiating and drafting prenuptial, postnuptial, and marital settlement agreements, as well as handling complex, high-income, significant-net-worth divorces, paternity matters and disputes which cross state and international borders.
• Premarital Agreement
  We understand how to best address issues that are unique to the negotiation and drafting of prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, including multi-generational planning, with an eye toward creating a structure which allows our clients to focus on making their relationship a success.
• Guardianship
  We represent fiduciaries including personal representatives and institutional and individual trustees, as well as beneficiaries, guardians, heirs, and others in all aspects of contested trust, will and guardianship matters. We defend and prosecute breach of fiduciary duty, surcharge, removal, and accounting claims. We also litigate will contests, will and trust construction disputes, and claims of undue influence, incapacity or elder abuse involving vulnerable adults. Through non-judicial or judicial proceedings we also modify, reform and terminate trusts.
• Spousal Support
  There is no one size fits all solution to alimony awards.  Each individual household is unique.  Analysis of historical need as well as the evaluation of earned and passive income are necessary components of making alimony determinations.  We carefully evaluate sources of income, including employment income, perquisites, benefit packages, anticipated cash flow from investments, and other income sources available to the household. This analysis, coupled with a study of historical lifestyle and spending, provides the confidence needed to make educated support related decisions.

Criminal Law

• Criminal Defense
  Events: Things Civil Lawyers Should Know About Criminal Law, (Restitution, Forfeiture, Victims’ Rights Act, Fifth Amendment Issues, Upjohn Warnings, Federal Prosecutors vs. Receivers and Trustees)
• Wrongful Death
  Healthcare clients on preventative practices as well as pre-suit, litigation and appellate concerns. Our team has significant experience defending catastrophic wrongful death, medical malpractice and professional liability claims and in state licensing investigations and litigation for physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other
• Fraud
  Co-counsel with a New York law firm in obtaining a favorable settlement in Florida federal court for a Japanese electronics manufacturer that alleged conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, and state law claims against its former employees in its Miami-based Latin American sales group and several of its customers in Latin America.
• White Collar Crimes
  Our Government Investigations and White Collar Crime practice group represents companies and individuals in a wide range of criminal and civil enforcement matters. We also conduct internal investigations and counsel companies on regulatory compliance matters, such as the Bank Secrecy Act, anti-money laundering laws, economic/trade sanctions, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.  Our team includes former federal prosecutors and a former federal public defender and Florida state court judge who have collectively tried more than 70 criminal cases to verdict.  We have represented clients in grand jury investigations and enforcement actions brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and state regulators, among others.
• Theft
• Embezzlement
  Our litigation team achieved a $100 million settlement on behalf of a 179-member class of real estate investors. The agreement settled claims that CBRE, one of the largest commercial real estate services and investment firms in the world, and one of its employees, aided executives from Cabot Investment Properties LLC in a multi-million dollar embezzlement scheme that lost our clients $84 million worth of investments in six Florida office buildings that CBRE managed. Read the Law360 article here.
• Forgery
• Money Laundering

