Jennifer Bales Drake

Ms. Nutter is a Florida Bar board certified specialist in Marital and Family Law, concentrating her practice in the areas of family law, civil litigation, guardianships, and probate and estate litigation. She is also recognized by the Florida Supreme Court as a certified Family Mediator, certified Appellate Mediator, and certified Guardian Ad Litem. She received her Juris Doctor from Nova Southeastern University Law School in 1987 and her Bachelor’s Degree from Florida Atlantic Universi...

Nicole Fluet believes litigation strategy should be driven by a deep understanding of her clients’ businesses and goals. She focuses her practice on insurance coverage and defense, first-party property, construction defects, intellectual property, workers’ compensation, cyber, and real estate law. Nicole regularly represents insurance companies and the construction companies they insure, and she frequently speaks on emerging issues in insurance. She also serves on the board of the...

JOSHUA L. PLAGER is a Senior Associate of the law firm of Gladstone, Weissman, Hirschberg & Schneider, P.A. Josh graduated from the University of Florida with honors in 2006, earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the Warrington College of Business. Following undergrad and before law school, Mr. Plager was a Series 7 and Series 66 registered financial advisor at AIG, assisting clients with financial planning and investing, including 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, and I...

Dean Freitag is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Commercial Finance Law. Dean, who practices law in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has been recognized since 2021. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Dean is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Barbara A. Hall concentrates her practice in the area of land use and environmental law. She has 21 years of experience in development law first representing local governments as an Assistant City Attorney and as Assistant County Attorney, and then representing private property owners and developers. Barbara has wide-ranging experience in comprehensive planning, developments of regional impact, zoning, site plan approvals, platting, environmental permitting, variances, annexation, due diligen...

Ryan Roman is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Commercial Litigation, Litigation - Mergers and Acquisitions and Litigation - Securities. Ryan, 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 Ryan is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

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...

Alan J Perlman, is a Member at Dickinson Wright. Alan specializes in the resolution of complex business disputes in the bankruptcy and commercial litigation forums. His practice focuses on bankruptcy, insolvency litigation, State and Federal complex litigation, workouts, ABCs, avoidance actions, purchase and sale engagements, corporate reorganization and related appeals, with a presence throughout the State of Florida. Alan speaks and writes frequently on various topics related to his practic...

Jon L. Swergold is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Commercial Litigation. Jon L., who practices law in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has been recognized since 2016. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Jon L. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

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...