Page 22 - Miami Vol 6 No 2

2017 Miami Superstar
Stevan Pardo
Representation From the Ground Up
By Susan Cushing
"... our rm is a unique environment where we laugh a lot and work hard, balancing personal and professional life."
I grew up in awe of my father,” says Stevan Pardo. “He loved the law and practiced with a passion born of his strong desire to help those who had been exploited. Most important to my father, were his integrity and reputation. If he didn’t believe in
an argument, he wouldn’t make the argument. If he didn’t believe in a case, he wouldn’t take the case.
“Because of his dedication to serving others while preserving the law, he was highly respected not just by fellow attorneys, but by ev­ ery judge he ever came before. He not only inspired me to share his love for the law, but also served as the best mentor I could ever hope to have. He set such an amazing example, I couldn’t wait to follow in his footsteps.”
Follow he did, while amassing his own share of accolades and awards along the way. Recognized as a leading authority on Flor­ ida construction and corporate hospitality law, Pardo, like his father garners respect and admiration from virtually everyone within the legal community. roughout his 30­plus years as a construction litigator, he has represented companies involved in essentially all aspects of the construction industry includ­ ing owners, contractors, design professionals, subcontrac­
tors, sureties and insurers.
“Over the years, I have handled many high­pro le con­
struction cases,” says Pardo. "But the case I am most proud of was being part of the legal team that successfully repre­ sented a national homebuilder in a grand jury investiga­ tion a er Hurricane Andrew. e grand jury was investi­ gating whether the damage incurred was due to alleged construction practices that may have violated criminal law. Because I grew up with the company's founders, I felt a personal responsibility to be successful and ul­
timately, we were.”
Pardo and his rm have taken on some of the
largest mulimillion­dollar construction defect cases in Florida arising out of commercial and resi­ dential, high­rise residential, hospitality and resorts, multifamily, retail, and o ce construction projects. His rm also recently achieved one of the largest class action real estate tax exemption summary judgments against municipalities. In that case, he successfully rep­ resented a group of business owners seeking to collect millions of tax dollars owed to them for their participa­
tion in an incentive program to develop enterprise zones. Inheriting his father’s passion for the intricacies of law, Pardo says that while every attorney hopes to be victorious in every case, winning is not how he measures success nor how he
de nes his love for the work.
“Win or lose, there is always something to be gained with every
case,” he adds. “When you lose a case, you learn that the law is not perfect and no lawyer can expect to be perfect. You have to learn from the disappointment of a loss so that you are better prepared the next time. Even a er I win a hearing, I always reassess whether I could have approached it di erently. I always analyze whether my approach to the case should be tweaked. Every case evolves over time and your approach to that case must continue to evolve ac­ cordingly.”
Danny Gabriel