Peter J. Winders

Pete Winders serves as General Counsel to the firm and has done so since the position was made a full-time assignment in 2000. As such, he advises the firm and its members on legal ethics and professionalism, supervises the firm's educational programs on those subjects, and serves as the chief loss prevention and risk management officer. He has written extensively on matters of ethics and related law firm management issues. Pete is the firm's chief claims counsel and advises the Professional Liability Defense Practice.

Prior to agreeing to serve as the firm's general counsel, Pete practiced with the firm as a litigator, handling a wide variety of business and real property disputes, oil and gas matters, matters relating to corporate governance, and eminent domain matters. In that practice, he has handled matters in each of Florida's appellate courts and each federal district court. The wide variety of litigated matters provide him a sound basis to understand the ethics and practice issues peculiar to each of the firm's practice areas.

Pete has litigated in all state and federal district courts in Florida in a wide variety of cases including: commercial and business fraud, antitrust, inverse condemnation, constitutional and statutory interpretation, civil rights, creditors' rights, attorney and accountant malpractice, eminent domain and real property disputes, oil and gas, state and local tax matters, municipal bonds, distributorship and license disputes, land use matters, business torts, banking and financing matters, environmental regulation (including lender liability cases), and probate matters.

• AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
• Florida Legal Elite, Florida Trend Magazine (2004)

• American Bar Association
• The Florida Bar
• Hillsborough County Bar Association
• Eagle Scout

Pete has lectured on a number of subjects, including choice of remedy, Florida oil and gas law, and professionalism.

• "Effective Risk Management and Culture Change,” Law Firm General Counsel's Forum, The Hildebrandt Institute, New York, NY (November 15, 2004)
• National Conference on Professional Responsibility, ABA Center for Professional Responsibility (June 2004)