Carlton Fields Names Six New Office Managing Shareholders

Carlton Fields is pleased to announce that six attorneys have been named office managing shareholders. They will lead five of the firm’s offices — Hartford, New York, Orlando, Tallahassee, and West Palm Beach offices — respectively. Half of the new leaders are women. In 2016, American Lawyer ranked Carlton Fields as one of the “Best Law Firms for Women.”

Hartford
Frank A. Appicelli is the new office managing shareholder of the firm’s Hartford, Connecticut office. Appicelli also co-chairs the firm’s Real Estate and Commercial Finance practice group. He concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial finance and real estate, and regularly represents commercial lenders, developers, investors, and owners of real estate.

Appicelli advises insurance companies, commercial banks and other debt providers in mortgage loan transactions involving acquisition and permanent financings, construction loans, credit tenant loans, and revolving credit facilities. He also represents developers, investors and owners in real estate acquisitions and dispositions, project development, and commercial leasing matters. 

New York
Jeanne M. Kohler is the new office managing shareholder in the firm’s New York office. She represents U.S. and international insurers and reinsurers in complex commercial litigation and arbitrations, including complex insurance coverage disputes and reinsurance matters. She regularly handles matters for insurers, cedents, reinsurers, and retrocessionaires involving complex claims, coverage and regulatory issues across all lines of business.

In acting for insurers and reinsurers in numerous litigations, mediations and arbitrations, Kohler has litigated and arbitrated a wide variety of insurance and reinsurance disputes. She also counsels and represents insurers, brokers, third-party administrators and managing general agents and underwriters in disputes.

Orlando
Daniel L. DeCubellis and Johanna W. Clark are the co-managing shareholders in the firm’s Orlando office. Board certified in Real Estate Law by The Florida Bar, DeCubellis has more than 30 years of experience providing his clients with solutions to real estate related business problems. His practice focuses on clients whose real property is intrinsic to the production of their products or revenue. He has extensive industry experience with mining, utilities, governments, and heavy industry, and enjoys assisting manufacturers, utilities, governments, landowners, lenders, and growers with their real estate and business issues.

Clark has more than 15 years experience defending companies in both state and federal courts in class actions, insurance bad faith litigation, insurance coverage disputes, malicious prosecution litigation, ERISA disability litigation, product liability litigation, general commercial litigation, and administrative housing discrimination claims.

Tallahassee
Christine Davis Graves is the new office managing shareholder in the firm’s Tallahassee office. She is board certified in Appellate Practice by The Florida Bar. She is an experienced appellate advocate regularly handling all aspects of appellate litigation in state and federal courts. Graves concentrates her practice on constitutional litigation, complex commercial litigation, medical malpractice, personal injury, health care, products liability, and insurance coverage issues. She has represented large hospitals and other health care providers, corporations, insurance companies, manufacturers, and governmental entities, among others, in all of these areas.

In addition to her traditional appellate work, a large part of Graves's practice involves handling legal issues at trial, through which she has logged countless courtroom hours. This work involves attending trial and assisting with general trial strategy, drafting and arguing complex legal motions both before and during trial, as well as drafting and arguing case dispositive motions, jury instructions, and post-trial motions.

West Palm Beach 
John R. Hart is now the office managing shareholder in the firm’s West Palm Beach office. In his nearly 30 years of practice, Hart’s business litigation experience also includes representation of companies and individuals in a wide range of business disputes involving shareholders’ agreements, misappropriation of trade secrets, arbitration proceedings, defense of class action litigation involving payday lenders, declaratory relief actions involving rights and obligations under life insurance policies, property valuation determinations, homeowner and condominium association litigation, lender liability claims, and receiverships.

He represents industry-leading lenders and title insurance companies in loan workout negotiations, commercial mortgage foreclosures in over 20 counties throughout the State of Florida, commercial lease disputes, cases involving real estate fraud, title insurance matters on behalf of title companies and their insureds, and a variety of other real estate litigation matters.