Located on Florida's Gulf Coast, the firm's Tampa office offers its clients a full array of legal services. The lawyers in the Tampa office have experience in all facets of corporate transactions, mergers and acquisitions, healthcare, litigation and other legal disciplines. On behalf of our client base, we have handled a substantial number of large and complex business transactions and litigation matters in recent years, including those in the practice areas listed below.

Health Care

Our practice is primarily devoted to the representation of hospitals, physicians, multi-specialty clinics, and other health care providers and payors.

We regularly counsel clients on subjects related to health care transactions, integrated delivery networks, physician-hospital organizations, managed care contracting, risk management issues, and fraud and abuse prevention.

Two of our lawyers are certified as Health Law Specialists by The Florida Bar, a distinction earned by fewer than one percent of all lawyers admitted to practice in the state. One of these also was named "Best Healthcare Attorney" by Medical Business, saying he "has been an insider on some of the biggest health care deals in Tampa Bay."

In this practice, we handle:

• Fraud and abuse prevention
• Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement
• Physician recruitment
• Medical ethical issues
• COBRA/EMTALA compliance
• Managed care
• Medical staff matters
• Accreditation
• Corporate compliance programs
• General corporate law advice
• Mergers, acquisitions and affiliations
• Joint ventures
• Shared service organizations
• Tax-exemption matters
• Canon law issues
• Religiously affiliated relationships

Corporate and Business

Our attorneys focus on general corporate and business matters, as well as mergers and acquisitions. These include negotiating, documenting, and closing mergers and acquisitions, drafting employment, non-competition, and other executive agreements, and serving as corporate counsel. Our work in this area covers formation, corporate governance, business finance, religiously affiliated relationships, non-profit corporate law, affiliations, joint ventures, shared service organizations, tax exemptions, securities issues and canon law.

One of our attorneys previously served as an independent bank consultant and helped charter more than 35 banks and savings associations throughout the state.

In this practice, we handle:

• Formation and reorganization
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Executive compensation and retention
• Securities law issues
• Shareholder agreements
• Tax-exemption matters
• Corporate governance and structure

Litigation

Our litigation practice focuses on resolving a wide range of disputes in state and federal court.

Our attorneys have extensive background in handling matters involving corporate governance and control, health care issues, issuance coverage, construction litigation, products liability and breach of contract.

One of our attorneys was among the first group of lawyers to be certified as a Business Litigation Specialist by The Florida Bar.

In this practice, we handle:

• Commercial disputes
• Medical staff fair hearings
• Qui-tam litigation
• False Claims Act prosecutions
• Franchisor representation
• Non-competition covenants
• Collections
• Medical malpractice defense
• Construction litigation
• Trade secrets and unfair competition
• Pest control litigation

Employment and Labor Law

We provide advice to management in many phases of the employment process, starting with pre-employment applications through termination. We also counsel employers on preventive measures they can take to avoid costly litigation, or, if litigation cannot be avoided, defend employers in many types of employment litigation in federal and state courts and before administrative agencies.

Experience of Tampa Attorneys

The following is representative the experience of the lawyers working in the firm's Tampa office:

• General counsel for Tampa General Hospital, Florida's second-largest hospital.
• Represented Tampa General Hospital in its acquisition by Florida Health Sciences Center Inc. in 1997.
• Counsel to Florida's 2012 Inc., the group representing Tampa Bay's bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.
• Represented several national real estate developers in complex litigation matters.
• Served as counsel for Cendant Corporation, the largest franchise company in the United States which owns the franchise rights to Howard Johnson, Travelodge, Ramada Inn, Days Inn, Super 8, Villager Inn, Knights Inn, Century 21, ERA, and Coldwell Banker.
• Defended Tampa General Hospital and Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital in "Sunshine" law litigation.
• Represented various corporations in franchise, trademark, non-competition, trade secret, and unfair competition matters.
• Represented the largest not-for-profit health maintenance organization in Florida (AvMed Health Plan) in merger, acquisition, and divestiture transactions.
• Represented a large U.S. Catholic health system, Catholic Health East, in hospital acquisitions throughout Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.