Top best Civil Rights Lawyers in Fort Lauderdale | 53 available

Since joining Colodny, Fass, Talenfeld, Karlinsky, Abate & Webb in 1992, Maria Elena Abate has built her reputation and expertise in the areas of civil rights claims, class action litigation, governmental affairs and insurance matters representing individuals, corporations and state agencies in cases dealing with discrimination, constitutional violations, insurance, employment and health care issues.. Being named partner in 1997 and shareholder in 2001 affirmed Ms. Abate’s strengths as an attorney, client advocate and respected leader among her peers.. Prior to joining the Firm, Ms. Abate served as a staff attorney for The Honorable Arthur M. Birken, the Honorable Miette K. Burnstein, the Honorable Robert L. Andrews, the Honorable Patricia W. Cocalis, the Honorable Mel Grossman the late Honorable Joseph E. Price, and the late Honorable Stephen R. Booher of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County, Florida.. An attorney skilled in complex insurance issues, Ms. Abate has been involved in the representation of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation and has represented the Florida Residential Property and Casualty Joint Underwriting Association, as well as the Department of Insurance, Division of Rehabilitation and Liquidation Services.. For six years, Ms. Abate served as General Counsel to the South Florida Workforce Board for Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.. A member of the Florida Bar, Ms. Abate is admitted to practice in all Florida state and appellate courts, the United States District Court for the Southern, Middle, and Northern Districts of Florida, the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit and the United States Supreme Court. She is a member of the Florida Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Broward County Bar Association, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida Legal Panel in Miami-Dade County, and the Stakeholder’s Committee for the United States Equal Opportunity Commission Miami District Office.. Ms. Abate chairs the Florida Bar’s Public Interest Law Section's Legal Needs of Children Committee and is a member of the Bar's Public Interest Law Executive Committee.. She also is a founding board member of the Florida Breast Health Initiative, a charitable organization dedicated to providing free mammograms to uninsured women.. Fluent in Spanish, Ms. Abate received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Miami, cum laude, and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Miami School of Law, cum laude.

I was born on August 26, the anniversary of the day that women won the right to vote. Being politically active and an advocate for women's rights came naturally. A legacy or destiny.. I started college with no thought of becoming an employment discrimination lawyer. As an award-winning high-school artist (National First Prize in the "Hallmark Cards High School Talent Search") I won a full scholarship to Michigan State University, from which I graduated (magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa) with an ever-so-useful degree in Art History.. My radicalizing experience for a born-on-the-26th-of-August woman was not so much an epiphany as a reality check: getting passed over for promotion in my first job out of college for a man because "you'll get married, get pregnant and quit." Women in the 70s were supposed to have husbands, babies and homes, not careers. I sensed that I'd been discriminated against, but didn't know what to do about it. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was only a few years old. Few lawyers brought gender discrimination suits. (The only reason that women had been included in Title VII’s protections was because a segregationist opponent sponsored a floor amendment, thinking that including women would create enough baggage to sink the proposed law.). Jump forward a few years and I was “married with children.” I attended an organizational meeting for a Fort Lauderdale chapter of the National Organization for Women and its message of equality catapulted me into driving around the state for two years in a 1960 Oldsmobile with two babies in tow to organize NOW chapters. I ran for and was elected to the NOW National Board of Directors in 1972. I lobbied in Tallahassee for the Equal Rights Amendment in 1973 and 1974. When the ERA didn’t pass, its proponents threatened to run for office. A male legislator told me that "no one like you (a women’s libber)" could ever get elected. Wrong. I ran and, in 1974 (at age 27), became the first woman from Broward County, Florida, to serve in the Florida House of Representatives. My campaign slogan during that Watergate/watershed year: It's time.. One term in the Florida House was enough. I retired from politics and went to law school, graduating and becoming a lawyer in 1979.. In 1982, I married my now-partner and soul mate Bill Amlong (a former Miami Herald reporter I had met while I was in Tallahassee but that's another story). We started our little mom and pop law firm that year, struggling like most small businesses do. Then I did a lot of family law, while Bill did a little bit of everything.. And then Bill started litigating the discrimination cases my NOW colleagues referred to us, which got us started in employment law. We are still a mom and pop law firm, although we have grown far beyond our initial vision. Now we concentrate almost exclusively on cases involving employment rights. Together, Bill and I have tried and settled hundreds of discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful termination cases. We've done well. I won Florida's first significant sexual harassment judgment. Stockett v. Tolin, 791 F. Supp. 1536 (S.D. Fla. 1992). Bill won a Supreme Court case that changed the contours of sexual harassment litigation. Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 775 (1998). In 2018, we tried and won a case, Igwe v. City of Miami, in the Top 100 Verdicts in Florida.. I have practiced 40 years. I am AV Peer Review Rated through Martindale-Hubbell. I've been a Super Lawyer since 2007. I have lectured extensively on employment law, discrimination and sexual harassment on local, state, national and international levels.. I believe in people being judged on what they can do, not on things they can't change like their gender, their race or their age. I love what I do. Nothing is more satisfying than watching a client who came into my office crushed by losing a job or powerless in the face of workplace discrimination regain their confidence.. I can help you fight back against workplace injustice. I can use what I’ve learned in 40 years of practice to help you get the pay or promotion or severance package you deserve. I can point to the results in cases I’ve tried to help convince your former employer to make a fair settlement without litigation. And if your case goes to trial, you’ll have the benefit of the thousands of hours I’ve spent in the courtroom, preparing me to try my most important case yet: yours.. Think about it.

