Emerging technologies are creating massive changes in the way organizations function and people work. Technology, and most recently Artificial Intelligence, have revolutionized many work environments. With no signs of technological innovations slowing down, there is a need for the private and public sectors to examine more carefully the legal ramifications they may face as they implement these technologies. 

Our firm provides strategic legal counsel to help clients adapt to these innovations while ensuring compliance with state, federal, and international laws. We advise on data privacy and security, intellectual property protection, AI compliance, technology transactions, litigation, and government affairs. Whether assisting with regulatory compliance, protecting proprietary technology, drafting technology contracts, or resolving disputes, our team helps businesses and government entities mitigate risks and maximize opportunities in the digital age.

Our firm’s experience and relationships in tech, business transactions and local government uniquely position us to provide legal services across a range of emerging fields, including:

• AI in Education – Advising on personalized learning tools and school district resource allocation optimization.
• Complex AI/Technology Contract Negotiations – Assisting clients with negotiating and drafting technology-related contracts, including software licensing agreements, in compliance with developing regulations.
• Smart Cities & IoT – Advising on data security, privacy concerns, and regulatory frameworks for interconnected technologies.
• Government Contracts & New Technology Procurement – Providing government clients with the keys to successful deployment of new technology, from decision-maker buy-in to winning, implementing and upgrading over the course of the contract.
• AI & Smart Technology – Ensuring responsible AI development, including engagement with ethical considerations and compliance with evolving regulations.
• AI & Emerging Technology Compliance – Assisting clients with implementation and training on AI laws and ensuring clients understand how these regulations affect their work, services, and products implemented for daily use and operations.
• Cybersecurity & Data Protection – Helping clients implement robust security measures and comply with data protection laws.
• Land Use & Development for Technology Infrastructure Projects – Assisting with zoning, permitting, and regulatory approvals for technology infrastructure projects, including data centers.
• Energy Solutions for AI/Cryptocurrency – Leveraging our experience with public/private partnership transactions to develop energy solutions for the AI and cryptocurrency industries.
• Cryptocurrency & Digital Assets – Navigating regulatory compliance, financial transactions, and risk management in blockchain and digital finance.
• Advanced Air Mobility – Providing legal guidance on licensing, operational compliance, and liability in the growing field of urban air mobility.
• Litigation and Dispute Resolution – Representing clients in litigation related to AI and technology, including patent disputes and data breach cases.

As innovation accelerates, organizations must be prepared to address legal risks while leveraging new technologies for growth. Our team is committed to helping clients navigate this dynamic landscape with confidence and foresight.

We represent and advise talent, organizations, presenters, and facilities across professional and collegiate sports, entertainment, and the fine arts. We have been at the center of some of Florida’s most significant events and projects since their inception, bringing together legal, business, and government affairs expertise to deliver results for our clients.

Talent

Many of our lawyers are athletes and artists themselves, and they bring that firsthand understanding when representing individuals with rare and exceptional abilities. Whether negotiating a multi-year endorsement contract, advising a student-athlete on evolving name, image, and likeness laws, or defending against allegations that could impact a career, we represent our talent clients with passion and relentless advocacy. We counsel athletes, artists, musicians, designers, writers, entertainers, chefs, creators, founders, influencers, and agents. Most recently, we negotiated endorsement contracts with Speedo, TYR, Omega, Coca-Cola, Comcast, NOBULL, Hershey’s, and Toyota, as well as sponsorship agreements with Beats and GrubHub, for clients including Olympic swimmers Caeleb Dressel and Bobby Finke. We have also consulted with eight first-round NFL draft picks and are featured on the NFL League Security Video shown to every player entering the league.

Our lawyers also negotiate, litigate, and advise on the full range of legal issues affecting artists’ rights, works of art, and the art market. Our clients include internationally recognized individual artists, museums, and major national institutions. Recent representations include recovering fees and protecting the intellectual rights of a celebrated artist and advising a world-renowned fashion designer on lease negotiations for a South Florida opening. Ultimately, our goal is to shoulder the burden of protecting our clients’ interests and maximizing their earnings so that athletes and artists can focus on what they do best.

Organizations & Events

We represent some of the most significant sports, entertainment, and arts organizations and presenters in the country, including Live Nation, FIU Athletics, and the Museum of Contemporary Art. We assisted Art Basel Miami Beach in organizing its first event outside of Switzerland in 2002 — a show that has since become the international standard in global art exhibitions — and we continue to represent Informa, the world’s largest trade show producer and owner of the Miami International Yacht Show and Art Miami. We have played key roles in the planning, promotion, and production of Super Bowls, NBA championships, Miss Universe, Formula 1 races, Art Basel Miami Beach, NASCAR, the Miami Caribbean Carnival, international tennis tournaments, and the Miami International Boat Show, among others.

Our group’s deep knowledge of professional sports franchise ownership structures, combined with our experience building public-private coalitions around sports-related projects, positions our attorneys to advise owners and investors in the purchase, sale, and structuring of sports teams and ownership interests. We understand that the public-private relationship is an essential element in the success of any major sports, arts, or entertainment venture, and we bring that expertise to every engagement, regardless of whether our client is a governmental, not-for-profit, or for-profit entity.

