Best Lawyers Near You in St. Petersburg, Florida

Joseph W. "Jay" Fleece, III, is a native Floridian having been born and raised in St. Petersburg. Mr. Fleece started practicing law in 1980 with the firm of Belcher & Fleece, P.A., and subsequently joined Holland & Knight, where he was a partner heading up the litigation department of the St. Petersburg office. In 2004, Mr. Fleece joined with Hamden H. Baskin, III, and founded the law firm of BaskinFleece, located in Clearwater, Florida. In 2017 Mr. Fleece moved his practice back to S...

Joel has over 40 years of experience in tax, business, asset protection, and estate and gift tax planning for high net worth individuals and entrepreneurs. He consults on business entities, including limited liability companies (LLCs), S corporations and limited liability partnerships (LLPs). He structures and prepares shareholder agreements, operating agreements and other business agreements. He also routinely handles sophisticated estate planning including the preparation of wills, revocabl...

Thomas B. Smith is a part of the Johnson Pope Health Care Team, and has been involved with the health care industry for more than thirty-five years. Tom is Board Certified in Health Law by The Florida Bar. After receiving his Master in Business Administration specializing in hospital administration, he served in senior administrative positions with several hospitals in Florida for seven years, including serving as Assistant Director for a major 600 bed teaching hospital. He then received his ...

Jackson Bowman is a partner in the Moore Bowman & Reese, P.A. firm located in the St. Petersburg office. For over 25 years, Mr. Bowman’s professional career has involved real estate-related matters. He is a graduate of The University of the South (B.A. 1985) and Stetson University College of Law (J.D. 1998). Mr. Bowman brings experience as a real estate appraiser and consultant to the field of eminent domain law. He holds the MAI designation (inactive) from the Appraisal Institute, ...

William D. Bonezzi is a Shareholder as well as one of the founders of the firm. He has been a practicing attorney since 1973 and his legal career has been devoted to trial work. His competitive nature, developed in college athletics and honed in the U.S. Marine Corps where he served his country from 1965 to 1968, is ideally suited for confidently litigating the most difficult cases. Mr. Bonezzi is admitted to both the Florida and Ohio bar and currently possesses licenses to practice law in bo...

Will handles a broad range of complex commercial real estate and corporate issues for his clients throughout Florida and the entire Southeast. His clients include developers, investors institutional private equity funds, EB-5 developers and funds, as well as high net worth individuals and their associated family offices. He also regularly counsels clients on corporate securities and financing related matters. Representative engagements include serving as lead counsel on the development of a 1...

Over 30 years of estate and gift tax planning, and asset protection planning, mostly for high net worth individuals and estates. Consultation, planning and preparation of revocable and irrevocable trusts, grantor trusts, family limited partnerships, S corporations, LLCs, LLPs; shareholder and other business continuation agreements, life insurance trusts; planned charitable giving; post-death tax planning for estates, trusts and the decedent’s family; complex probates.

A. Christopher Kasten II is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Commercial Litigation. A. Christopher, who practices law in St. Petersburg, Florida, has been recognized since 2021. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which A. Christopher is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Before joining Johnson Pope, Mary Jo Carney was a founding partner of a boutique law firm in St. Petersburg, Florida which enjoyed 34 years of providing legal services to many local and out-of-state clients. Mary Jo is a real estate transactional attorney specializing in commercial retail projects. Throughout her 40-year career, Mary Jo has represented clients in the acquisition, financing, leasing, development, re-development and sale of numerous grocery-anchored, build-to-suit and mixed use...

William B. McQueen is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Business Organizations (including LLCs and Partnerships), Closely Held Companies and Family Businesses Law and Trusts and Estates. William B., who practices law in St. Petersburg, Florida, has been recognized since 2019. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which William B. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Rachel N. Barlow focuses her practice on estate planning, probate and trust administration, as well as probate and trust controversies and litigation. As a Board Certified attorney by the Florida Bar in the area of Wills, Trusts, and Estates, Rachel brings valuable qualifications to her clients. She acquired her Master of Laws (LL.M. in Taxation) from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2013. Before joining The Diamond Law Firm PA, Rachel practiced at the national law firm of Cu...

Ryan is a partner in the firm’s St. Petersburg office. He is a state and federal trial lawyer as well as a certified civil court mediator. His litigation practice includes complex business disputes; construction law; corporate/partnership disputes; employment related litigation; hospitality law; probate litigation; appellate practice; and real estate law. His real estate matters encompass contract disputes, ad valorem tax challenges, commercial landlord/tenant matters and land use/zonin...