Attorneys
Bernie Friedman
Chair

Perry M. Adair
Alan S. Becker
Edgar O. Castro**
William J. Cea
Crystal Connor-Lane
Nelson D. Diaz
Carlos J. Gimenez
Yolanda Cash Jackson
Alan B. Koslow
Steven B. Lesser
Gary A. Poliakoff
Keith M. Poliakoff
Miguel Diaz de la Portilla
Cedric A. McMinn**
Daniel S. Rosenbaum
Neil M. Schiller

Articles
	Hollywood: Law Firm is King in City Hall Miami Herald

Clients
Notable Client Accomplishments

** Not a member of the Florida Bar

Becker & Poliakoff includes an experienced and effective government law and lobbying team with attorneys who have distinguished themselves in the political, legislative and local governmental arenas. Government representation and advocacy have been a core practice for the firm since its founding in 1973.

Several of our attorneys have served in high-level government positions and therefore, have significant first-hand working knowledge of government practices and procedures. Founding shareholder, Alan Becker, served in the Florida Legislature before running for statewide office and U.S. Congress He is a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of Enterprise Florida Inc., the public-private economic development agency for the State of Florida and the Beacon Council, the economic development organization for Miami Dade County. Firm President, Gary Poliakoff serves as Town Attorney for the Town of Southwest Ranches. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla leads our government practice in Miami Dade County and is a former Chairman of the Miami-Dade County Commission. His brother, Alex, serves in the Florida State Senate and brother, Renier, is a member of the Miami-Dade County School Board. Bernie Friedman, the practice group's Chair is a former Chief of Staff to a U.S. Congressman, and was named a leading “Powerbroker” in Broward County by the Sun-Sentinel newspaper and a “King of City Hall” by the Miami Herald. Yolanda Cash Jackson, the group's State Government team leader, uses her “deep community roots” and “personal ties to influential personalities” Miami Herald to advance our clients interests with the legislative, Executive Agencies, and Governor. Alan Koslow is Florida 's leading gaming attorney and has also been called a “King of City Hall” by the Miami Herald. Keith Poliakoff uses his skills as a Town Attorney to lead our land use, zoning and developer entitlement practice in Broward County and throughout Florida. The Government team of attorneys also includes four current and former City attorneys, a former Chief Aide to Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, a former City Manager and Chief of Staff to a Dade County Commissioner, campaign managers for high level elected officials in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach and several attorneys who are high level appointees to state and local governing boards.

A Sampling of Our Clients
Our public sector clients include, for example: Broward County School Board (Construction), Palm Beach County (Litigation), Miami Dade County, Cities of Hollywood, Opa-Locka, Lauderdale Lakes, Pompano Beach, Miami Gardens, Miami, West Park, Doral, Miami Lakes and Palmetto Bay (Local Government Lobbying), Southwest Ranches (Town Attorney & Lobbying), plus special districts such as the Miami Dade Expressway Authority (Eminent Domain and Lobbying), the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach, Miami-Dade County School Board (Construction, Lobbying), and numerous others.

Private sector clients include, for example: Commerce Bank, FPL, Access Health Solutions, AT&T, Bally Gaming, Baltimore Orioles, Bethune Cookman College, Florida Association of Jewish Federations, Florida Memorial University, The Florida Bar - Family Law Section, Florida Retail Federation, The Isle Casino and Racing at Pompano Park, Duty Free Americas, Standard Parking, URS Corporation, Reynolds Smith and Hill, RAM Development, Westin-Diplomat Hotel, Pinnacle Housing, Marriott Corporation, Trump Hollywood, Fortune Development, Embraer Aircraft, Inc., Stiles Development and Construction, Seawood-Catalfumo, WSG Development, Ocean Properties, Coscan, MCZ/Centrum, Frontier Development, Sprint/Nextel, Kaplan University, Delaware North Food and Hospitality, Travelex Financial Services, Secure Wrap, ORACLE, Florida Medical Association, Lexus of Kendall, Arrow Cargo, Fraport, Central Auto Tag, Outdoor Resorts and others.

