The Daily Business Review is recognizing four litigation departments at small law firms with fewer than 70 attorneys in Florida for their powerhouse practices as part of the annual Professional Excellence Awards. Many firms have carved out courtroom specialties serving major clients and government agencies, and a select few have been chosen for their noteworthy litigation achievements in 2018. Awards will be presented to the honorees at a recognition event set May 23 at the Rusty Pelican in Miami. LITIGATION DEPARTMENT OF THE YEAR-SMALL FIRMS LEVINE KELLOGG LEHMAN SCHNEIDER + GROSSMAN The 14 litigators at Levine Kellogg Lehman Schneider + Grossman pursue complex cases that are a bit off the beaten path and found success last year in cases ranging from fraud recovery to real estate disputes. Levine Kellogg's Jeffrey C. Schneider was appointed by the Florida attorney general's office to chase money extracted by the GoReady tech support fraud. Deceptive pop-up windows tricked consumers into believing their computers were infected with malware, and they were directed to GoReady for cleanup. GoReady's credit card transactions were processed by Banc of America Merchant Services, and Schneider reached a $7.2 million settlement with the processor to gain a full recovery for the victims. In a case that ended last September, attorney Lawrence Kellogg chased assets around the world and litigated in Florida, California, Nevada and New York to retrieve funds redirected by Jeffrey Kirsch to avoid paying two Florida judgments dating back to 2011. Attorney Tom Lehman won confirmation of a joint Chapter 11 reorganization plan to resolve a management deadlock at Fisherman's Pier Inc., owner of the pier restaurant in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. Client Spiro Marchelos and his incapacitated brother were co-owners, but Marchelos and his sister-in-law were unable to resolve their differences. The company was solvent, but the bankruptcy case was used as a vehicle to place Marchelos in control of a company with 50-50 stakeholders. Attorney Victor Petrescu successfully defended homeowners Max and Smadar Hefter when U.S. Bank N.A. tried to reforeclose a $1.3 million mortgage due to a mistake on a two-parcel mortgage. The old mortgage listed only an adjacent vacant parcel and not the one bought by the Hefters with a home and barn on it. Summary judgment was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in the case handled by attorneys Victor Petrescu and Stuart Grossman.   EMPLOYMENT-SMALL FIRMS BRYANT MILLER OLIVE The labor and employment team at Bryant Miller Olive considers itself a well-oiled machine after handling litigation together for as much as two decades. Group chair James Crosland joined the firm in 2008 from Akerman. The 11-litigator firm maintains big-firm standards with emphasis on small-firm personal service and client relationships. The five-lawyer employment group's public clients include dozens of cities, the Miami-Dade and Broward school districts, six state colleges, special districts, and housing and transportation agencies. That representation led to successful outcomes for several clients last year. A Hialeah city employee claimed discrimination after she failed to win two promotions. She claimed her promotional examination was fraudulently changed to a failing grade, but the firm said an analysis of answer sheets showed consistent grading. In her deposition, she said she didn't remember key details more than 150 times, but she filed an affidavit for summary judgment detailing much of the information she said she had forgotten. The city won summary judgment plus court costs. Summary judgment was obtained in another case after a fired Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority bus driver claimed gender bias, comparing himself to a female driver who was given a last-chance agreement when he didn't get one. He didn't dispute she had a better work record and showed remorse and a determination to improve. Her two violations were 22 months apart, and his second violation for talking on a mobile phone while driving was 41 days after the first. Representing Hialeah, the firm won the dismissal, which was affirmed on appeal, of a case filed by a fired police officer who went to law school and sued over his dismissal. The firm also won the dismissal of a Browrd teacher's unfair labor practice claim that she was entitled to union representation at a meeting between her and her principal.   INSURANCE-SMALL FIRMS KELLER LANDSBERG Keller Landsberg considered 2018 the most challenging and rewarding year in its 10-year history. The 13-attorney Fort Lauderdale firm has crafted successful niches in insurance-related and legal malpractice defense work. Partners David Keller, Dena Sacharow and Maria Vernace obtained a defense verdict for an excess insurance carrier sued by its successor. In trying to shift responsibility for a $10 million legal malpractice settlement, the plaintiff hired a jury consultant and a nationally recognized expert on excess and surplus lines insurance coverage. Keller Landsberg had neither. A confidential settlement was reached after the favorable verdict, and no appeal followed. A settlement worth 3% of the initial pretrial demand was obtained in another case during trial for an Am Law 200 firm and one of its former attorneys on malpractice claims in the purchase of a distressed health insurance company. Partners Raymond Robin, Jose Riguera and Keller represented the firm against investors who claimed they received bad advice and poor due diligence from their attorneys. Keller Landsberg tied the resolution to effective cross-examination and the testimony of two out-of-town defense witnesses taken out of turn during the plaintiffs' case. The firm also won dismissals or summary judgments in 10 cases for lender-placed property insurance carriers. Representing Praetorian Insurance Co. and Integon National Insurance Co., the firm maintained homeowners, as borrowers under lender-placed policies, did not qualify as third-party insurance beneficiaries with standing to pursue breach-of-contract claims. Overall, the firm went to jury trial in four cases within five months last year on its way to two defense verdicts, a directed verdict and what it considered a nominal settlement. In three 2018 cases, the firm took over the defense shortly before trial, including one with less than a month to prepare. The midstream changes meant Keller Landsberg inherited some unfavorable court orders and the need to quickly acclimate to depositions and discovery in cases up to a decade old.   REAL ESTATE-SMALL FIRMS KLUGER KAPLAN The 10-year-old Kluger Kaplan litigation boutique distinguished itself in an assortment of hypertechnical real estate cases in 2018. When the joint developers of the 19-unit boutique condominium at 300 Collins Ave. fought for control of the five-story building in Miami Beach's resurrected South of Fifth neighborhood, Kluger Kaplan attorney Marko Cerenko succeeded in enforcing a buy-sell reverse option for his client, PSB Collins LLC, led by the Goldman Sachs' youngest partner, Dhruv Piplani. Developer Jason Halpern's JMH Development refused to surrender the property until Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William Thomas ruled for PSB last October. Kluger Kaplan's Alan Kluger and Josh Rubens, along with Todd Legon of Legon Fodiman, represented the minority owner of Miami Beach's Seagull Hotel in obtaining a forced partition of the property and the $31 million sale of the beachfront hotel in January 2018 after 14 months of litigation. The Third District Court of Appeal last August affirmed a decision in favor of Florida Pritikin Center LLC and its long-term lease at the Trump National Doral Miami golf resort. Kluger and Philippe Lieberman maintained soon-to-be President Donald Trump wrongly tried to force the center out of its leased space and out of business. The appellate court last June also affirmed a decision favoring the sellers represented by Kluger and Ashley Frankel, along with Scott Kravetz of Duane Morris, in a $2.8 million home sale contract. The decision strictly upheld the termination provisions of the Florida Bar's standard contract for real estate home purchases. The founders of the 28-attorney Miami law firm sought to build a strong niche practice that would complement rather than compete with full-service firms. In the process, the firm has turned some previous adversaries into clients.