Florida Trend Media Company’s editorial review team vetted and selected individual attorneys who qualified for inclusion by meeting and exceeding specific methodology and criteria parameters that were put in place for its nomination process. To qualify for the list, lawyers must have been nominated by peers and business associates for their experience and impact on their field of law, as well as their influence within the community while demonstrating strong leadership in professional organizations and civic/community service initiatives. The state’s most influential attorneys were selected after a year-long research initiative by the editors of Florida Trend.

Representing WSHC+B’s real estate and land use practices, these attorneys play a key role in advancing the firm’s work throughout South Florida. Their commitment and leadership has earned them recognition in the profession, while they continue to mentor within their teams and advocate for their communities.

To view all of the Notable Real Estate / Land Use Attorneys, please click here.

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• Lillian M. Arango (Real Estate, Transactions, Finance, Leasing)
• Maria Victoria Currais (Real Estate Transactions, Public Finance)
• Fabio Giallanza (Real Estate Transactions)
• Rana M. Gorzeck (Real Estate Transactions)
• Eduardo M. Soto (Commercial Real Estate, Lending, Transactions)
• Susan Trevarthen (Real Estate, Zoning, Land Use)
  

According to Lawdragon, this annual guide recognizes legal “advisors who specialize in a vast range of skills – development, finance, leasing, litigation, REIT structuring – on a range of property.”

The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Real Estate Lawyers guide is a respected publication that recognizes lawyers who have shown exceptional skill in real estate-related practices. Their selection process involves rigorous research, including submissions from peers and analysis by Lawdragon’s editorial team. The guide is an essential resource for identifying top legal professionals in the real estate sector, highlighting those who excel in areas such as transactions, development, and finance​. Honorees are selected through a proprietary process, combining journalistic research and vetting, as well as submissions from peers, competitors and firms. The winners were selected from a pool of thousands of lawyers considered for this guide.

View the full guide here.

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Thirty-eight lawyers were recognized across nineteen distinct practice areas, and thirteen attorneys were recognized as Ones to Watch.

Two of our attorneys received “Lawyer of the Year” honors. Miami Office Managing Director Mitchell A. Bierman was recognized for his work in Administrative / Regulatory Law in Miami, and Partner Michael J. Kurzman was recognized for Litigation – Construction in Fort Lauderdale.

Best Lawyers has employed the same transparent methodology for more than 35 years, based entirely on peer review. 

The following includes all Firm attorneys named and areas in which they are recognized:

Miami, FL

• Lillian Arango (Real Estate Law)
• Mitchell A. Bierman (Administrative / Regulatory Law, Government Contracts)
• Maria Victoria Currais (Real Estate Law)
• Jeffrey Decarlo (Commercial Litigation, Public Finance Law)
• Alan K. Fertel (Sports Law)
• Chad S. Friedman (Land Use and Zoning Law, Real Estate Law)
• Jessika Arce Graham (Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law)
• Edward G. Guedes (Appellate Practice)
• Stephen J. Helfman (Land Use and Zoning Law)
• Juan P. Loumiet (Litigation – Real Estate, Real Estate Law)
• Justin Luger (Commercial Litigation)
• Edward O. Martos (Land Use and Zoning Law)
• Anthony L. Recio (Land Use and Zoning Law)
• Paul Ryder (Employment Law – Management)
• Joseph H. Serota (Commercial Litigation)
• Eduardo M. Soto (Real Estate Law)
• Richard Jay Weiss (Government Relations Practice)
• Laura K. Wendell (Appellate Practice)
• David M. Wolpin (Employment Law – Management, Government Relations Practice)
• Daniela Cimo (Ones to Watch: Land Use and Zoning Law)
• Kelsie M. Elmer (Ones to Watch: Real Estate Law)
• Stephanie Herbello (Ones to Watch: Land Use and Zoning Law)
• Judelande Jeune (Ones to Watch: Municipal Law)
• Pooja Patel (Ones to Watch: Litigation – Labor and Employment)
• Emma Rodgers (Ones to Watch: Real Estate Law)
• Katharine Rodriguez-Wilson (Ones to Watch: Real Estate Law)
• Roger C. Pou (Ones to Watch: Municipal Law)
• Blayne Yudis (Ones to Watch: Commercial Litigation)

Fort Lauderdale, FL

• Daniel L. Abbott (Commercial Litigation, Litigation – Land Use and Zoning)
• Candice Balmori (Land Use and Zoning Law)
• Mitchell J. Burnstein (Commercial Litigation, Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law)
• Jamie A. Cole (Commercial Litigation, Government Relations Practice, Municipal Law)
• Anne R. Flanigan (Commercial Litigation)
• Alicia Gonzalez (Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law, Real Estate Law)
• Michael J. Kurzman (Construction Law, Litigation – Construction)
• Matthew H. Mandel (Commercial Litigation)
• Matthew J. Pearl (Community Association Law)
• Lori Smith-Lalla (Municipal Law)
• Eric L. Stettin (Commercial Litigation)
• Susan L. Trevarthen (Land Use and Zoning Law, Municipal Law)
• Peter D. Waldman (Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law)
• Bryan C. Siddique (Ones to Watch: Commercial Litigation) 
• Michael A. Weitzner (Ones to Watch: Litigation – Labor and Employment

