The Carlin Law Firm, PLLC

Focus and practice areas

Business disputes carry most of the weight here. The Carlin Law Firm, PLLC is a Florida trial and litigation firm working in both state and federal courts. Its commercial litigation covers breach of contract actions, partnership disputes and shareholder derivative actions.

Those three categories cover a lot of ground in practice. A breach of contract claim can be a simple failure to pay or a fight over what a clause meant. Partnership disputes usually involve people who once worked closely together and now read the same operating agreement in opposite ways.

Shareholder derivative actions sit in a different category again. In that type of case, a shareholder sues on behalf of the company itself, often against its own directors or officers. Florida courts apply procedural requirements before such a case proceeds, including demand rules and standing questions, so the early motion practice can shape the whole matter.

Where else the firm works

Real estate litigation and property disputes form a second stream. The firm handles mortgage foreclosures, landlord-tenant litigation and other real property actions. Foreclosure matters in Florida go through the courts, which means timelines, filings and hearings, and landlord-tenant cases have their own compressed statutory schedule.

Probate, estate and trust litigation is a third area. The firm represents beneficiaries, personal representatives and trustees. Claims in this space include will contests along with allegations of undue influence, fraud and lack of capacity.

These cases tend to hinge on documents and testimony about a person who can no longer speak for themselves. Medical records, drafting attorney notes and the timing of amendments all become evidence. In my opinion, the fact that Carlin Law Firm takes on all three roles, beneficiary, personal representative and trustee, says something useful about how the firm approaches the area: the arguments look different depending on which chair you sit in, and the firm has clearly worked from each.

The rest of the docket

Several other areas appear on the firm's list. It handles labor and employment litigation, intellectual property litigation and matters for banks and financial institutions. Business and corporate transactions are also part of the offering, which puts some non-litigation work alongside the courtroom practice.

Community association disputes appear as well. In Florida, that means condominium and homeowners association matters, an area with its own statutory framework and a steady volume of cases given how much of the state's housing sits under association governance.

Title III ADA defense is a more specific line of work. Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act governs public accommodations, and defendants in these cases are typically businesses facing claims about physical access or website accessibility. Cases often turn on technical compliance standards and on questions of standing and mootness. The firm defends this type of claim.

How the areas connect

There's an internal logic to this spread. Commercial litigation, banking work, community associations and ADA defense all involve businesses and organizations as clients. Real estate and probate disputes bring in individuals, though usually individuals with property or estate interests at stake.

A firm structured this way can carry a client through more than one type of problem. A business owner with a partnership dispute may also have a commercial lease issue or an employment claim. Carlin Law Firm covers both sides of that.

Credentials on the record

Justin Carlin is Florida Bar Board Certified in Business Litigation. The firm's site states that 219 of Florida's lawyers hold this certification. Board certification through the Florida Bar requires a defined level of substantial involvement in the practice area, peer review, and a written examination, and it has to be renewed periodically.

Carlin is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell. That rating comes from confidential peer review by other lawyers and judges, scored on legal ability and ethical standards.

In 2016 Carlin became a fellow of the American Board of Trial Advocates National Trial College at Harvard Law School. The program accepts 36 trial attorneys every two years. As a reviewer, I'd flag this as the detail worth pausing on: a numerically capped, invitation-driven trial program is a harder thing to point to than most credentials, and the specificity of the claim makes it checkable.

How the team is built

The site names three attorneys: Justin Carlin, Kate Feingold and Marshall Berner. That's a compact roster for a firm with offices in three cities.

Small litigation teams tend to work differently from large ones. Files stay with the same lawyers from pleadings through hearing, and clients usually deal with the attorney who knows the case. For business disputes, where the facts often come down to a specific set of contracts and a specific set of conversations, continuity of that kind has practical value.

Geographic reach

Carlin Law Firm keeps offices in Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach Gardens and Tampa. That covers Broward, Palm Beach and Hillsborough counties, three of Florida's busier commercial venues, and puts the firm on both the Atlantic and Gulf sides of the state.

The spread matters for litigation because venue drives where a case gets filed and heard. Commercial disputes often land where the contract was performed or where the defendant does business. Real property actions go where the property is. A firm with offices in three regions can take matters across a wider slice of Florida's court system without bringing in local counsel each time.

What a prospective client can verify

The firm's public information is specific in the places that count. Practice areas are broken down into actual claim types rather than left as broad headings. Anyone reading the site can tell whether their problem, a will contest, a foreclosure, a shareholder action, matches what the firm does.

The credentials named for Justin Carlin are all externally verifiable. Florida Bar board certification is searchable through the Bar's own directory. Martindale-Hubbell ratings are public. ABOTA National Trial College fellowship is a matter of record with that organization.

The site does not state a founding year, and it does not list titles, law schools or admission years for the attorneys. Prospective clients who want that background can ask for it directly, and the Florida Bar's member search will confirm admission dates and standing for any Florida lawyer. The firm's own description of its work, business, real estate and probate disputes tried in state and federal court, is where the substance sits.