LITIGATION DEPARTMENT OF THE YEAR Levine Kellogg Lehman Schneider + Grossman With 16 attorneys, Levine Kellogg Lehman Schneider + Grossman plays an outsized role in complex litigation and receiverships, often applying outside-the-box strategies to return money to their clients. Working with co-counsel at Rodriguez Tramont & Nunez, Levine Kellogg secured a $25 million settlement in a case referred to as a unicorn because of the unprecedented recovery for the trustees of more than 39,000 retirement plan accounts. Merrill Lynch was accused of failing to fully pay a $79 million agreement with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for failing to provide sales charge waivers on mutual fund purchases by small business retirement accounts. U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke in Miami agreed with the Miami law firm that Merrill Lynch had a fiduciary duty to the plaintiffs under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which allows corrective repayment and disgorgement of profits. Merrill Lynch argued any profits were worth at most $700,000, but the plaintiffs sought $48 million before settling close to the middle. In other cases, Levine Kellogg served as special litigation counsel to help secure a $150 million settlement with Raymond James in the largest securities fraud reported to date in the EB-5 immigrant visa program. Miami businessman Ariel Quiros was implicated in a $350 million fraud with a grand plan to redevelop and expand the Jay Peak ski resort in Vermont, and Raymond James was accused of aiding and abetting fraudulent fundraising. The law firm also obtained a $22.2 million judgment after pursuing litigation in four states against high-yield mortgage investment companies tied to an executive accused of stashing assets around the world to avoid paying two judgments entered against him in Florida in 2011. In another circuitous money hunt, attorneys at Levine Kellogg secured a $1.8 million settlement tied to Miami Beach's Artecity condominium development by buying rights to a judgment at auction on a different project involving the same defunct contractor. And a $7.2 million settlement with Banc of America Merchant Services LLC, a merchant credit card processor, was reached by the firm, which was serving as the receiver, and the Florida attorney general's office in a tech support scam at Boynton Beach-based GoReady Calls Marketing LLC.   LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT Bryant Miller Olive Bryant Miller Olive attorneys secured significant wins for their clients — one public, one private — on procedural grounds that made risky cases go away. In a case for client Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission affirmed its general counsel's dismissal of teacher pay claims. About 40 instructional employees lodged an unfair labor practice complaint against both the school district and the United Teachers of Dade, claiming bad faith bargaining on a contract ratified in 2015. The allegations carried a high-stakes risk: potentially statewide recalculations involving a potentially huge amount of pay adjustments up and down. The commission ruled the individual teachers lacked standing to bring their claims under the statute they cited. The decision was made without reaching the merits of the case. In an upcoming matter, a federal version of the litigation is pending with different legal theories, and Bryant Miller is still involved. In the private case, the Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed a temporary injunction and bond in a title company's case against a former independent contractor, Jennifer Burke. Sunco Title & Escrow Co. accused her of breaking a noncompete clause by performing services for several Sunco clients. On appeal, Burke and two related companies argued the trial court erred in setting bond without an evidentiary hearing. The appellate court ruled the case wasn't on a valid procedural footing for appeal because Burke failed to claim any deficiency in the proposed order covering the injunction and bond in the trial court before or after it was issued. The firm's five-member labor and employment litigation department started at the Muller Mintz boutique, which merged into Akerman in 2004. They arrived at Bryant Miller in 2008 under the leadership of group chair James Crosland. He started representing employers before the National Labor Relations Board in the 1970s. The team now represents dozens of cities, the Miami-Dade and Broward schools districts, six state colleges, housing and transportation authorities, special districts and a wide range of private sector clients. The group is based in Miami as part of the 37-attorney firm with its managing partner in Tampa and its administrative offices in Tallahassee.   REAL ESTATE & OTHER LITIGATION Assouline & Berlowe The Miami law firm won an order vacating a $2.3 million default judgment against a Mexican national who lived in Mexico and had Miami real estate holdings. Andres Alvarez Fonseca approached Assouline & Berlowe after learning of the judgment. The firm moved to vacate the judgment for failing to comply with the Hague Convention on service. With the motion pending, platiniff WF Worldwide tried to collect on the judgment and obtained a charging order against the limited liability company that held the client's real estate interests in Miami. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Eric Hendon quashed service, erased the default judgment and vacated the charging order. Assouline & Berlowe then accepted service and moved for dismissal on jurisdiction and forum grounds or to compel arbitration. That was the last filing in the case, which has been closed. In a case filed in 2007, the firm reached an amicable resolution on attorney fees for a client who lost his life savings in a Miami Beach mortgage fraud. The Assouline & Berlowe attorneys for Akbar Nikooie reported spending over 3,500 hours on the case against JPMorgan Chase and Attorneys' Title Insurance Fund, which were represented by four law firms. A trial only on fees before Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Joseph Farina produced a $1.5 million award, including a 2.25 contingency fee multiplier. The subsequent settlement ended 10 years of litigation. In an appeal, the firm established a previously unrecognized position that attorneys could file a lis pendens on real estate for work saving the property from foreclosure. The law firm's client was the personal representative of the late attorney James Keegan, who died with large receivables due for his work for one client with over 25 foreclosure cases. The law firm was formed in 2003 by former Weil, Gotshal & Manges attorneys Eric Assouline and Peter Berlowe and now has seven attorneys. About 65 percent of the firm's revenue comes from litigation. The firm also pursues significant patient infringement litigation.