Best Lawyers Near You in Orlando, Florida for Commercial Litigation
Practice Area Overview
Litigation increasingly occurs in various venues, from state and federal courts to private arbitrations and administrative hearings. Proceedings can involve business-to-business disputes or any number of government agencies. Understanding the motivations and outlook of each of the litigation participants is important for determining weak points to exploit and strong points that will persuade the audience in question. During the past decade, commercial litigators have seen a dramatic uptick in multidistrict and inter-disciplinary litigation, making the stakes higher, the cases more complex, the parties more numerous and the discovery more complicated and unwieldy. Firms that are able to develop and implement a creative legal approach to each individual problem, efficiently focus on the key legal and factual issues, and master and manage the various aspects of these complex matters will be the busiest in the years to come.
In the current challenging economic climate, commercial litigators are under increasing client pressure to keep costs in check, which has both sides testing the efficacy of alternative fee arrangements and the scope of reasonable discovery. Whether the “death of the billable hour” is ultimately realized, the keys to a commercial litigator’s success will continue to be strong client relationships, thought leadership, practical management skills, deep experience, and personal commitment.
Corporate Law & Commercial Litigation Legal Guide 2025
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A first-chair trial lawyer, Megan Costa DeVault prosecutes and defends complex commercial, business, and real estate litigation in state and federal courts. On behalf of Fortune 500, publicly traded, and privately owned business, including builders, developers, investors, financial institutions, and corporate fiduciaries, she litigates contractual disputes, shareholder class actions, and derivative suits, including serving as lead counsel in dozens of trials and arbitrations. Owing to the com...
Mariane's practice is primarily focused on insolvency and bankruptcy related cases. The insolvency practice includes the representation of debtors-in-possession in Chapter 11 proceedings, representation of Chapter 11 trustees, liquidating agents, and receivers, and the representation of secured and unsecured creditors in cases pending before the bankruptcy court. Mariane has also represented assignors and assignees in the statutorily created liquidation process known as an “Assignment f...
Cindy Duque Bonilla focuses her practice in the areas of catastrophic injury, product liability matters, defense of healthcare insurers, construction law, and commercial litigation. She has extensive experience handling cases involving death and catastrophic injuries resulting from truck, automobile, and aircraft accidents. She defends manufacturers, suppliers, designers, and contractors against claims involving alleged manufacturing and design defects. She has across-the-board experience rep...
For more than 37 years, John has handled litigation, trials and appeals in state and federal courts. His practice now focuses exclusively on the resolution of complex divorce and family law cases, whether resolved through settlement, the litigation process and trial, mediation, the collaborative process or the appellate process. John is actively involved in the Family Law Section of the Florida Bar Association. He currently serves on the Family Law Section’s Executive Council and Legisl...
Christina Bredahl Gierke is a partner in the firm’s Orlando office. Mrs. Gierke focuses her practice in the areas of complex commercial and civil litigation, with an emphasis in construction litigation, community association law, and professional malpractice law, including representing attorneys, insurance agents/broker, design professionals, and real estate brokers. Additionally, Mrs. Gierke is a member of the firm’s Architects and Engineers, Construction, Real Estate and Title I...
Suzanne Gilbert practices in the areas of financial and real estate litigation, business litigation and creditors' rights. Ms. Gilbert has experience representing clients in complex commercial disputes in federal, state and bankruptcy courts. Ms. Gilbert has substantial experience representing financial institutions and other lenders in a variety of matters, including complex commercial foreclosures, loan workouts, defense of lender liability claims, and in fraudulent transfer and preferentia...
Managing Shareholder Brian Gilchrist is Board Certified by The Florida Bar in the area of Intellectual Property Law. Certification is the highest level of evaluation by The Florida Bar for competency, experience professionalism and ethics in an area of law. He has substantial experience in all phases of intellectual property litigation, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, deceptive trade practices and restrictive covenants. Mr. Gilchrist has been attorney of record in ov...
Paula Howell focuses her practice on litigation matters. Paula regularly counsels clients involved in complex commercial and construction litigation. Paula also has experience with matters involving torts, trademark infringement, and employment-related disputes. She has conducted numerous administrative hearings and trials, including several jury trials, resulting in favorable outcomes for her clients. Paula regularly engages in pro bono litigation, taking on matters including cross-national ...