Business and Corporate Law

• Corporate Law
  Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson is a full service law firm with offices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Tallahassee, and Coral Gables, Florida. We offer multidisciplinary solutions with a focus on Litigation & Dispute Resolution, Bankruptcy & Creditors' Rights, Corporate & Securities, Government & Administrative, Labor & Employment, Real Estate, Real Estate Finance, Commercial Finance and Loan Restructuring & Workouts, Land Development, Zoning & Environmental, Marital & Family Law and Tax.
• Mergers and Acquisitions
  The lawyers in the International Group keep abreast of industry dynamics and regulatory issues in key practice areas including real estate, finance, capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, insurance, banking, securities, and management-side labor and employment. That currency, combined with a wealth of experience, enables the Group’s lawyers to analyze complex cross-border issues, develop strategies that take account of regional differences, manage multi-cultured teams of lawyers and experts, collaborate with local counsel in emerging markets, and counsel global stakeholders in this challenging and ever-changing environment.
• Business Disputes
  Represent a school in a range of matters including issues with parents, reporting of suspected abuse, bullying, contract disputes, and tuition issues.
• Business Transactions
  Our Insurance Group helps clients navigate the complex business and legal issues inherent in matters relating to insurance. Our practical experience and extensive contacts within the industry enable us to advocate our clients’ positions effectively in commercial transactions involving insurance, as well as disputes concerning insured claims – whether in negotiations, litigation, arbitration, or administrative proceedings.
• Construction Contracts
  Our Construction attorneys work with clients to negotiate construction contracts, such as stipulated sum, cost plus fee and design-build contracts.  They represent buyers, sellers, lenders, investors, developers, real estate investment trusts, public companies, insurance companies and owners and operators in connection with the construction of hotels, retail centers, office buildings, apartment complexes, industrial projects, and other commercial real estate and corporate assets.  They also represent sellers and buyers in construction contract purchase and sale transactions and lenders and borrowers in construction and permanent financing transactions.
• Trade Secrets
• Intellectual Property
• Unfair Competition
  Stearns Weaver Miller has one of the most formidable antitrust, competition and consumer protection practices in the country, representing both plaintiffs and defendants in some of the largest high-profile cases in the United States. Our attorneys are highly experienced in litigating complex antitrust class and individual actions before federal and state courts around the country involving price fixing, bid rigging, market and customer allocation, monopolization, monopsonization, unfair competition, deceptive and unfair trade practices, and price discrimination. We bring a wealth of experience to antitrust, competition and consumer protection cases, not only because we represent litigants on both sides of the “v,” but also because many of our lawyers have substantial experience in the industries in which our clients operate.
• Antitrust
  Best Lawyers in America. In addition, some of our attorneys are former state or federal enforcers and prosecutors, including a former Florida Chief Deputy Attorney General (and Deputy Attorney General for Enforcement), a former Florida Senior Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division and a former Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. This breadth of experience gives our team valuable insight into how state and federal enforcement officials at these agencies think and act, allowing for creative and efficient resolution of government investigations and enforcement actions. Additionally, one of our partners is Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Antitrust and Trade Regulation.

Employment Law

• Wrongful Termination
  We also believe that if our clients become involved in a lawsuit, grievance, arbitration, claim of discrimination or wrongful discharge in any legal forum, they each deserve ethical and zealous representation. We are experienced trial attorneys, not just “litigators.” We are also labor attorneys with “in the trenches” experience in dealing with unions seeking to represent blue collar, white collar and professional employees, including collective bargaining, administrating union grievances, handling arbitrations, managing union certifications and elections, and defending unfair labor disputes in court and before the National Labor Relations Board.
• Employment Discrimination
  No employer likes to be accused of workplace wrongdoing but it has become commonplace in today’s litigious business environment. For decades, our Labor & Employment lawyers have defended employers in state and federal courts and before administrative tribunals in actions brought under Title VII, the FMLA, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Florida Whistleblower Act, the National Labor Relations Act, and the Railway Labor Act, and other employment laws, among others. We have extensive experience defending class and collective actions involving wage and hour issues. On the other side of the caption, we regularly represent our clients in disputes involving theft of trade secrets, non-competes, breach of contract, defamation, and other business torts.
• Employment Contract
  Partner with our clients to audit employment practices, comply with wage and hour laws, draft employment agreements, protect trade secrets, realign workforces, and comply with EEO and affirmative action requirements and plans
• Employment Litigation
  We understand that our clients are in an extremely competitive business market and that employers (large and small in both the public and private sectors) need timely, practical business-oriented advice on labor and employment issues. We also understand that “human resources” are not a commodity, but real people with real workplace problems that are often difficult for our clients to address alone. We believe that partnering with our clients to provide strategic preventive counseling, training (in English, Spanish and Creole), audits and legal representation is the best antidote to complex and challenging workplace problems.
• Severance Agreement
• Sexual Harassment
  Obtained a jury defense verdict in Orlando federal court for a client accused of sexual harassment in which the employee was seeking $2,000,000.

