Louis Terminello, Greenspoon Marder, Miami. Courtesy photo

Don't call Louis Terminello a liquor license attorney. Don't call him a strip club attorney, a land use attorney, a hotel and restaurant attorney, a permit attorney or a code compliance attorney.

That's because Terminello, a partner at Greenspoon Marder in Miami since 2015 and chairman of its hospitality, alcohol and leisure industry group, isn't just one of them — but all of these and more.

"We are a hospitality group that concentrates on alcohol clients. We do it all. We don't just do liquor license applications. It infuriates me when the owner of E11even, I am with him one night and he says to the guy, 'Hey, this is the best alcohol lawyer in the world,' " Terminello said, referring to downtown Miami's upscale strip club. " I said, 'I am not an alcohol lawyer. I am a hospitality lawyer.' "

This still doesn't fully describe his industry involvement. He worked as a state alcohol and tobacco investigator and had hospitality ventures of his own, including a Fort Lauderdale strip club and a Miami Beach nightclub. He is partner in Food Beverage Services, which provides state-approved alcohol servicing and is sister company to his Martinibar group that provides the alcohol at events from Miami's Ultra Music Festival to Super Bowl LIV.

Terminello came to Miami by chance, moving with a girlfriend from Boston in 1974 after getting his bachelor's degree from Northeastern University. She promised they would stop at Disney's Magic Kingdom Park, which opened in 1971.

After a short stint as a Miami-Dade police officer, he became a law enforcement investigator with the state Division of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco. He worked there through the 1980s, a turbulent time for South Florida when drugs were one of its top industries.

Terminello went undercover, investigating everything from sales to minors to convicted felons with secret interests in bars and restaurants. The thriving drug trade played a role.

" Venues that were encouraging the sale of drugs. This was back in Paradise Lost," he said. "We revoked many, many licenses. We had an operation in the Keys in the early 1980s, and we ended up revoking 10 liquor licenses and arresting 47 people."

Attorney Sy Chadroff, who was on the other side of one of Terminello's cases, turned into a mentor, pushing him to go to law school.

"We got along well. We didn't always agree of course, and we fought like cats and dogs, but in the final analysis I guess he saw some potential," Terminello said. "He was the guru of the alcohol and beverage industry. We were adversaries, but we were professionals and, if we had a case together, I thought that I handled my end of it professionally and he handled his end."

Terminello spent two years at the University of Miami School of Law while working as a state investigator and in his third year switched to the state alcohol and tobacco licensing bureau. He wasn't happy about the change at the time, but it was for the better, giving him experience, exposure and contacts that were useful after he became an attorney.

He started Terminello & Terminello, eventually joined by his then-wife and for a time joined by Chadroff, temporarily rechristening the firm Chadroff, Terminello & Terminello.

The South Florida hospitality-alcohol practice isn't a major area and at the time was even less so. Terminello and Chadroff cornered the market. The field is complex and is learned from experience.

In fact, Terminello uses no textbook for the alcohol beverage law class he teaches as a UM adjunct professor.

"You have to be in a group that knows how to do this. You can't pick up a book. There is no textbook in this field. You have to learn it from people, or you work for the state agency and you learn from them," he said.

Clients

Chances are you've been to a nightclub, strip club, restaurant or even a gas station where Terminello and his team helped get permits and approval.

"There came a time especially in the 1990s when South Beach, in its heyday when there were major nightclubs, we probably touched — and this is not an exaggeration — every major nightlife venue in South Beach in one way or another," he said. "We either represented the buyer of the club, the seller of the club, the landlord, (or) the existing tenant against the city of Miami Beach for code violations."

The Miami Beach planning board met monthly at the time, and Terminello had a client involved in every meeting.

"There's nothing about any South Beach venue I can't tell you about," he said.

Take for example the well-heeled software developer who came to South Beach in the 1990s with plans to buy every popular nightclub. Terminello represented him.

"He overpaid for every nightclub venue. He bought that one. He ended up with about 10 different venues. A couple of years later of course he had no money left. He lost it all," Terminello said.

The buyer married a model in a Miami Beach wedding. Terminello attended along with then-Miami Beach Mayor Neisen Kasdin and infamous football star O. J. Simpson.

Terminello said Kasdin, Miami managing partner at Akerman, recruited him to avoid having his picture taken with Simpson.

"That's a funny story," Kasdin said, although he doesn't remember it. "It's entirely possible it happened. I am sure if Louis says it happened, it happened."

The clients of Terminello's Greenspoon team read like a who's who. They include the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, restaurant and nightclub owner-operator David Grutman, E11even, Publix and Walmart.

Terminello got city approval for E11even to enclose its rooftop bar and lounge with opaque and soundproof materials. He also got an extension for a zoning exception allowing the club to stay open until 2050.

The firm also does litigation and filed a breach of contract suit against porn star Stormy Daniels on behalf of a strip club owner and most recently winning a case in the First District Court of Appeal to allow alcohol sales from vending machines.

Ventures 

Terminello's Food Beverage Services complements his law practice. He heads the company with event coordinator Barry Kates and nightlife venue owner-operator Joe Delaney.

"Super Bowl Live at Bayfront Park — every drop of alcohol was ours," Terminello said.

He ran South Beach's Klutch nightclub from 2009 to 2010 at the current location of Story. This prevented the nonconforming use from extinguishing while the next operator obtained city building permits to enclose the building. Without Klutch, the permitted use would have expired.

From the 1990s to 2006, Terminello owned and operated The Tula Group restaurants in Coral Gables, North Miami Beach and Miami's Coconut Grove. He owns and operates the Martini Bar lounges and bars in Doral and Hallandale Beach's Gulfstream Park. He also temporarily owned and operated the now closed Solid Gold strip club in Fort Lauderdale.

"Some of the deals we do the transactions, some of the deals we do the management agreement, some of the deals we do the liquor licensing," Terminello said."Every day is a different day."

Born: 1952, New York

Children: Louis Jr., Danielle, Kristin and Amanda

Education: University of Miami, J.D., 1990; Northeastern University, B.S., 1974

Experience: Partner, Greenspoon Marder, 2015- present; Managing partner, Terminello & Terminello, 1990-2015; Investigator, state Division of Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco, Miami office, 1979-1989