I have been handling all kinds of civil litigation since 1982.  This includes personal injury, commercial and business disputes, medical malpractice, consumer protection litigation, and family law.  Typical clients are consumers and small businesses.  I am licensed in Florida and California.

For over twenty five years, Attorney Mark J. Berkowitz has successfully assisted clients throughout South Florida with labor and employment law matters. He previously practiced with a labor and employment firm in Philadelphia; and since 1995, he has operated his own practice, based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, however, he handles matters throughout Florida; however, he has handled complex matters out of state with the assistance of local counsel. He has resolved issues ranging from age discrimination and sexual harassment, to wage and hour claims and issues involving prohibited retaliation and mass layoffs. Mr. Berkowitz applies his experience and knowledge to each matter which he handles, in a specific and personal way for each client.. Mark Berkowitz focuses his practice on employee representation and employment discrimination matters before both state and federal courts; as well as government administrative agencies, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Florida Commission on Human Relations. These litigation matters involve cases related to claims of discrimination based on race, national origin, religion and gender, including, pregnancy and sexual harassment, as well as claims based on age, disability, medical leave; under the Family Medical Leave Act, retaliation and whistle-blower claims. He also handles claims involving issues of unfair competition, breach of the duty of fair representation, unpaid wages and non-compete and trade secret claims; and additionally, he engages clients in the negotiation of employment contracts and severance agreements.. Mark Berkowitz has represented numerous federal employees before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Merit System Protection Board; and he has also represented state employees before the Florida Commission on Human Relations, the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings and the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission. He has also represented employees of various federal agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in both Florida and throughout the United States. Most recently, Mr. Berkowitz has served as lead counsel for Transportation Security Employees, who are represented by American Federation of Labor (“AFGE”) Local 558, throughout South Florida. In addition, Mr. Berkowitz has assisted state and local employees, including members of the United Corrections Officers Federation of Miami-Dade County, in arbitrations before hearing officers; local civil service boards and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.. Mark Berkowitz is admitted to practice before all state courts in Florida. Additionally, he is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida and the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. He has also been featured as a speaker at various labor and employment law conferences and seminars; and he is a published author, in the Florida Bar Journal. Mr. Berkowitz has served on the Executive Board of the Florida Chapter of the National Employment Lawyers Association; as well as on the Cabinet of the Business and Professionals Division of the South Palm Beach Jewish Federation.

For over 43 years I have been an expert lawyer specializing in POLICE ABUSE, police misconduct, false arrest, excessive force. illegal search, criminal defense (trial and appeals), and civil rights cases. I represent clients in the state and federal courts suing police officers as well as clients charged with all levels of crimes ranging from petit theft to first degree murder including federal charges of drug trafficking and continuing criminal enterprises. I am also an expert lawyer specializing in appeals in all Florida and federal appeal courts.. I became a member of the Bar in 1979. In addition to my over 36 years of private practice experience, I served as a prosecutor (assistant state attorney) in Broward County and a chief of the Florida Medicaid Fraud Unit.. In my civil rights/police misconduct practice, I sued and won cases against the FBI, Miami Beach Police Department, Ft. Lauderdale Police Department, Miami-Dade Police Department, Hialeah Police Department, Broward Sheriff's Office, Palm Beach Sheriff's Office, Brevard County Sheriff's Office, Ft. Pierce Police Department, Port St. Lucie Police Department, Hendry County Sheriff's Office, Hollywood Police Department, Davie Police Department, Coral Springs Police Department, Lauderhill Police Department, Hallandale Police Department, Surfside Police Department, Boynton Beach Police Department, Sweetwater Police Department, Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), Highway Patrol, Martin County Sheriff's Office  and many others. I have obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars for my clients who suffered at the hands (and feet) of law enforcement officers.. I argued the case of Smith v. United States, 508 U.S. 223 (1993), before the Supreme Court of the United States where the justices of the Supreme Court appointed me to represent the petitioner John Angus Smith. Harvard Law School uses that case to teach statutory construction to its law students.. In addition, I was counsel in a 221 person class action suit, Jones v. Sheriff, 9 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. D107 (S.D. Fla. 1995), against the local Sheriff where the federal judge determined that the Sheriff's procedure of holding people in jail after they were found not guilty was unconstitutional The judge awarded over $1,000, (one million dollars) to the class.

