Attorneys

Benjamine Reid

Shareholder
Miami

ph : 305.539.7222
fax : 305.530.0055

Practice Experience

  • Benjamine Reid represents a diverse domestic and foreign corporate clientele in commercial, environmental, and product liability litigation. A substantial portion of his practice is represented by class action litigation.
  • Mr. Reid has extensive jury trial and appellate experience in both state and federal courts. He manages litigation for clients on a regional and national basis. Mr. Reid has handled litigation in more than twenty states.
  • Mr. Reid was lead counsel for R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in one of the longest jury trials in American jurisprudence. Engle v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., et. al. was a smoking and health class action that was tried to a jury in Miami, Florida for over two years.
  • Mr. Reid’s cases established the rule that economic loss is not recoverable by the use of tort theories in the Florida Supreme Court (Florida Power & Light Company v. Westinghouse Electric Corp.) and the applicability of contributory negligence to products liability claims in the Alabama Supreme Court (Campbell v. Eaton Corporation).
  • Mr. Reid also represented the South Florida Water Management District for more than ten years in litigation and administrative actions dealing with the Everglades clean-up project.
  • Mr. Reid is Chair of the Board of Directors of Carlton Fields.
      

Professional and Civic Activities

  • Fellow, American Bar Foundation
  • American Bar Association
    • Co-Managing Director
    • Council
    • Co-Chair Miami Annual Meeting
    • Advisory Committee on Nominations
    • Chair – Task Force on the Judiciary
    • Co-Chair – Civil Justice Institute
    • Task Force – Civil Trial Standards
    • Chair – Products Liability Committee
    • Co-Chair of the Legal Services Training Committee
  • American Board of Trial Advocates
  • Florida Justice Institute
    • Director
  • Product Liability Advisory Council
    • Director
    • Co-Chair Action Group
  • BNA Class Action Litigation Reporter
    • Board of Advisors
  • BNA Product & Safety Liability Reporter
    • Board of Advisors
  • Governor’s Council for Sustainable Florida
    • Executive Committee
    • Board of Directors
  • Faculty Member
    • Trial Practice seminar for US attorneys and UK barristers at Wadham College in Oxford University
    • Clifford Symposium on Tort Law at DePaul College of Law
    • ABA National Institute on Class Actions
    • ABA National Institute on Automotive Products Liability
    • Mid-Year Meeting at ABA Products, Environmental and Mass Tort Committees

Current Organizations
  • Orange Bowl Committee
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    • Board of Visitors
    • Director – Arts & Sciences Foundation
    • Director – General Alumni Association
    • Board of Advisors – Educational Foundation (Rams Club)
    • Carolina First $2 Billion Capital Campaign National Committee
    • National Development Council
    • Chancellor’s Club
  • Episcopal Charities
    • Chair
    • Executive Committee
  • Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida
    • Vice-Chancellor
    • Standing Committee
    • Executive Board
  • Friends of WLRN Public Radio
    • Vice-Chair
    • Board of Directors
    • Founding Member – Circle of Friends
  • Two Hundred Club of Greater Miami

Former Organizations
  • Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce
    • Vice-Chair & Executive Committee Member
    • Education Committee Chair
  • Leadership Miami
    • Chair & Executive Committee Member
  • Dade Public Education Fund
    • Chair
  • Florida International University Council of 100
    • Chair
    • Founding Member
  • Dade Heritage Trust
    • Treasurer and Board Member
  • Historical Association of Southern Florida
    • Board of Directors
  • Trinity Episcopal School
    • Board of Directors
  • St. Philip’s Episcopal Church
    • Senior Warden
    • Vestry Member
    • Chair - $1 Million Capital Campaign

Professional Recognition

  • AV rated by Martindale Hubbell
  • Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi
  • Recognized as one of “The Most Effective Lawyers” in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties by Daily Business Review
  • Listed in Chambers USA Guide to America's Leading Business Lawyers (General Commercial and Appellate Litigation)
  • Listed in The Best Lawyers in America (Bet-the-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Mass Tort Litigation, Medical Malpractice Law, Personal Injury Litigation, and Product Liability Litigation)
  • Who's Who in America
  • Who's Who in American Law
  • Recognized by the Florida Supreme Court and 11th Circuit Court of Appeals for representation of a death row inmate.
  • Listed in Florida Trend magazine's Florida Legal Elite
  • Selected for inclusion in Florida Super Lawyers
  • Presented the Pinnacle Award from the Church of the Incarnation in Miami’s Liberty City
  • Listed as a Top Lawyer in South Florida Legal Guide (2009-2010)
  • Recipient of the Thomas W. Watkins Humanitarian Award

BAR ADMISSIONS

  • Florida
  • Georgia

COURT ADMISSIONS

  • Florida State Courts
  • United States Supreme Court
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida
  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida

Education

  • University of Georgia School of Law (J.D., cum laude, 1974)
    Senior Editor and Editorial Board, Georgia Law Review
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (B.A., 1971)


© Copyright 2010 by Carlton Fields