Venues and Facilities

From the earliest stages of financing and development through long-term operations, we have been involved in building and sustaining some of South Florida’s most iconic sports and cultural venues. That work spans every dimension of facilities law, from zoning and permitting, design and construction contracting, intellectual property, government relations, and labor and employment. It has given us an unusually comprehensive understanding of what it takes to bring a major facility from concept to reality. We were integrally involved in the financing and creation of the Homestead Motorsports Complex, the Homestead Baseball Stadium, the Perez Art Museum Miami, the Institute for Contemporary Art, the Florida Memorial University Lou Rawls Performing Arts Center, and major renovations at Hard Rock Stadium, the Miami Basketball Arena, and Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. We continue to represent most of these venues today.

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced venues across the country to close their doors, we were there to help our clients navigate the unprecedented financial challenges that followed. We assisted venues and performing arts organizations in accessing relief through the federal Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program, which provided emergency grants to eligible live venue operators, promoters, theatrical producers, museums, and performing arts organizations that suffered significant revenue losses during the pandemic. From evaluating eligibility and compiling the required documentation to guiding clients through the SBA application process, we helped ensure that our venues were positioned to secure the relief they needed to survive and ultimately reopen.

Community Involvement

Our lawyers are deeply embedded in the communities we serve. They have served on the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Greater Miami Sports Tourism Advisory Committee, the Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs Council, the Perez Art Museum Board, the Miami-Dade Art in Public Places Trust, and the Arts and Business Council, among others. Our nonprofit clients include the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Miami Children’s Museum, the Children’s Services Council of Broward County, the youngARTS Foundation, and Armour Dance Theater. These relationships keep us closely connected to what is happening, and what is about to happen, across the sports, arts, and entertainment landscape in South Florida and beyond.

Whether you are an athlete protecting your name, an organization staging a world-class event, or a developer bringing a new venue to life, WSHC+B brings the legal depth, industry relationships, and on-the-ground experience to get it done. If you are looking for a team that can navigate the full complexity of this world on your behalf, we are ready to put that experience to work for you.

Public/private partnerships (P3s) have become increasingly popular as an effective way to build major infrastructure projects, expand public services and generate revenue, but there is a complex relationship behind these deals. We have a long history of representing government and corporate clients, gaining trust from elected officials and business executives alike. This puts our lawyers in a better position than any other group in the state to provide counsel on both sides.

Our attorneys have been instrumental in arranging some of Florida’s most high-profile and complex P3 transactions, including representing a major international airline in connection with the construction of a $1.5 billion airport expansion in partnership with Miami-Dade County and representing an international surface transportation vendor in connection with its contract to design and oversee the overhaul of Miami-Dade County’s Metro-rail and Metro-mover system. We also represented Informa Markets, the organization that produces the Miami International Yacht Show, during their move from Miami Beach to downtown Miami. We successfully obtained all required permits and agreements from city, county, state, and federal government agencies, as well as from three private property owners, all within eight months of the event date.

Some of our most successful projects were born out of brainstorming sessions with our clients that were later presented to the public sector as unsolicited offers. The success of P3 transactions relies heavily on a delicate balance of mutually-rewarding results for private and public sector parties. Our local government track record gives us a high level of credibility with government officials and stakeholders who can often be essential in moving a new proposal forward and gaining the approvals required at each level of government. Our real estate, land use, environmental, construction and business lawyers can handle from there each step of the process from planning to completion and operation, and we can help keep the relationship with government strong throughout the life of the project.

We are one of the few firms in the state that have a practice group exclusively dedicated to eminent domain, along with a full team of attorneys that are skilled in closely related practice areas including real estate, land use, property rights litigation, inverse condemnation, and claims under the Bert J. Harris Private Property Rights Act. We represent parties from pre-acquisition strategy through litigation in both the public and private sector and in regulated industries.  Our diverse and expansive experience gives us a perspective to provide clients with a unique advantage that other firms in Florida cannot provide.

Our expertise also gives us the ability to mitigate costs, which is especially important as the process of acquiring property for major transportation and capital improvement projects continues to get more complex and more expensive. As thought leaders in this industry, our eminent domain lawyers also know that it is necessary to monitor the many evolving non-legal disciplines that affect eminent domain, such as engineering, property valuation, finance, accounting, land planning, and architecture.

Our background ranges from managing large multi-parcel acquisition projects, from inception through entry of final judgment, to acquiring a single parcel through negotiated conveyance. We assist governments and regulated industries in every aspect of the process, including project design and environmental diligence, value engineering, pre-acquisition consultation and strategy, and creation of incentive programs that promote early acquisition of property through negotiated conveyance. For those parcels that cannot be acquired through negotiation, our attorneys have a strong record of successfully litigating eminent domain lawsuits through jury verdict and appeal. In particular, we represent dozens of state, regional and local government entities including transportation authorities, school boards and cities on a broad range of projects:

• roadway and transportation facility construction
• right of way expansion
• creation of utility transmission corridors
• acquisition and assemblage of land for public-private partnership (P3) projects, schools, libraries, civic centers, jails, affordable housing, parks, infrastructure, and public works facilities
• community redevelopment
• environmental protection
• drainage and watershed
• recreation

We also regularly consult with elected and appointed officials, along with their staff and consultants, to counsel them about the scope and extent of their eminent domain authority, and to help avoid or limit inverse condemnation, Bert J. Harris, and other property rights claims against them.  We draft resolutions of condemnation, relocation policies, and acquisition manuals.