News & Events

Coffey Burlington decided to do something different this holiday season. Rather than simply having a holiday lunch, the team invited a large group of participants at the City of Miami's Sandra DeLucca Developmental Center to an amazing holiday lunch and party.  The Center provides persons with intellectual and physical challenges community-based recreational, leisure, and cultural support and activities aimed to enhance their quality of life and inspire confidence, self-esteem and foster independence. CB not only sponsored the lunch, but served the food, and brought some holiday cheer to this incredible group of individuals. Enjoy some pictures from the event below. 

Kendall Coffey and Bob Burlington of Coffey Burlington and Jim Kaufman of Kaufman Rossin hosted a lunch at the firm's offices yesterday to welcome U.S. Congressman Patrick Murphy.  The group heard from Congressman Murphy about his approach to Washington and his views about recent developments regarding Cuba. It is always a pleasure to host leaders from our community. It was also a pleasure to host with our friends, and former neighbors, from Kaufman Rossin.

Coffey Burlington was honored to host a lunch with U.S. Congressman Curt Clawson along with AIPAC's Congressional Club today. The lunch was well-attended with leaders from the South Florida community.  Kevin Kaplan and Gabriel Groisman led the discussion with Congressman Clawson about the US-Israel relationship.

United States District Court Judge Beth Bloom of the Southern District of Florida issued a 38-page summary judgment order on December 9, 2014 in favor of Plaintiffs Robert Rubenstein and Rubenstein Law, P.A. Plaintiffs sued the Florida Bar challenging on First Amendment grounds bar guidelines prohibiting television and radio advertisements by attorneys referencing their past results. 

Bob Burlington and Dan Blonsky of Coffey Burlington, along with co-counsel Greg Beck of Gupta Beck in Washington, DC, represented the plaintiffs.  In granting summary judgment, Judge Bloom also entered an injunction prohibiting enforcement of the Bar’s guidelines preventing reference to past results in attorney advertising.  The case has been closely followed in the legal media.

A copy of the Order can be found here.

Coffey Burlington was proud to host District Judge Beth Bloom and Magistrate Judge Alicia Valle at its offices on Thursday evening, November 6, 2014.  The occasion was the annual kickoff event for the Women Lawyers Initiative of the South Florida Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.  Judge Bloom gave remarks to the group about her career and perspectives on practice and women in the law, and afterwards was presented her ceremonial gavel by chapter president Candace Duff.

Coffey Burlington won the Family Court KIDSIDE 7^th Annual Softball Tournament yesterday.

Coffey Burlington is proud to be a Gold Sponsor of the tournament, thanks to the generousity of Albert Caruana.  Under the strong leadership of head coach Jim Burlington, Coffey Burlington went undefeated to take home the championship.

KidSide is a program sponsored by the Family Court and mental health professionals, which supplies much needed services to children involved in divorces and custody battles. Coffey Burlington has participated for a few years and looks forward to continuing to support this wonderful organization.

On October 23, 2014, Coffey Burlington and Fernando Tamayo hosted the inaugural Ransom Everglades Young Alumni Young Alumni networking reception. More than 75 Ransom alums attended, and a good time was had by all.

The City of Sunny Isles Beach proclaimed October 16, 2014 as “Coffey Burlington Day" in recognition of Coffey Burlington's work representing the city in litigation matters for several years. A copy of the Proclamation is attached below:

Congratulations to Partner Ben Brodsky and Dan Blonsky who prevailed on summary judgment on behalf of two affiliates of a Fortune 500 company in a federal employment discrimination and retaliation case in front of Judge Marcia G. Cooke in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The Court found that, as to one of the defendants, the plaintiff’s claims were barred by statute of limitations; as to the other, the Court found that it had no employment relationship with the plaintiff.  

Judge Michael Hanzman of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court stopped by  Coffey Burlington's new offices to swear two new Coffey Burlington attorneys into the Florida bar.  Attorneys Anya Freeman and Jonathan Stamm, who took the bar exam in July 2014, had the privilege of being sworn in before their colleagues in the new Coffey Burlington courtroom. 

Congratulations to Anya and Jon.  Welcome to the Bar!

Coffey Burlington, led by Andrew Marks, took home the first place trophy at the First Annual Duty Free Americas Golf Tournament on September 17, 2014. The tournament raised over $160,000 for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and was organized by Duty Free Americas and the Falic Family Foundation. Coffey Burlington was proud to be a platinum sponsor for the event as well. 