Judith M. Mercier is a partner in the firm's Orlando office and concentrates in complex business and commercial litigation in trial and appellate courts. She represents companies in a wide range of industries, including technology, sports, financial services, hospitality and news and entertainment. Her practice focuses on contract disputes, business torts, intellectual property, media law and defending consumer claims. Ms. Mercier has defended consumer claims such as breach of fiduciary duty,...
Todd is a litigation shareholder in GrayRobinson’s Orlando office. With more than 35 years of trial and appellate court experience, Todd focuses his practice on both state and federal civil litigation, real estate and contract litigation, securities and corporate governance disputes, class action defense, and intellectual property litigation throughout Florida. With a mission focused entirely on client service, Todd has a successful track record handling bench and jury trials in state a...
Paul L. SanGiovanni has more than 25 years of experience in complex trial practice, including complex commercial and construction matters. Mr. SanGiovanni’s experience includes the representation of owners, general contractors and subcontractors on defect and contract claims, including claims on large commercial projects, multi-family high rise development, entertainment venues, theme parks and public projects such as the Orange County Courthouse, the Orlando International Airport and t...
Scott practices in the areas of bankruptcy and creditors' rights with a long track record of advising corporate debtors, creditors, and distressed investors in all parts of the capital structure. Scott primarily represents chapter 11 debtors in bankruptcy cases, both corporate and individual. Scott is board certified in Business Bankruptcy. In addition to corporate chapter 11 work, Scott has also represented chapter 11 trustees in large fraud or Ponzi Scheme cases including Evergreen Security...
Bill Spivey concentrates his practice on complex commercial litigation in state and federal courts. Bill represents clients in cases involving real estate ownership and development, corporate and partnership governance, creditor's rights, business torts, contracts, intellectual property, and employment law, among other subject matters.
A board certified construction law attorney, Jeremy Springhart concentrates his practice in the area of construction litigation, including delay damage and construction defect claims, professional negligence claims, claims for unforeseen site conditions, and payment disputes.He also represents contractors and their sureties in construction defect claims and liability insurance claims.Mr. Springhart is an experienced trial attorney, representing clients in federal and state courts. His courtro...
Lauren partners with companies, business owners, and financial institutions in complex bankruptcy, financial recovery and commercial litigation matters. She represents debtors-in-possession in Chapter 11 proceeding, trustees and examiners, secured and unsecured creditors, adversary defendants, creditors’ committees, adversary defendants, equity holders and other significant stakeholders in bankruptcy, federal, and state court proceedings. She uses her experience to achieve the best resu...
Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Construction Law, Trey focuses his practice on both contract preparation and negotiation and complex construction litigation. His work with complex construction litigation has a special emphasis on delay claims, construction defect claims, payment disputes, lien and bond claims, and bid protests for his construction clients. He handles construction contract negotiation and preparation on projects of all scale and type, from single family luxury homes and ...
Christine A. Wasula is a partner in the firm’s Orlando office. She is an accomplished civil litigation attorney with over twenty-five years of experience. Her background includes tenures at several national law firms, and she also worked as an Assistant Attorney General in the Economic Crimes Division of the Florida Attorney General’s Office. Prior to attending law school, she worked as a legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Bob Graham in Washington, D.C., where she advised the S...
Michael Wilson is a Florida Bar Board certified construction lawyer, having practiced exclusively in construction law and litigation for more than 25 years. He focuses in complex claims, representing primarily public and private owners, developers, and contractors and their sureties in the areas of project impact and delay claims, project defect claims, and payment disputes among project participants.He has trial experience, representing clients in state and federal courts and in arbitration,...
Jeff Partlow is a partner in the firm’s Orlando office. Jeff litigates and manages risk in complex commercial, professional malpractice, directors and officers, errors and omissions and community association cases in state and federal courts throughout Florida. Jeff graduated summa cum laude from The Ohio State University where he obtained a B.S.B.A. with a double major in finance and real estate. He then graduated summa cum laude from Capital University Law School where he was the Vale...
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