Boca Raton, FL

• Howard D. Dubosar (Commercial Litigation, Litigation – Banking and Finance, Litigation – Bankruptcy)
• Rana M. Gorzeck (Real Estate Law)
• Andrew S. Maurodis (Land Use and Zoning Law, Municipal Law)
• Debra Reese (Land Use and Zoning Law)
• Brett J. Schneider (Employment Law – Management, Labor Law – Union, Litigation – Labor and Employment)
• David N. Tolces (Municipal Law, Real Estate Law)
• Erica Hausdorff (Ones to Watch: Commercial Litigation)
• Jeremy S. Rosner (Ones to Watch: Commercial Litigation)

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Senate Bill 180 restricts local governments from adopting land use regulations deemed more restrictive than those in place as of July 2024. It applies retroactively to August 1, 2024, and allows applicants to challenge ordinances through a pre-suit process, with municipalities facing up to $250,000 in legal fees if unsuccessful. Though framed as a hurricane recovery measure, the law applies statewide and raises concerns about unintended consequences, including inconsistent building standards, insurance challenges, and weakened local planning authority.

Quoted in the article, WSHC+B partner Jamie Cole stated: “Senate Bill 180 significantly limits the authority of local governments to adopt land use regulations considered more restrictive or burdensome than current laws.”

WSHC+B is actively advising municipal clients statewide to review land-use and development regulations adopted since August 1, 2024, to assess potential legal risks under SB 180, and to consider the effect of the bill on their enactments that could be construed as more restrictive or burdensome than current laws.

If your municipality has questions or needs guidance on navigating the implications of Florida Senate Bill 180 and related hurricane recovery laws, please contact Jamie A. Cole (jcole@wsh-law.com) or Susan Trevarthen (strevarthen@wsh-law.com).

Click here to read the full article by the Martin County Press.

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“Job Posting: Will pick mangoes for FREE. Highly professional and efficient.”  

I was not fully prepared for what came next. I was inundated with offers from friends and family to visit their humble collection of mango trees scattered across Miami-Dade County. Usually at dusk when the weather was more pleasing, I’d venture out to mango land. Thus “We The People Mango Services” was born. After all, every mango tree needs a community friend. 

In the tropical heart of Miami’s summer season, when the sun lingers a little longer and hotter and the air hangs ripe with possibility, something beautiful unfolds among our local foliage: mangoes blush with a red and golden glow, hung on branches heavy with promise. For me, this mango season has sparked not just a harvest, but a quiet revolution in how we can show up for one another. I call it mango as a community currency with no exchange rate.

During each visit with friends, there was no money exchanged, no formal agreements — just a willing hand and shared joy. For some, their deathly fear of lizards, iguanas and other crawling neighbors of nature was enough to put me on speed dial. For others, the sheer volume of mangoes, battles with squirrels or an aversion to rotten fruit were sufficient reasons to welcome my farmer hand. 

From these community harvests, we gifted mangoes to others in the community: co-workers, elders, children, newcomers and friends we have not connected with in months and less so during the pandemic. And with every handoff of a sun-warmed fruit, something extraordinary happened: We connected. We slowed down. We exchanged smiles and stories of our mutual love.

In a world often overrun with transactional exchanges, mangoes remind us that generosity can be deeply simple and wildly powerful. A mango is never just a mango — it’s a gesture. A story. A smile between strangers. A memory waiting to be made. To pick one from a tree, still sticky with sap, and offer it freely is to say, “I see you. You matter. Let’s share this moment.”

There’s something anciently and soulfully special about this fruit. It grows effortlessly in our Caribbean and South Florida yards, provided by nature with abundance. Yet we rarely stop to honor its magic. Mangoes feed not just the body but the spirit. They ask nothing of us except to be gathered and shared. In doing so, they become symbols of reciprocity, humility and joy.

The act of harvesting together is sacred, too. It slows us down, requires cooperation, and invites storytelling. Someone always has a memory to share — the mango tree planted by a grandfather, the childhood games played beneath its shade, the recipe passed down through generations, the joy from the mango juice dripping down the crease of your palm to your elbow. These conversations, woven between branches and over buckets of fruit, root us deeper in the soil of our shared humanity.

This experiment of mine has grown into a movement, one sweet exchange at a time. As we turn mangoes into meals, gifts and gestures of connection, we rewrite what community care can look like. We build new traditions. We learn that sometimes the most radical thing we can do is offer something beautiful and ask nothing in return. For the people, by the people, of the people.

For this summer and other seasons to come, let’s remember to ignore the noise of the world and extend the open door of this gift of nature. Because when we share mangoes, we share more than fruit — we share love, belonging and the delicious truth that we are all connected.

To read the original blog post in The Miami Times, click here.

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Elizabeth Coppolecchia, Fabio Giallanza, and Chanae L. Wood have been named to the 2025 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide.