Florida Child Advocate Blog -. Howard Talenfeld, shareholder in the firm since 1982, focuses his practice on protecting the rights of vulnerable individuals in civil rights cases, personal injury cases and systemic reform litigation. He has litigated cases that have resulted in multi-million dollar settlements and jury verdicts that changed how governmental and private institutions care for children and the elderly. Mr. Talenfeld is also experienced in litigating complex commercial and class action cases in state and federal courts.. In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, Mr. Talenfeld represented the state of Florida in its major class-action law suits dealing with the foster care system, children’s mental health system, juvenile justice system, state psychiatric hospitals and the provision of Medicaid services to the developmentally disabled, among others. Nationally, he pioneered defending these cases by advocating for the improvement and reform of human service systems, while protecting states’ rights and avoiding federal over-sight. He has represented governors, secretaries of state, state agencies, Florida’s Insurance Commissioner, the Florida Legislature and Florida’s Auditor General in civil rights cases in federal and state court.. His successes in the areas of children’s and elderly rights have garnered Mr. Talenfeld his greatest personal accomplishments. In 1996, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Youth Law Center, a national children’s advocacy group. He helped the organization develop into a viable entity that assist at-risk youth and teens. Continuing that path, he began an effort to coordinate a statewide organization of child advocates who would help Florida’s at-risk children. In 2002, he became the founding President of Florida’s Children First! (FCF). Comprised of advocates from throughout the state of Florida, FCF works through multi-forum advocacy before the executive branch, the Florida Legislature and the Florida Courts to protect children who are at risk in foster care and in the delinquency system in Florida. Mr. Talenfeld was instrumental in the passage of landmark legislation in Florida, including the Foster Children Bill of Rights, Florida’s pilot project on representation of foster children in Dependency Court, and Florida’s breakthrough interagency education bill for foster children.. Mr. Talenfeld’s litigation successes have utilized creative legal approaches to achieve extraordinary results. In 1998, he served as lead counsel in the Broward County foster care class action, Ward v. Kearney. The resulting settlement agreement greatly improved child welfare practice and more than tripled the District 10 budget for its child welfare system from $38 million to more than $100 million. In 1999, he achieved another major victory, this time for the Florida’s developmentally disabled population in Baumstein v. Sunrise Community, Inc. 738 So. 2d 420, (Fla. 3DCA 1999). The case established the existence of a private cause of action for damages for the violation of Florida’s Bill of Rights for the developmentally disabled. He also was the first attorney in Florida to utilize 42 USC § 1983, the federal civil rights damage statute, to recover a damage award in excess of Florida’s sovereign immunity limit of $100,000 on behalf of a foster child. In the 2002 case, Roe v. Florida Department of Children & Family Services, 176 F. Supp. 2d 1310 (S.D. Fla. 2001), Mr. Talenfeld negotiated a landmark $5 million settlement and focused the nation’s attention on the case in an episode of ABC’s 20/20.. Beyond his courtroom successes, Mr. Talenfeld has been a forceful advocate for change. He has argued for systemic reform litigation before many state and national groups, including the U.S. Congress, the National Association of State Mental Health Lawyers, the American Public Welfare Association and many Florida legislative committees.. Mr. Talenfeld is a member of the American Bar Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, and the National Association of Council for Children. He previously chaired the Litigation/Class Action Committee and was a representative for the State of Florida to the National Association of Mental Health Attorneys (1993). Mr. Talenfeld has received numerous awards, including the Florida Bar President's 2006 Pro Bono Service Award for the 17th Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County, Florida. He currently is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell.. Among other memberships, Mr. Talenfeld chairs the Broward Days Children's Issues Team (2000-present), was a Director of Florida's Voice of the Mentally Retarded and sat on the Steering Committee for Citizens for Broward's Children in 2000. He was also former Director with the Youth Law Center in San Francisco, CA. Among civic organizations, he was former President and Director of the Cypress Head Club Inc.; and is on the City of Parkland Board of Adjustment and Planning and Zoning Board, which he chaired for many years. He served on the Board of Trustees and chaired the Campaign Committee of Temple Kol Tikvah, was a Board Member of Hurricane Relief for Miami Foster Kids Inc., served as a Big Brother, and has coached various sports teams, including soccer, baseball and softball.. Mr. Talenfeld received his bachelors of business administration degree from University of Miami School of Business, and his Juris Doctorate from University of Miami School of Law, cum laude.

David is an experienced and exceptionally gifted attorney with over 25 years of experience. He devoted 22 years of his career as a prosecutor with the State Attorney’s Office in Broward County, Florida. As a senior trial attorney he was responsible for many high profile and complex cases including homicide, sex crimes, and career criminals. David is widely recognized within the legal community for his exceptional legal ability and trial skills, and is regularly sought out by his peers for his expertise and advice.. David dedicates a significant amount of time serving the veteran community, both as a pro bono attorney, and as a founding member and board member of Connected Warriors, a non-profit organization that offers free yoga to service members, veterans, and their families. His passion and intention to help the men and women of our military comes from a very simple belief in the power of selfless service.