Carlton Fields’ Washington, D.C. Office Adds Two Skilled Trial Attorneys
July 30, 2019
Washington, D.C. – Carlton Fields is pleased to announce that litigators Scott Abeles and Elise K. Haverman have joined the firm’s Washington, D.C. office, where they will augment the firm’s nationally recognized capabilities in life, annuity, and retirement litigation; class action defense; and antitrust law.
“Scott and Elise are creative and talented attorneys who add terrific bench strength to several of our core practices,” said Richard Choi, Carlton Fields’ Washington, D.C. Office Managing Shareholder.
Added Carlton Fields Shareholder Markham Leventhal, who co-chairs the firm’s Life, Annuity, and Retirement Solutions industry group, “Scott and Elise are a fantastic addition to our already strong team of talented litigators, and their skills and experience will be a great resource to help meet the sophisticated needs of our national and international clients, particularly in the life, annuities, and retirement industries.”
Carlton Fields is nationally known for its life, annuities, and retirement class action litigation experience. The firm’s attorneys have represented life, annuity, and retirement companies in over 200 class actions in more than 30 states. Carlton Fields brings an integrated and complementary approach by drawing on the collective experience of its business, regulatory, and litigation attorneys.
Abeles joins Carlton Fields as senior counsel. He is a seasoned trial lawyer and appellate advocate with a particular focus on high-stakes antitrust and class action matters. Abeles bolsters the firm’s life, annuity, and retirement litigation practice with his depth of experience in class actions. With deep experience in each stage of the litigation life cycle — and having handled appeals in almost every federal circuit and before the U.S. Supreme Court — he counsels clients from complaint to trial through appeal.
Abeles has significant experience in all manner of antitrust actions, including monopolization, restraint of trade, price discrimination, and merger review. Among those cases, he successfully defended a major automaker in a rare and high-profile antitrust trial brought under the rarely invoked Robinson-Patman Act, with the jury delivering a complete victory to his client after less than a day of deliberation.
Abeles has also represented technology and media clients in complex commercial litigation, and Fortune and Global 500 companies in matters involving cutting-edge issues of competition, constitutional, and administrative law. His casework includes the development of the winning argument in a case deemed the “U.S. Patent Case of the Year” by a leading publication; service as lead counsel for a coalition of Middle Eastern professionals in a case bestowed with the Outstanding Achievement Award in Public Accommodations Law by a major civil rights organization; and the securing of the largest individual customer award by a FINRA arbitration panel in 2018.
Prior to joining the firm, Abeles practiced with another law firm in Washington, D.C. He earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center, and his B.A. from The George Washington University. He is licensed to practice in Washington, D.C.
Haverman joins Carlton Fields as an associate in the Life, Annuity, and Retirement Litigation practice group. Prior to joining the firm, she was an Assistant State Attorney in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida, where she tried more than 30 cases to verdict.
During law school, Haverman was a judicial intern to the Honorable Kenneth L. Ryskamp of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. She earned her J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Miami School of Law, and her B.S., magna cum laude, from Florida State University. She is licensed to practice in both Washington, D.C., and Florida.
