Burt & Burt || Attorneys at Law

A Florida attorney since 1974, Richard Burt, Sr. has focused his practice primarily on commercial and construction disputes. He has successfully handled numerous mediations, arbitrations, trials and appeals arising from such disputes which typically involve claims for breach of contract, construction defects, construction liens and surety bonds. He represents clients in all Florida trial and appellate courts, including the Florida Supreme Court, and in administrative hearings. He is a former member of the Construction Panel of the American Arbitration Association and is certified as a mediator by the Florida Supreme Court and the Fifth District Court of Appeal. Mr. Burt is also a member of the American Bar Association’s Forum on the Construction Industry which deals exclusively with construction issues. He is the author of articles as to issues of importance to the construction industry, including a chapter in Florida Construction Law and Practice, published by the Florida Bar.

Rick Burt is unique among lawyers, a commercial and real estate transactional attorney with substantial trial experience. Rick started his career at the international law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP (http://www.morganlewis.com/) in the firm’s litigation department. While at Morgan Lewis, Rick handled large scale litigations ranging from securities class actions to business torts like violations of non-compete clauses and tortious interference to construction disputes. It was through his association with Morgan Lewis, a law firm with over 1,000 attorneys in twenty two cities spanning three continents, that Rick was able to learn from some of the brightest attorneys in the world and was provided with the foundational skills that still shape his practice today.

After relocating to Central Florida, Rick joined the almost 100 year old firm of Shutts & Bowen LLP (http://www.shutts.com/), again concentrating on commercial litigation, this time mostly involving large scale construction and commercial disputes, as well as construction contract drafting and review. It was while at Shutts & Bowen that Rick diversified his skill set and developed a real estate and banking transactional practice. Rick’s background litigating complex commercial and construction transactions made him uniquely suited to assist clients with their transactions and in particular, help them avoid litigation.

Shutts & Bowen remains one of the pre-eminent real estate firm in Central Florida and it was in this environment that Rick was able to assist clients in high value, high profile, complex transactions. These deals ranged from the purchase and development of multi-family apartments by a national apartment builder to the development of entire residential subdivisions for major national home builders to the purchase and development of mixed use sites containing commercial, retail, multi and single family residential components. Rick’s involvement in these transactions covered the entire spectrum of a client’s needs from the initial contract drafting to pre-closing development needs, to financing the acquisition and construction of the project, to construction and eventual sale of the project.

As a result of being both a litigator and transactional attorney, Rick is able to provide clients with a perspective not offered by most attorneys. Rick is able to understand how contract provisions ultimately end up in litigation and therefore, able to draft contracts and handle transactions with an eye toward avoiding those litigations. He also understands how transactions unfold and is able to utilize this knowledge as a trial attorney.

In addition to his private practice, Rick serves as an adjunct faculty member for Valencia Community College’s Paralegal Studies Program, teaching young students in the area of business organizations and general business law.

On a personal note, Rick grew up in Miami, Florida and after graduating high school matriculated to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania where, in addition to Penn’s considerable academic requirements, he was a four year varsity baseball letter winner. Rick, the team’s catcher, led the Quakers to an Ivy League Championship and an appearance in the NCAA Division I tournament, graduating as a member of Penn’s All-Decade Team.

After Penn, Rick returned home to attend the University of Miami School of Law on a academic scholarship. During his time at Miami, Rick was a member of the University of Miami Law Review and the Moot Court Board, and was selected to the Dean’s List every semester. Rick graduated Magna Cum Laude from Miami and was selected to be a member of the Order of the Coif, an organization reserved for law students with high academic achievement.