At 15, Michael J. Gelfand got his first lesson in behind-the-scenes real estate.

It was less than glamorous.

“I started out doing janitorial work in apartment buildings in Little Havana, Hialeah and Opa-locka,” said Gelfand, now an arbitrator, homeowner association mediator and board-certified real estate lawyer. “Opa-locka in the mid '70s was a very rough place. Probably still is.”

In those days, he'd go after school and on holiday breaks to work for a company that managed apartments in some of Miami-Dade County's poorest neighborhoods. There, the teenage Gelfand fixed plumbing and did masonry, roofing, painting and general handyman chores until his early college years.

By 20, he'd cleaned up messes and patched holes in about a dozen buildings across the county.

“It was a job that was available, and it paid,” he said.

Decades later, Gelfand's name morphed into one of Florida's most recognized in real estate law.

In his 35-year legal career, Gelfand has sat on the Palm Beach Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission and held leadership positions among his peers. He chaired the Florida Bar's real property, probate and trust law section, helping lead more than 10,000 members in one of the bar's largest substantive law groups. As director of the section's real property division, he chaired its legislative review and condominium and planned development committees.

Gelfand also led the Palm Beach County Bar Association's community association law continuing legal education committee. He was a multiterm special master for Boca Raton and chaired the city's Builders' Board of Adjustment & Appeals.

The senior partner of Gelfand & Arpe in West Palm Beach focuses his practice on community association law. For more than a decade, he's also helped lead ARC Mediation LLC, whose marketing material describes it as Palm Beach County's largest mediation and arbitration firm.

SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY

Peers seek him out for presentations to the American Bar Association, American Legal Institute, American College of Real Estate Lawyers, Florida Bar and other professional groups.

But Gelfand traces his success back to those after-school days of manual labor when he also clocked hours at his family's rug-cleaning business.

Gelfand's father, Lionel, was a social worker, while his mother, Shirley, ran the office for the family business. They required their son to participate.

“You felt proud that you were involved in something productive,” Gelfand said. “Looking back, there was always a sense of responsibility.”

Colleagues got a glimpse of that work ethic when a lawyer left the firm and Gelfand moved into the newly vacated office in the early 1980s. As he lifted moving boxes, Gelfand realized one contained the firm's accounts receivables for a slew of personal injury cases. They involved soft-tissue injury, such as whiplash, which were difficult to prove in court.

If insurers refused to settle, Gelfand took them to trial.

“I was trying cases week after week,” he said.

His colleagues started to take notice as he turned the pile of accounts receivables into revenue.

“Lo and behold, I was able to collect a good portion of it and apparently became a valued asset at the firm,” Gelfand said.

In 18 months, he rose from associate to name partner and shareholder at Abramson, Ansel & Gelfand in Miami.

Gelfand spent the next decade honing his litigation skills at Becker & Poliakoff and St. John & King before moving to Gelfand & Arpe in 1991.

“As you can tell I've drunk the Kool-Aid,” he said. “I look at where I am today. My parents and grandparents would never have imagined.”

Born: July 1957, Chicago

Spouse: Mary C. Arpe

Child: Sarah E. Gelfand

Education: University of Florida, J.D., 1982; Northwestern University, B.S.S., 1979

Experience: Senior shareholder, Gelfand & Arpe, 1991-present; Chairman, Florida Bar real property, probate and trust law section, 2015-2016; Real estate litigation supervisor, St. John & King, 1989-1991; Senior associate, Becker & Poliakoff, 1984-1989; Shareholder, Abramson, Ansel & Gelfand, 1982-1983; Law clerk, McGalliard, Mills & DeMontmollin, 1981-1982