Elizabeth was recognized for her work in construction, transactions, and litigation; Fabio for his focus on corporate and real estate matters; and Chanae for her work in real estate, zoning, land use, and government law.

This annual guide recognizes rising legal talent who, as Lawdragon describes, “provide a forecast of the fascinating future of global law practice.”

Honorees are selected through a combination of independent research and submissions, focusing on lawyers who have made a significant impact and consistently demonstrated excellence,  typically within 15 years of graduating from law school.

View the full guide here.

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SB 180, now enrolled as Chapter 2025-190 of the Laws of Florida, prohibits local governments from imposing moratoria on redevelopment or enacting land use regulations that are “more restrictive or burdensome” for up to one year after a future hurricane makes landfall, if the community is within 100 miles of the storm track. 

Notably, it also retroactively applies a similar limitation to regulations adopted since August 1, 2024, effectively placing a freeze on local zoning authority across the entire state.  While this provision of the bill purports to affect only certain communities affected by three recent storms, it actually applies to every community in Florida due to the breadth of recent federal disaster declarations.

Jamie noted that the law could prevent local governments from adopting common-sense measures to improve resilience in areas prone to flooding. “We can learn from a hurricane, say, that certain areas flood terribly. So, if a city wants to pass an ordinance that says that if you redevelop, you’ve got to make houses a little higher. Well, now, we can’t do that.”

WSHC+B is actively advising municipal clients statewide to review land-use and development regulations adopted since August 1, 2024, to assess potential legal risks under SB 180, and to consider the effect of the bill on their enactments that could be construed as more restrictive or burdensome than current laws.

If your municipality has questions or needs guidance on navigating the implications of Florida Senate Bill 180 and related hurricane recovery laws, please contact Jamie A. Cole (jcole@wsh-law.com) or Susan Trevarthen (strevarthen@wsh-law.com).

Click here to read the full article by The Gainesville Sun.

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SB 180, now enrolled as Chapter 2025-190 of the Laws of Florida, prohibits local governments from imposing moratoria on redevelopment or enacting land use regulations that are “more restrictive or burdensome” for up to one year after a future hurricane makes landfall, if the community is within 100 miles of the storm track.

Notably, it also retroactively applies a similar limitation to regulations adopted since August 1, 2024, effectively placing a freeze on local zoning authority across the entire state.  While this provision of the bill purports to only affect certain communities affected by three recent storms, it actually applies to every community in Florida due to the breadth of recent federal disaster declarations.

Jamie A. Cole, who has substantial experience regarding home rule matters, described the legislation as an unprecedented overreach into municipal autonomy.

“It’s not just development regulations related to hurricane recovery. It’s anything. So it just kind of opens the complete door to development,” Cole told Law360. “It’s an unbelievable intrusion into home rule authority for cities, because cities basically can no longer pass things that they think are in the best interest of their community.”

Susan Trevarthen, who leads the firm’s local government land use practice, emphasized that the law’s provision for future storms undermines the very foundation of municipal home rule power. “So what that creates is a perpetual situation where it’s chaotic and unpredictable when local governments will ever have their land-use powers again,” she said. 

The article also highlights concerns from local governments that broad, undefined terms like “more restrictive” or “burdensome” could invite lawsuits from developers, potentially discouraging necessary regulation even when public safety is at stake. Trevarthen noted that effectively, “you don’t have power if you can only use it to say yes.”

WSHC+B is actively advising municipal clients statewide to carefully review land-use and development regulations adopted since August 1, 2024, to assess potential legal risks under SB 180, and to consider the impact of the bill in their future enactments. The firm is collaborating with several cities considering constitutional challenges and is analyzing viable legal strategies to protect local authority.

Cole noted that Florida “cities are in a tough spot right now. And they’re going to have to decide whether to just abide by it or try to challenge it.”

If your municipality has questions or needs guidance on navigating the implications of Florida Senate Bill 180 and related hurricane recovery laws, please contact Jamie A. Cole (jcole@wsh-law.com) or Susan Trevarthen (strevarthen@wsh-law.com).

Click here to read the full article by Law360. 

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Firm Managing Director Mitchell J. Burnstein, Miami Office Managing Director Mitchell A. Bierman, Fort Lauderdale Office Managing Director Jamie A. Cole, and Boca Raton Office Managing Director Brett J. Schneider were recognized for their leadership in shaping strategy, mentoring attorneys, and guiding WSHC+B’s continued impact.

This annual series spotlights the region’s most influential legal and financial professionals driving innovation and business growth across South Florida.

To view the full list of 2025 honorees for Power Leaders in Law & Accounting, please click here for part one and click here for part two of the list.

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The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers guide recognizes professionals who have demonstrated skill in guiding clients through high-stakes financial challenges. Their selection process involves rigorous research, including submissions from peers and analysis by Lawdragon’s editorial team. Those included are traditional bankruptcy lawyers, specialists in leveraged finance and restructuring, and litigators well-versed in financial litigation and distress. 

View the full guide here.

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