Maria Jose Rivera

Mark Passler advises senior managers, brand managers, in-house counsel, technology transfer professionals, and inventors on intellectual property and entertainment law matters. He routinely assists clients in procuring, licensing, and enforcing patent, trademark, and copyright rights. Mark also conducts intellectual property due diligence for complex mergers, acquisitions, and other intellectual property transfers. In addition, he has extensive experience negotiating complex agreements with m...

MARIANO GARCIA is a Florida Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer who has been practicing in West Palm Beach since 1994, representing people in personal injury and commercial litigation matters in state and federal courts. He has achieved an AV rating for the highest level of professional ability and ethics from Martindale Hubbell. He is a member of the Million Dollar and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum and the American Board of Trial Advocates and has been selected to Florida Super Lawyers...

Rosalyn “Sia" Baker-Barnes is a Shareholder at Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley, P.A., and the Chairperson of the firm’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee. In her over 20-year career, she has successfully pursued justice for victims in personal injury, medical negligence and product liability cases and frequently lectures throughout the United States on catastrophic injury cases. She has achieved numerous multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements, includi...

JOHN (JACK) SCAROLA graduated with honors from Georgetown University in 1969 and from Georgetown Law Center in 1973. Before joining the firm in 1978, he was Chief Felony Prosecutor in the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s office, where he was lead counsel in the trials of more than 50 major criminal cases, including the nation’s first gavel-to-gavel televised murder trial. Mr. Scarola is Board Certified in both Civil Trial Practice and Commercial & Business Litigation. While ...

T. HARDEE BASS III practices exclusively in the firm’s tobacco litigation unit, litigating cases against cigarette-making giants Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Lorillard Tobacco Company, and Liggett. He has tried numerous complex, multi-week tobacco cases in venues across the state of Florida, and has obtained multiple seven and eight figure verdicts, including: $21 million, Escambia County (2010) $21 million, Sarasota County (2018) $20 million, Palm Beach County (2014) $13.1 million, Pi...

ADAM HECHT , a veteran of more than 75 felony and misdemeanor jury trials as an Assistant State Attorney, now works with Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley, P.A. handling medical malpractice, personal injury, wrongful death and products liability cases. Mr. Hecht is licensed to practice law in all jurisdictions in the State of Florida and has been admitted to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. He has served on the Young Lawyers Board of Directors ...

Born and raised in a small town in Northeast Ohio, Pete learned from an early age that hard work pays off. Never the most intelligent student or the most gifted athlete, he excelled at both because he worked harder than everyone else. His beautiful and talented Wife is a fellow trial lawyer. Together, they have 3 children and 2 Beagles. Pete attended the University of Dayton where he received his Bachelors degree in Marketing. He later moved to Florida shortly after graduation and worked a co...

Bridget Berry maintains a national civil trial practice, concentrating in employment and class action; financial services; real property and title insurance; and construction litigation. She counsels clients relating to business disputes, and advocates on behalf of clients in jury and non-jury, state and federal court actions, including collective and class actions, arbitrations and administrative proceedings. Bridget is admitted to practice in The Supreme Court of the United States; the U.S....

CHRISTOPHER K. SPEED joined the firm as a Shareholder in 1994 after representing plaintiffs in Virginia for 20 years. He has spent his entire career pursuing justice for victims of personal injury, medical and legal negligence, aviation accidents and defective products. Mr. Speed is also a founding member of the Northern Virginia Plaintiff’s Bar Association, an organization of plaintiff lawyers dedicated to improving the ability of victims to pursue justice for their injuries. He often ...

Kristen H. McMullen is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Commercial Litigation. Kristen H., who practices law in West Palm Beach, Florida, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Kristen H. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.