Press Release

Date:  3/10/2006

Six Leading Attorneys Join Broad And Cassel’s Miami Office Firm Also Adds Two New Statewide Practice Groups

ORLANDO, FL; March 6, 2006 — Statewide law firm, Broad and Cassel, continued implementation of its strategic growth plan in Miami, with the recent addition of six outstanding attorneys and two new practice groups since the start of 2006.

In the last seven weeks alone the firm has added six leading attorneys from the area, including partners Patricia M. Baloyra from Tew Cardenas and Ronald Albert, Jr., from Holland and Knight; Vivian de las Cuevas-Diaz, who joins as Of Counsel from Weiss Serota Helfman Pastoriza Cole & Boniske, P.A.; and associates Miriam Alfonso, Isabel C. Diaz, and John Gravante. 

These new attorneys, as well as existing staff, will help support the firm’s new statewide practice groups, Insurance and Financial Services and Public Finance and Capital Projects.

Mark F. Raymond, P.A., who joined the firm in January 2005 and was named managing partner four months later, has continually focused on his vision to grow the Miami office into a firm that serves a diverse market with growing needs.

Patricia M. Baloyra joined the firm this year as a partner in the firm’s Land Use and Environmental Law Practice Group. Ms. Baloyra previously served as an assistant city attorney for various municipalities in Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe County, and has extensive experience in intergovernmental relations and municipal government. She has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Miami and received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Ronald Albert, Jr., joined the firm in January as a partner in the Corporate and Securities Practice Group. Recognized by Florida Trend Magazine as a “Legal Elite,” and a Martindale-Hubbell AV-Rated Attorney, Mr. Albert has extensive experience in a broad array of corporate transactions. He is also an active member of the community, currently serving as the chairman of the Mount Sinai Medical Center Young Presidents Club, a member on the executive committee of the Mount Sinai Medical Center Foundation, vice president of Temple Beth Shalom, and treasurer for the Lawyers for Children America.

Most recently, Vivian de las Cuevas-Diaz and Isabel C. Diaz joined the firm’s Real Estate Practice Group, as Of Counsel and Associate respectively. Previously with Weiss Serota Helfman Pastoriza Cole & Boniske, P.A., de las Cuevas-Diaz and Diaz bring extensive experience in multi-million dollar real estate transactions and commercial lending representing both developers and banks.  Paralegal Yandra Hernandez has also joined the firm as a result of the transition.

Miriam Alfonso, who also began her legal career at Broad and Cassel in 1998, returned to the firm as an associate in the Corporate and Securities Practice Group. A magna cum laude graduate of The University of Miami Law School, Ms. Alfonso most recently worked in the Corporate Department with Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson, P.A.

John Gravante, who graduated second in his class at the University of Miami School of Law, joined the firm’s Commercial Litigation Practice Group as an associate. Gravante also graduated with honors from Florida Atlantic University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. He now serves the University of Miami School of Law as an adjunct professor in legal research and writing. Gravante previously worked with Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton, P.A.

The firm’s two new practice groups also represent significant steps in the statewide strategic growth plan.  Raymond will serve as the South Florida representative of the new Insurance and Financial Services Practice Group, which is chaired by A. Kenneth Levine, a partner in the Tallahassee office.  Services within this area range from licensing and compliance
issues to complex litigation for such clients as life and health insurers, property/casualty carriers, health maintenance organizations, managed care organizations, insurance agencies and adjusting firms. 

Orlando Partners Joseph B. Stanton and Douglas Starcher chair the new Public Finance and Capital Projects Practice Group, which was formed to handle the increasing volume of municipal finance transactions across the state.  South Florida representatives of the Public Finance and Capital Projects Practice Group include, Ronald Albert., Jr., Mark F. Raymond and Jeffrey Robinson. Backed by extensive experience in this area, the Broad and Cassel team is poised to serve as bond counsel, disclosure counsel, underwriter’s counsel or bank counsel in a wide range of public finance and projects issues.

Broad and Cassel established its founding office in Miami in 1946. The firm’s Miami attorneys focus their practices primarily in the following areas of law: Commercial Litigation, Corporate and Securities, Eminent Domain, Estate Planning and Trusts, Health Law, Insurance Defense and Risk Management, International Law, Labor and Employment Law, and Real Estate. Broad and Cassel, founded on January 1, 1946, has nearly 170 lawyers and 200 support personnel located in eight offices throughout the state of Florida. The firm has extensive experience in a wide variety of corporate practice areas and industries. For more information, please visit us online at www.broadandcassel.com.

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