Cherine Smith Valbrun

Jim Polkinghorn is a partner in the Fort Lauderdale office and heads the litigation practice there. He is an experienced trial attorney, having tried more than thirty cases to juries in state and federal courts throughout the state of Florida and elsewhere in the United States. Jim has extensive experience litigating cases of all levels of complexity, from single-plaintiff discrimination claims to multi-party class and collective actions arising under state and federal labor and employment la...

Miguel Brizuela is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Construction Law and Litigation - Construction. Miguel, who practices law in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Miguel is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Gregory J. Willis practices in the firm’s Fort Lauderdale West office where he concentrates on civil litigation but has a diverse practice that includes all areas of insurance defense litigation including construction litigation, bad faith/extra-contractual liability, liquor liability defense, environmental/toxic spills and trucking accident defense. Mr. Willis is also experienced in transactional law and health law matters. He has lectured extensively on many areas of law. Previously, ...

Brian J. Gavsie is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Mergers and Acquisitions Law and Securities / Capital Markets Law. Brian J., who practices law in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has been recognized since 2019. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Brian J. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Judith E. Kreitzer is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Real Estate Law. Judith E., who practices law in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has been recognized since 2015. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Judith E. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

With over 20 years of litigation and trial experience, Phillip Howell provides clients with early, accurate case assessments, always focused on trial outcomes and mediation strategy. He practices in commercial and insurance litigation with an emphasis on first-party insurance, maritime, construction defect, and professional negligence defense. A licensed Florida CPA, Phillip uses his accounting background to quickly analyze expert findings and financial issues. He also handles complex transac...

Clint Gage is the managing member of the firm’s Ft. Lauderdale office. Clint has over twenty-five years of experience representing public and private companies in mergers and acquisitions, securities law compliance, capital markets, and general corporate matters. Clint also has extensive experience representing financial institutions in commercial loan transactions. Clint’s clients range in size from start-up enterprises to middle market publicly listed companies that conduct busi...

Tammy L. Knight practices in the areas of corporate, securities and franchise law. She is experienced in a wide range of corporate and securities matters with an emphasis on advising clients in public offerings, private placements, M&A transactions, periodic reporting and compliance matters, and proxy contests. Her experience also includes advising boards of directors and their committees on disclosure, governance and compliance matters arising out of Securities and Exchange Commission re...

As a Florida Bar Board Certified Specialist in Marital and Family Law, Kenneth A. Gordon serves as the Head of Brinkley Morgan’s Family Law Department. With 20 years of legal experience, he focuses his practice on handling complex family law matters, including dissolutions of marriage, alimony, parental responsibility and timesharing disputes, business valuations, prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, equitable distribution, adoption, domestic partnership agreements, appeals and all ot...

Andy Robins serves as the co-chair of Akerman’s Hospitality Sector Team, a multidisciplinary group providing an extensive range of legal counsel and services to lodging and lifestyle companies. In this capacity, he works on a broad variety of hotel and resort development, operations and regulatory matters, including the evaluation of litigation. Andy is recognized nationally by Chambers USA as a leading authority on the development and structuring of mixed-use real estate projects throu...