State Lobbying
The Firm's lobbying team is well-known and well-positioned to assist clients through the governmental processes at the state level. Our lobbyists have excellent long time working relationships with key legislative leaders, Cabinet members, local elected officials, other opinion leaders and key staff members. Our lobbying team has outstanding relationships with the House and Senate Majority and Minority Leaders and can work effectively both sides of the aisle.

Our State lobbying team has been hailed as the most diverse team in Tallahassee and able to cover more Legislators than any other team of lobbyists. Plus, with fourteen (14) Becker & Poliakoff offices in Florida, we literally connect with State Legislators in their home districts more than any other lobbying team.

Yolanda Cash Jackson leads our State lobbying team, and is one of the leading State Legislative lobbyists in Florida. Nelson Diaz, former Chief Aide to Speaker Marco Rubio, Cedric McMinn, former Aide to Representative Bendross-Mindingall, Edgar Castro, former State Legislative and Governors Aide,  and Practice Group Chair Bernie Friedman are also a part of the Tallahassee team.

The team has had great success assisting clients:

• securing hundreds of millions of dollars in state government appropriations;
  
  
• drafting, tracking, analyzing, thousands of pieces of legislation and advising clients on how to react;
  
  
• devising legislative strategies to defeat, pass, or amend legislation;
• building coalitions and organizing grass roots campaigns;
  
  
• preparing testimony, coordinating site visits, and meeting with the House and Senate Leaders, key Legislators and Committee Chairs;
  
  
• spearheading political campaigns and fundraising;

Our state lobbying client list is as diverse as our lobbying team and includes for example, The Isle Casino and Racing at Pompano Park, Premier Beverages, Florida Memorial University and other Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Access Health, HCA, Inc., Kaplan University, Florida Association of Jewish Federations, AT&T, Metro Miami Action Plan, Florida Retail Federation, Ocean Harbor Insurance, Sunshine Gasoline, SEIU Florida Health Care Division, Golden Rule Insurance and over a dozen local governments and other private sector clients.

Local Government Representation
Becker & Poliakoff has represented numerous public entities throughout Florida as General Counsel and as lobbyists. We are very familiar with statutes affecting governmental operations, procurement, contracting and other daily functions. In addition, our attorneys have significant experience in drafting and researching ordinances, ethics and elections laws, intergovernmental agreements, land use, annexation, zoning, state and federal legislation.

Land Use, Zoning, Planned Development, CRA & Environmental
The Firm has represented developers, contractors, and other business and local government interests in all phases of real property development, entitlement of property, zoning, density, height, setbacks, special exceptions, CRA economic incentives and land use. Our attorneys provide creative solutions in order to get a deal done. The combination of our pre-eminence in real estate, local governmental law, lobbying, and Construction law provides our developer clients with unique and unparalleled counsel in planning, developing and building projects. The Firm has also handled environmental matters in all arenas, including administrative, permitting, and litigation. The Firm has a successful track record in South Florida for increasing developer entitlements with huge density bonuses, height special exceptions, tens of millions of dollars in cash incentives to developers, and many creative zoning solutions. The Firm prides itself in working with civic and community groups to build consensus and propose out of the box winning strategies that unify communities.

The law Firm has vast experience in all aspects of local government approvals, site plans, signage, water-sewer permits, TCO's, CO's, environmental approvals, concurrency, etc. The Firm has successfully represented clients in over 50 different cities in Florida.

Former Miami Dade County Commission Chair Miguel Diaz de la Portilla heads our practice in Miami Dade County with Crystal Connor-Lane (former Chief of Staff to Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jimmy Morales), and long time South Dade activist and accomplished developer and zoning attorney Perry Adair. Alan Koslow and Keith Poliakoff lead our efforts in Broward and Neil Schiller and Dan Rosenbaum in Palm Beach. We are also involved in significant developer work in Tampa Bay and Southwest Florida.