Coffey Burlington is pleased to announce that Albert Caruana and Andrew Marks have been selected by their peers for inclusion in the 21st edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

Mr. Caruana was named the Best Lawyers' 2015 Miami Family Law "Lawyer of the Year." This is the 20th consecutive year that Mr. Caruana has been listed in Best Lawyers for Family law.

Mr. Marks was named the Best Lawyers' 2015 Miami Arbitration "Lawyer of the Year" and was also included as one of the Best Lawyers in America in the practice areas of Arbitration, Commercial Litigation, Litigation - First Amendment and Mediation.

Only a single lawyer in each practice area in each community is being honored as the “Lawyer of the Year".

Congratulations to Mr. Caruana and Mr. Marks on these well-deserved accolades.

Gabriel Groisman has been elected to serve as a Councilmember on the Bal Harbour Village Council, representing District 5. Mr. Groisman will be inducted on November 17th and will serve a four year term.

We are proud to announce that seven attorneys from our firm have been recognized in Florida Trend's 2014 Florida Legal Elite! Congratulations to Daniel Blonsky, Ben Brodsky, Bob Burlington, Kendall Coffey, Paul Schwiep, Fernando Tamayo, and David Zack.

"Now in its eleventh edition, Florida Legal Elite presents a prestigious roster of attorneys chosen for highest honors by their peers."

After over 25 years in the same building, Coffey Burlington has run out of space and has moved!  The firm has been building out its new home for the past 12 months and is proud to announce that the office of Coffey Burlington is now located at:

2601 South Bayshore Drive, Penthouse, Miami, Florida 33133

Of course, all emails, fax and phone numbers remain the same. Please be sure to update your address books.

Congratulations to the Coffey Burlington lawyers who were named in the Florida 2014 edition of Super Lawyers magazine: Kendall Coffey, Bob Burlington, Dan Blonsky, Ben Brodsky, Albert Caruana, Jeff Crockett, David Freedman, Gabe Groisman, Kevin Kaplan, Andy Marks and Paul Schwiep. 

Kendall Coffey was featured today in the Daily Business Review, regarding a legal malpractice case curerntly pending in the 11th Judicial Circuit where Coffey Burlington is representing the law firm of Shutts and Bowen.  The article describes Mr. Coffey's cross examination of the plaintiff:

Coffey politely but stridently grilled Shay on the witness stand Thursday, clearly trying to paint him as someone who was calling his own shots in the disputed real estate transactions.

Click here to read the entire article.

David Freedman and Paul Schwiep obtained a favorable settlement to conclude a dispute related to the purchase of hotel in South Beach. After filing a motion for summary judgment and serving a motion for sanctions under Florida Statue 57.105, the defendant dropped its spurious defenses and counterclaim and agreed to pay $3,750,000 - over 90% of Coffey Burlington’s clients initial claim.

Paul Schwiep was quoted in a February 11th Miami Herald news article regarding a federal hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Frederico Moreno, where the judge was deciding whether to approve a consent decree which would require the Miami-Dade county government to spend $1.6 billion over the next 15 years to fix its dilapidated sewer system.

Mr. Schwiep, who represents, Biscayne Bay Waterkeeper, a group of environmental activists, opposed the proposal because the county would not be required to take into account the effects of climate change in its repairs.

The article says:

Paul Schwiep, an attorney for the Waterkeeper group, countered that the sewer system is already vulnerable to climate change, and those weaknesses should be targeted for improvement in the decree.

“They’re telling you that climate impact is real” yet choosing not to include it in the agreement, he said.

Schwiep also said the decree should include a ban on transferring Water and Sewer Department funds collected from user fees to Miami-Dade’s general fund. Past administrations raided the department’s budget, though the current mayor has stopped the practice.

To read the entire article, click here.

Coffey Burlington, PL was named a Top Law Firm in South Florida Legal Guide's 2014 Edition. Congrats to all the attorneys at the firm for this recognition.

A further congratulations to the following attorneys who were individually recognized by the South Florida Legal Guide's 2014 Edition as Top Lawyers in several categories:

Kendall Coffey
Corporate and Business Litigation, Financial Litigation

Robert K. Burlington
Corporate and Business Litigation, Labor and Employment Litigation

Paul J. Schwiep
Trial Practice

Albert G. Caruana
Corporate and Business Litigation, Family and Marital

Melissa J. Jacobs
Family and Marital

Click here to view the magazine in electronic format.