WEST PALM BEACH, FL – Jan. 26, 2018 – GrayRobinson, P.A. announces the opening of an office in West Palm Beach, Florida with three attorneys joining as shareholders: John G. "Jay" White, III, Ronald P. "Ron" Ponzoli, Jr. and Leora B. Freire. The West Palm Beach office is a strategic continuation of the Firm’s growth in the state of Florida, and is a direct result of client’s increasing legal needs in the South Florida market. The office will be located at Northbridge Centre, 515 North Flagler Drive, Suite 1425, West Palm Beach, Florida 33401. With this addition, GrayRobinson now has 14 offices across Florida.
"Florida’s economy is growing, and adding this talented group in the South Florida market will allow us to respond to our client’s needs," said Mayanne Downs, GrayRobinson’s president and managing director. "Their robust experience and dedication to giving back to Florida’s legal community directly aligns with our values as a firm and makes them the perfect candidates to open our West Palm Beach office."
White, who will serve as the West Palm Beach office managing shareholder, boosts the Firm’s litigation practice along with Ponzoli and Freire . All three attorneys join GrayRobinson from the South Florida law firm Richman Greer.
"The opportunity to open an office for an Am Law 200 firm with such tremendous name recognition and prominent presence in Florida is very exciting," said White. "Joining the firm gives us the opportunity to offer our clients its vast resources in legal support and we look forward to providing them with the excellent client service that is synonymous with GrayRobinson."
White focuses his practice on commercial and complex business litigation, personal injury, wrongful death, professional malpractice litigation, class actions, and officer and director representation. He has represented Fortune 500 companies as well as individuals in multi-million dollar cases and counsels clients in a variety of complex business cases. In addition, he has experience handling personal injury and wrongful death cases as well as professional malpractice litigation. White is a past president of The Florida Bar and served on the Board of Governors for ten years. He also served on the Judicial Qualifications Commission from 2010 to 2016 and currently is an ad-hoc member. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Florida.
Ponzoli represents clients in business and commercial litigation, religious institutions in church law matters, catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death actions, contract law, partnership disputes, complex tort litigation, and clients in employment disputes. He serves as an elected member of The Florida Bar Board of Governors and is an emeritus member of the Craig S. Barnard American Inn of Court. He earned his undergraduate degree at Lafayette College and his law degree at the University of Miami School of Law.
Freire counsels small business owners and Fortune 500 companies in complex matters, including commercial and business litigation, foreclosure matters, employment matters, product liability and personal injury litigation. Additionally, she has experience handling the dissolution of business organizations, including partnership, corporate and limited liability company dissolutions. Freire serves as immediate past-president of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers and is an appointed member of the Voluntary Bar Liaison, Gender Bias and Professional Ethics committees of The Florida Bar. She earned her undergraduate degree at Rutgers University and her law degree at Seton Hall University School of Law.