Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP
01 November 2007
Bilzin Sumberg’s Miami office is home to over 100 attorneys from a range of legal backgrounds. The firm serves national and international clients in a wide spectrum of industries, including construction, financial services, hospitality, manufacturing, technology and real estate. Ten Bilzin Sumberg partners are included in the following pages across six practice areas.
Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP in Who's Who Legal: Florida
The firm scored most strongly in our research for its real estate practice. Bilzin Sumberg has three partners featured among the leading lawyers in the state and the real estate group was described to researchers as “truly outstanding and nationally respected”. In the past year, the group has handled $75 billion of CMBS transactions, representing 36 per cent of the entire US market, and it was praised in particular for its real estate financing and its land use capabilities; it counts Lennar Homes of California, the US’s biggest homebuilder, among its clients. The “very high-profile” Brian Bilzin is a co-founder of the firm and is “the key contact” for that client. John Sumberg is a “major player in the field”, while the highly rated chair of the real estate group, James Shindell, is known for his representation of Argent Ventures in the acquisition and redevelopment of Omni Mall. The final partner featured in the chapter is Stanley Price, “the go-to guy for land use in Florida”, according to our sources. Price also features in the environment chapter, where he is rated as “the best in town for land use”. Repeatedly recommended to researchers, he was described as a “wonderful lawyer, a gentleman and … the greatest of competitors”.
In addition, partners from the firm gained recognition in five further areas. Both co-chairs of the firm’s corporate and securities practice appear in the M&A chapter. Alan Axelrod is extremely well regarded, and the work of Daniel Aronson is said to be “technically impeccable”. Aronson also appears in the corporate governance chapter as a leading expert, and he was recognised for his participation in the drafting of Florida’s takeover statutes, as well as various revisions to Florida’s Business Corporation Act.
Scott Baena is Bilzin Sumberg’s restructuring and bankruptcy chair, and appears in the corresponding chapter of this book. Especially well known for his creditors’ rights and litigation work, he is a “fine, experienced lawyer”.
Samuel Ullman is a “specialist” in corporate tax, and regarded as a “fantastic lawyer” by his peers. A Florida bar board certified tax attorney, Ullman has served as tax counsel to SunCruz Casinos LLC and the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic in recent years.
To see more profiled firms from Florida, vist the Firm Profiles page in the Florida Special Report