Property Law

• Real Estate Litigation
  The Distressed Property practice group integrates lawyers from our transactional real estate, real estate litigation, corporate and securities and business restructuring groups to provide comprehensive legal services to lenders and special servicers in all aspects of dealing with distressed real estate debt.
• Construction Litigation
  We actively participate in our clients' development activities from site acquisition to the conclusion of the warranty period for the finished project. Our extensive experience in negotiating and drafting design and construction agreements helps to prevent disputes regarding the expectations of the parties. Following completion and disposition of the project, we assist our clients in resolving warranty and defect claims.
• Real Estate Transactions
  Stearns Weaver Miller’s Real Estate Department provides clients with a broad range of representation in all areas of residential and commercial real estate development. Our goal is to represent, assist and provide business advice as requested to developers, owners, hotel operators, contractors, architects, and engineers in virtually every type of real estate transaction. The Department’s Commercial Real Estate Lending Practice Group represents commercial and investment banks, insurance companies and other institutional lenders in connection with both the extension and collection of credit.
• Eminent Domain
• Easement
• Land Use and Zoning
  Former Assistant General Counsel to the University of Miami; oversaw the University’s real estate portfolio, which included negotiating the purchase and sale of University property, negotiating and drafting commercial leases with private and public entities, and managing all land use and zoning related issues with the City of Coral Gables, City of Miami, Miami-Dade County, state and federal agencies.
• Property Damage
  We have helped insureds successfully prosecute insurance claims in a variety of contexts, ranging from property damage during and after construction, to delays in completion, business interruption, commercial liability, and a myriad of other specialized coverages. We also frequently defend insureds against claims for which coverage exists under director’s and officer’s liability policies, errors and omissions policies, and other insurance agreements.
• Condominium Law
  Negotiated and structured a hotel–resort–condominium development in Northern California and Mexico, to be operated under an international luxury brand.

Immigration Law

• Citizenship and Naturalization

Health Law

• Medical Malpractice
  Our litigation team successfully represented Cleveland Clinic Florida (“CCF”) and Cleveland Clinic Hospital (“CCH”) at trial in the United States District Court Southern District of Florida (Judge Ungaro presided over the trial).    The Plaintiff, a Venezuelan citizen, alleged that CCF, through its employed emergency medicine physician, and CCH, committed medical malpractice in failing to diagnose, treat, and admit the patient to the hospital for an abdominal infection thus leading to multiple surgeries and permanent scarring.   The Plaintiff sought damages in excess of $2,000,000.  The trial lasted six days (with deliberations briefly spilling over to a seventh day).

Trusts and Estates

• Estate Planning
  Identifying, valuing, evaluating and crafting a plan to distribute marital and non-marital assets and liabilities is the foundation of devising a fair and equitable distribution of the marital estate.   Valuation often takes on critical importance.  While some valuation issues are straightforward, others, such as the valuation of closely held business interests, can be quite complex. Our Marital & Family practice possesses the experience required to effectively navigate the challenges presented by a wide range of complex asset valuations, enabling productive collaboration with business valuation experts, forensic accountants, tax advisors, real property appraisers, probate and estate planning professionals, and specialized investment professionals.
• Wills
• Trusts
  Represented individuals in trust and estate law cases and tax issues related to American and foreign trusts and estates and cross-border families.
• Probate

Finance Law

• Bankruptcy
• Foreclosure
  We work closely with our litigation and bankruptcy attorneys to advise and assist lenders in dispute avoidance, the workout of troubled assets (including loan modifications, workouts, restructurings, loan sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure), and litigation relating thereto and relating to lenders' potential liability for their actions originating and administering loans, or as a consequence of environmental laws and regulations.
• Tax Law
  Our 12-person Ad Valorem Tax group has combined decades of experience in every aspect of property tax law and appeals.