Carlton Fields Adds Eight Lawyers and Three Staff Across Three Offices

Tampa, Fla. – Carlton Fields is pleased to welcome eight attorneys and three staff members to three of its offices in Tampa, Florida, New York City, and Florham Park, New Jersey. The group joins the firm’s expanding Business Litigation Practice, comprising more than 150 attorneys in 11 offices across the country who handle complex business trials, class actions, arbitrations, and appeals.

The team joins Carlton Fields from Bressler, Amery & Ross P.C. Incoming as shareholders are trial attorneys Michael T. Hensley and Lauren Fenton-Valdivia. Joining as senior associates are Jorkeell Echeverria, Andrea Bonvicino, and Saray Ravelo, and as mid-level associates are Ryan Allen, Steven Fernandez, and Amrit Singh. The team is supported by paralegals Brenda Silva and Sanah-Amira Jones, and legal assistant Tracy Heck. The addition of these experienced litigators expands the firm’s already prominent national trial practice and business litigation practice area. Chambers USA 2022 ranks the firm as “highly regarded” for its general commercial litigation practice.

Of these 11 attorneys and staff, nine are diverse individuals. Carlton Fields’ commitment to diversity dates back to the 1920s and is an integral part of the firm’s strategic plan. For 13 consecutive years the firm has earned a perfect score on the 2022 Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index.

Fenton-Valdivia was chair of Bressler’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee before joining Carlton Fields in Tampa. “Carlton Fields’ reputation in the DEI space speaks for itself, but what speaks even louder is that the firm has been prioritizing these initiatives long before they gained merit in the workplace,” said Fenton-Valdivia. “As a team, we’re thrilled to join a firm whose core values align so closely with our own.”

A majority of the group is joining in New York and New Jersey, bolstering the firm’s ongoing growth in the area. Hensley was co-chair of Bressler’s national Business & Commercial Litigation Practice and chair of its Compensation Committee before joining Carlton Fields in its New Jersey and New York offices. “It’s an honor to join the firm and its nationally respected trial team. Carlton Fields has always been known for its top-tier litigation services, and we as a team look forward to strengthening the firm’s presence in the Northeast.”

“The addition of this talented group of attorneys will be immediately beneficial to our sophisticated clients spanning the east coast,” said Carlton Fields’ President and CEO Gary L. Sasso. “We anticipate synergies throughout all our offices, practices, and industry groups.”

Carlton Fields shareholder and chair of its Business Litigation Practice, Donald Kirk, added, “The team is a perfect fit for Carlton Fields. They are outstanding attorneys who are well versed in one of our core competencies: complex commercial litigation. We are thrilled to welcome them to the firm.” 

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