Our developer client list includes the major Florida developers, such as Coscan, Trump, WSG, Ocean Properties, Cornerstone, Triad, Pinnacle, RAM, MCZ/Centrum, Isle of Capri Casinos, J.W. Harris, Carr Development, Engle, Lane, Firm Realty, Southern Facilities, Fortune, U.S. Capital, Diplomat Properties, Frontier Development, Prince Bush, United Trust Fund and many others.

Gaming Law
Our Firm represents more gaming related clients (casino owners, operators, equipment manufacturers, distributors, hotels, developer of retail entertainment and gaming, cruise to nowhere) than any other law firm in Florida. Alan Koslow leads our gaming practice. He serves as outside corporate counsel to Isle of Capri's Casino and Racing at Pompano Park.

Our Firm helped manage the winning Amendment Four political campaign and then helped draft the enabling Bill and Administrative Rules and procedures that implemented Amendment Four. We also quarterbacked all the local, state and county development approvals in the design and construction of the new $182 million Isle of Capri casino in Pompano Beach. Our Firm provides gaming related legal services to many clients on contracts, disclosures, licensing, distribution agreements, value adjustments, litigation, zoning, development, and collections. We represent Boyd Gaming (owner of Dania Jai-Alai) on disclosure and value adjustment issues, Mardi Gras Gaming and Racing (Hollywood Dog Track) on value adjustment issues), SeaEscape Cruises on local government lobbying, Bally Gaming on contracts and agreements, and Gaming Laboratories, Inc. on machine testing. We also represent Harrahs, MGM, Wynn, Casino Magic, Las Vegas Hilton, in collection matters.

Procurement of Goods, Services, Concessions By Governments
Several attorneys in our Firm have substantial experience in all aspects of drafting, negotiating, lobbying, and litigating procurement matters, including invitations for bids, requests for proposals, design-build contracts, change orders, bid disputes and payment and performance bond claims. Governmental entities, at all levels, purchase hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of goods and services from outside vendors. Everything from printing services, bus benches, garbage hauling, water-sewer expansions, concessions, to construction projects and much more are procured by government agencies. Becoming a government vendor can be very profitable for private companies who understand the complexities and nuances of governmental contracting.

Government procurement is a highly specialized area of the law for several reasons: each public body has a unique set of rules and regulations governing their procurement process which must be followed precisely; and often require extraordinary documentation in very short timeframes to submit, petition or protest an award. Thus, our experience in government procurement and insider's knowledge of the governmental process is vital for our clients who do business with governments and rely on our knowledge, contacts, responsiveness and determination to get the job done. Our attorneys have extraordinary insights into the Request for Letter of Interest (RLI) and Request for Proposal (RFP) processes used by most state, local and quasi governmental entities in Florida. Our attorneys have provided strategic and political advice, on call lobbying, and helped draft responses for literally hundreds of winning concessions, and contracts bids. We also have a successful record throughout Florida in helping clients win multi-million dollar concessions and contracts for food, retail, duty free, billboards, bus benches, for hire transportation, shuttle services, luggage wrapping, luggage carts, currency exchange, phone cards, hotels, construction and engineering services, etc.

Services Offered on Procurement

• Representation in government procurement process, including assistance in review and submittal of bids and responses to requests for proposals, requests for qualifications, requests for letters of interests, and other public solicitations.
  
  
• Monitoring/notification/assistance with review of public advertisements and availability of public project.
• Placement on public vendor list with purchasing divisions for government agencies.
  
  
• Review of terms and conditions of advertisements for government contracts.
  
  
• Review of submittal requirements set forth in procurement documents.
  
  
• Assistance in preparation and review of bids, proposals, qualifications, and letter of interest in government contracts.
  
  
• Government relations activities to lobby and interact with government officials to further clients' goals.
  
  
• Advisement as to applicable statutory and administrative rights and remedies – re: qualification, ranking, award, and protest in government contracts.
  
  
• Intervention in challenging government agency actions, preparation of protest petitions, and representation of clients in all phases of contract awards, including qualifications, rankings, and contract negotiations.
  
