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Office
3111 Stirling Road
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33312
Tel: 954.985.4180
Fax: 954.985.4176
Practice Group
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Government Law & Lobbying |
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Gaming Law |
Areas of Emphasis
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Government Relations
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(Shareholder)
bfriedman@becker-poliakoff.com
Professional Experience
Mr. Friedman is the shareholder in charge of the Firm's Government Law and Lobbying Practice Group. He represents a wide variety of businesses, non-profit organizations, developers, and trade associations before local governments in South Florida, the Florida Legislature and Executive Agencies in Tallahassee. He has helped public and private sector clients secure millions of dollars in government grants, procurements, concessions and contracts. An experienced lawyer-lobbyist, he provides strategic advice and guides clients through the complex governmental procurement process, including responding to Requests for Proposals (RFP) from the early stages of team building through project submittals and presentations to final selection and negotiation.
Recognized by the Sun-Sentinel as one of the area's most influential lawyer-lobbyists, his 30+ years of political experience, knowledge of the government, and access to key decision makers are extremely valuable to his clients. An active and visible political figure, Mr. Friedman has addressed the Democratic National Convention, testified before U.S. Congress, and appeared on programs including "Good Morning America", “The O'Reilly Factor” and “Larry King.” Prior to practicing law in Florida, he spent ten years working on Capitol Hill as Chief-of-Staff to a U.S. Congressman.
Activities & Memberships
Mr. Friedman serves as the Chairman of the Economic Development Advocacy Action Team for the Broward Alliance, Broward County's Economic Development organization. He is a past President of the David Posnack Jewish Community Center, which serves thousands of people throughout Broward County. He is an Ambassador of the United Way of Broward County Campaign Cabinet, on the Board of Directors of the Florida Impact-Campaign to End Childhood Hunger and has also served on the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Clubs. Mr. Friedman has twice served as Chair of the Jewish Federation of Broward County's Community Campaign Celebration with noted speakers Alan Dershowitz in 2004 and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel in 2007.
Mr. Friedman was selected as a “Florida Super Lawyer” by Law & Politics magazine which named Florida 's top lawyers as chosen by their peers. He was recognized as a “Power Broker of Broward County” by the Sun-Sentinel, and “King of the City Hall” by The Miami Herald.
He and his wife, Marta, received the coveted Jewish National Fund “Tree of Life” Award, in recognition of their outstanding dedication and service to the community. Additionally, Mr. Friedman was honored with the Mandel Human Resource Development Award (2004) by the United Jewish Community of Broward County and Hy and Belle Schlafler Leadership Award (2007).
Other awards include: Marti Huizenga Boys and Girls Club Devotion to Helping Children Award; Holocaust Documentation and Education Center Award for Passage of the Holocaust Education Mandate in Florida ; Sister Cities Appreciation Award; U.S. Council of Jewish Federations Lifetime Achievement Award and; the Posnack Community Day School Leadership Award.
| Notable Client Accomplishments |
- Helped secure millions of dollars in line item State Appropriations for human service agencies and nursing homes affiliated with the Florida Association of Jewish Federations during 15+ years of representation. Helped pass mandatory Holocaust Education legislation and other legislation related to Hate Crimes and the divestiture of State pension funds from certain countries, such as Iran and Sudan.
- Represent the City of Hollywood for 14+ years and helped secure millions of dollars of State funds for senior center programs, beach nourishment, park improvements, museums, and public safety during 14 years of representation. Helped pass substantive legislation regarding Home Rule Power, Annexation, Community Re-Development Agencies (CRA), Municipal Elections, and coastal construction and development.
- Supervised the $20 million successful statewide political campaign of Amendment Four (Local Option Slot Machine Gaming) and the local referendum on behalf of Isle of Capri Casinos and The Isle Casino and Racing at Pompano Park. Helped pass enabling legislation and Agency Rules to govern slot machine gaming and cardrooms. Worked on hundreds of permit approvals in the design, construction and operation of the new $182 million Isle Casino and Racing at Pompano Park.
- Represent the Baltimore Orioles in the Florida Legislature and locally. Helped pass legislation providing tens of millions of dollars in State funds for the renovation and construction of Major League Baseball Spring Training facilities in Florida. Drafted and negotiated detailed interlocal, development, and funding agreements with Broward County, the City of Ft. Lauderdale, and the Broward County Tourist Development Council to provide additional tens of millions of dollars in funding for the new facility.
- Represented various vendors including Duty Free Americas, Secure Wrap, Smart Carte, Hudson News, Delaware North Food and Hospitality, Inc., Travelex Financial and Business Services and various for-hire transportation companies, each of whom won lucrative concession contracts at Miami and/or Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airports.
- Helped clients win competitive engineering and design projects at Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport such as: High Speed Taxiway and Airfield Modification – Reynolds Smith Hill; On Call General Aviation Engineering and Runway Maintenance - Tetra-Tech; and the award winning design for the Rental Car Garage – Spillis Candella-DMJM-AECOM.
- Negotiated and secured passage of a precedent setting long term agreement for SeaEscape Cruises with Port Everglades and Broward County.
- Represented Ocean Properties in the lobbying effort and development, lease, and construction of the $100 million Marriott O cean Village at Hollywood Beach Resort on city-owned beach front land in Hollywood.
- Worked to secure tens of millions of dollars in economic incentives and other development rights, entitlements and special exceptions for height, setbacks, density, variances and land use amendments, for various developer clients such as WSG ($24 million); JPI (City land and parking garage); Firm Realty/Lane Development ($14 million and a City parking garage); Southern Facilities ($15 million). Developer clients include Coscan, Trump Hollywood, Pinnacle/RAM (Sheridan Stationside Transit Oriented Development), Fortune, Cornerstone (Hollywood Stations), Triad (various affordable housing and tax credit projects), MCZ/Centrum (Sian, Tides, Satori, Crowne Plaza Hotel); Diplomat Hotel ; J.W. Harris (Pompano Beach); Plaza Group (Ocean Palms double density); U.S. Capital (Broward Fashion Mall); Sunshine Gasoline (various service stations).
- Lead lobbyist for Seawood Builders/Catalfumo – H.J. Russell on the hard fought right to design and build Broward County's new $50 million Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill. Negotiated significant change orders, code interpretations, and design criteria issues with County and City officials.
- Represented Embraer Aircraft, Inc. in its successful efforts to secure long term lease extension for aircraft maintenance, and parts distribution center adjacent to the North Runway at Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
- Worked on behalf of Ocean Harbor Insurance Company during a Special Session of the Florida Legislature to successfully re-enact PIP (Personal Injury Insurance) as a mandatory insurance in Florida. Worked with the Governors Office, House and Senate leaders, the Insurance Commissioner, and many others to reform and re-enact no fault insurance.
- Successfully entitled with land use and zoning one of the first Transit Oriented Developments, Sheridan Stationside Village
for developers Pinnacle Housing and RAM Development. The $500 million project includes over 1050 residential units, 599,000 square feet of commerical/office/hotel/retail space.
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Bar Admissions
Florida, 1985
District of Columbia, 1985
Education
J.D., American University, 1984
B.A., George Washington University, 1980, Phi Beta Kappa
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