J. Michael Huey Attorney At Law

Mike is of counsel with GrayRobinson whose experience spans many practice areas, including commercial litigation, arbitration, mediation, governmental consulting, administrative law, petroleum, health care, and sales and use taxes. He has represented clients before state and federal trial and appellate courts, including the Florida Supreme Court. He is experienced in complex, multiparty disputes as a litigator and as a certified circuit court mediator. Mike has represented a variety of health care interests since beginning his practice – including hospitals, special hospital districts, hospital-based physicians, blood banks, clinical laboratories, pharmaceutical companies, surgeon societies and dental societies. He has been active in all aspects of health care legislation and regulation for more than 30 years. Mike has represented design professionals, owners and contractors in construction matters for his entire career. He is experienced in construction contracts, mechanics' liens, licensing, public procurement, and civil and administrative disputes. Mike has also represented petroleum marketers and distributors throughout his career in matters involving franchising, pollution cleanup, environmental compliance, fair marketing and state and local taxation. For years he has served as general counsel to statewide professional and trade associations, advising them regarding employment law, officer/director liability and state agency regulations and representing them before the Florida Legislature, governor and cabinet and state agencies. In May 1999, Mike was conferred honorary membership in the prestigious American Institute of Architects for his significant legal and governmental contributions to the profession of architecture. In 2003, he was honored for his decades of legal and governmental services to the petroleum industry by induction into the Florida Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association's Hall of Fame. He also represents local, national and international corporations in matters involving Florida’s legislature and agencies. 

• Background

  Mike was born in Statesboro, Georgia, and grew up in Leesburg, Florida. After graduating from Leesburg High School, he attended Florida State University in Tallahassee, where he graduated with a bachelor’s in marketing in 1967. Thereafter, he attended Florida State University's College of Law and obtained his juris doctor degree in 1970. After four years of practice, he began his own firm in Tallahassee, which became known as Huey, Guilday, Tucker, Schwartz and Williams, P.A. In January 2007, Mike joined GrayRobinson in the Tallahassee office, where he is actively engaged in a wide variety of legal and governmental matters. 

• Education
  • Florida State University, B.S. (1967)
    • Gold Key, President
    • Omicron Delta Kappa
    • Senior Class President
  • Florida State University, J.D. (1970)
    • Phi Delta Phi 
• Admissions
  • Florida
  • Florida Supreme Court, State and Federal Courts 
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida
  • U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida 
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida 
• Professional Associations and Memberships
  • Tallahassee Bar Association
  • The Florida Bar
  • American Bar Association
  • American Institute of Architects, Honorary Member
  • Florida Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, Hall of Fame 
• Awards and Recognitions
  • AV Preeminent® rated by Martindale-Hubbell
  • Best Lawyers in America, 2009-2024
    • Administrative / Regulatory Law
    • Construction Law
      • Lawyer of the Year, 2022
    • Government Relations Practice
  • AIA Florida Bob Graham Architectural Awareness Award, 2020
• Civic
  • Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce
    • Drug-Free Workplace, Chair
  • Tallahassee Race Relations Commission, Chair
  • Speaker's Ball, Florida House of Representatives, Chair
  • Florida State University, College of Law, Board of Visitors
  • Florida Chamber of Commerce 
• Significant Statutory Contributions

  Mike has continuously represented clients before the Florida Legislature. He has played a significant role in the initiation, drafting or modification of major statutory provisions in Florida, including:

  • Good Samaritan immunity for health care providers
  • Liability limitations for health care providers
  • Sovereign immunity for public hospitals
  • Special taxing district hospital legislation
  • Medicaid funding for public hospitals
  • Florida's Motor Fuel Marketing Practices Act
  • Florida's Inland Protection Trust Fund
  • Underground petroleum storage tank laws
  • Pollutant discharge prevention laws
  • Florida's Practice Act for Architecture and Interior Design
  • Florida Mechanics' Lien Law
  • Sovereign immunity for engineers
  • Consultants' Competitive Negotiation Act
  • Confidentiality of blood donors
  • Sales and use tax exemptions for 501(c)(3) organizations
  • Sales and use tax exemptions and refunds for defense and aerospace contractors
  • Architect/engineer liability protections
  • Asbestos liability protections
  • Electrical energy cogeneration
• Articles and Publications
  • Co-Author,  "Curbing Predatory Practices in Florida's Petroleum Marketing Industry," Florida State University Law Review, Vol. 13, No. 3, Fall 1985
  • "A SUPER Act for Florida: Funding Cleanup of Leaking Underground Petroleum Storage Tank Sites," The Florida Bar Journal, December 1986
  • Architect's Law Guide, publication of the Florida Association of the American Institute of Architects
  • Numerous professional liability articles in The Florida Architect, a publication of the Florida Association of the American Institute of Architects
  • "Public Procurement of Professional Design Services: Florida's Consultants' Competitive Negotiation Act"
  • "So You Want to Be an Expert," Florida Engineering Journal, February 2007 (publication of the Florida Engineering Society)
• Presentations and Seminars
  • "Recovery of Economic Losses Against Design Professionals After Tiara Condominium and SB 286," 7th Annual Construction Law Institute, Orlando, Florida, March 20-22, 2014 
  • Florida State University, College of Law (Trial Practice Seminars)
  • University of Florida, College of Architecture (Design/Construction Law Lecturer)
  • Florida A&M University, College of Architecture (Design/Construction Law Seminar)
  • The Florida Bar, Young Lawyers Section (Civil Practice Discovery Seminar)
  • The Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys (National Design and Construction Counsel Conference):
    • "Condominium Owners' Claims Against Design Professionals," Boston, Massachusetts, June 1981
    • "Architects/Engineer’s Liability for Damages to the Work," Baltimore, Maryland, June 1989
  • Florida Association of the American Institute of Architects (Spring Conference Lecturer):
    • "The Architect and the Mechanic’s Lien"
    • "Florida's Special A/E Statute of Limitations"
    • "Florida's Arbitration Code"
    • "Legal Aspects of Architectural Practice in Florida"
    • "Professional Liability in the ’80s"
    • "Florida's New Statute of Limitations"
    • "Avoidance of Liability Claims"
    • "Protecting Your Plans From Piracy"
    • "Legal Do's and Don'ts of Going Bare"
    •  "The Florida Building Code Chaos"
  • "Highway Engineering Services: Liability Issues/Solutions," CNA – Victor O. Schinnerer and Company, June 2007
  • Adjunct Professor, Florida A&M University, College of Architecture, Tallahassee, Florida