  
• Intervention in defense of awards challenged by competitive bidders or third parties
  
  
• Negotiation with government agencies re: resolution of government contract disputes.
  
  
• Representation in negotiating final contracts pursuant to government contract awards, including issues such as terms of payment, contractual liability, or insurance coverage and other mandatory contractual provisions.
  
  
• Assistance with development and maintenance of governmental contract relations.

CALL Community Association Leadership Lobby
Becker & Poliakoff, P.A. has its very own statewide lobbying organization on behalf of its over 4,000 Condominium & Homeowner association Clients. CALL monitors and responds to legislation emerging from Tallahassee that impacts condominiums, homeowner associations, mobile home communities and cooperatives. CALL communicates with tens of thousands of concerned Floridians primarily through its website www.callbp.com, and through email alerts, which enables us to activate a grass roots network on issues of importance. The CALL model can easily be adapted to many other lobbying causes.

Government Litigation
Becker & Poliakoff has extensive experience representing governmental entities and private sector clients in litigation in a wide range of matters including trials and appeals of infrastructure and land use, zoning, setbacks, height, density, compatibility, contract disputes, construction defects, interpretation and constitutionality of statutes and rules, foreclosures, boundary and title disputes, license and employment agreements, eminent domain suits, environmental cases, insurance coverage and claims disputes, telecommunications, public records, ad valorem tax cases and virtually the entire spectrum of civil matters affecting government and business. A few examples:

• Markham v. PPI, Inc., 843 So. 2d 922 ( Fla. 4th DCA). Ad valorem taxation of Pompano Harness Track;
  
  
• Ramekin v. Palm Beach County, 768 So. 2d 1217 ( Fla. 4th DCA). Trial of eminent domain proceedings to construct golf course on noise impacted real estate by aircraft using primary runway at Palm Beach International Airport.

Construction Litigation/Construction Law
With more Board Certified Construction attorneys in Florida than any other law firm in Florida, we are perhaps most well-known and experienced in construction law litigation. We routinely engage in matters on behalf of both owners and builders regarding disputes in almost every aspect of the building process and in litigation involving contract disputes, construction defects and delays. The Firm has represented the Broward County School Board since 1994 and has handled literally hundreds of delay and defect claims, and helped rewrite all of the Board's construction-related contracts. The firm was also hired by the Miami-Dade County School Board for similar work.

Telecommunications Law
Our attorneys counsel both public and private clients in this areas: cable television agreements, siting and approval issues for telecommunications towers, franchise renewals and modifications, customer service regulation, right of way use, permitting, design of wireless networks and implementation of institutional networks. Our attorneys have also worked on significant industry issues such as Open Access, local government ordinances, and the mergers of large telecommunications companies and their impact on local government franchises.

Real Estate
Real Estate is one of the basic strengths of the firm. We are fully capable of handling any and all real estate related matters for local governmental entities. We have experience in all aspects of real property transactions representing owners (many which are governments), developers, lenders, lessee, lessors, buyers and sellers. It is safe to say there is no type of real estate transaction we are not eminently qualified and experienced to handle. We provide a seamless representation for our clients in the acquisition of real estate, entitlement of the real estate by governments, construction, closing, title insurance and turnover.

Contracts
Contracts representation is one of the primary practice areas of Becker & Poliakoff.

We draft, negotiate and, if necessary, litigate contracts as part of our day to day practice. It would be difficult to find a matter for which we have not drafted or negotiated a contract, including but certainly not limited to construction, professional services, interlocal agreements, bid documents, complex leases, and complex purchase and sale agreements.

Florida Administrative Procedures (F.A.P.)
Our attorneys are frequently involved in administrative matters ranging from zoning/land use, to matters before the State agencies, as well a local planning and zoning boards and Regional Planning Council. The firm has handled lengthy and complex F.A.P. issues for Governmental and non-governmental clients. The Firm also has extensive experiences with the Florida Public Records Act, Sunshine Laws, Sovereign Immunity, and Government Ethics and campaign laws.

Notable Client Accomplishments

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