OUR FIRM
Anthony and Partners specialize in various areas of law, including Bankruptcy, Complex Litigation, and more. Our experienced attorneys, members of the Florida Bar, provide top-quality legal services statewide in State and Federal venues. Combining the attentiveness of a smaller firm with the resources of a larger firm, we prioritize integrity, professionalism, and timely delivery to establish lasting client relationships. With a team of 20+ professionals, Anthony and Partners is recognized as one of Florida's most influential firms, collaborating closely with businesses and individuals in diverse and vital industries such as real estate, banking, manufacturing, and more.
From complex litigation to complex transactions, Anthony and Partners provides comprehensive representation across all aspects of our clients' businesses. We invest in our people through training, mentoring, and professional development, enhancing our client service and attracting top talent. Strong relationships with clients and colleagues, along with active community involvement, further foster exceptional client service. With a commitment to innovation and a diverse, future-focused approach, we are a regional industry leader, recognized and honored in reputable publications such as The Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA, and U.S. News & World Report Best Law Firms. Headquartered in Downtown Tampa, we serve clients in the Tampa Bay area and statewide.
OUR ATTORNEYS
John A. Anthony
Partner
Stephenie B. Anthony
Partner
Frank Lafalce
Partner
Nicholas Lafalce
Partner
John W. Landkammer
Partner
Andrew J. Ghekas
Partner
Townsend Belt
Partner
Scott Stephens
Attorney
C. Paige Andringa
Attorney
Cameryn R. Lackey
Attorney
Julia Traina
Attorney
OUR PRACTICE AREAS
BANKRUPTCY REPRESENTATIONS
We are proud that two among us have clerked for Federal Bankruptcy Judges before coming to the Firm. When loan enforcement litigation and debt restructure are pursued, obligors commonly seek bankruptcy relief. Whenever possible, the Firm seeks results for its non-debtor clients that can be achieved with minimal time, expense, rancor, and uncertainty. Chapter 11 offers many opportunities for amicable resolution of troubled debt scenarios. Chapter 11 can offer mutually acceptable long term results calculated to enable debtors to retain assets while producing a stable repayment schedule acceptable to creditors that might not otherwise be realizable. However, obligor business entities sometimes commonly file petitions for Chapter 11 relief merely to temporarily shield encumbered assets by the automatic stay, or to seek relief at the expense of creditors.
SPECIALTY RECOVERY LITIGATION AND COLLECTIONS
While garnishment, levy, and other familiar debt collection activities are among the Firm’s standard, post-judgment undertakings, large judgments often require a unique array of knowledge, experience, and good judgment. The Firm analyzes representations involving the collection of large judgments with an eye toward locating, recovering, and liquidating fraudulent transfers utilizing the State of Florida’s version of the “Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act.” The Firm takes seriously the rights of creditors to initiate involuntary bankruptcy cases under certain circumstances. We have multiple examples of seven figure recoveries obtained by members of the Firm that stem solely from adversarial judgment enforcement activity with no ultimate expense borne by the client creditor.
REAL ESTATE/TRANSACTIONAL
Anthony & Partners regularly represents clients in real estate litigation including breaches of purchase and sale contracts, landlord-tenant disputes, commercial evictions, the establishment and enforcement of easements as well as boundary disputes, trespass and nuisance claims. Florida’s ongoing growth means that there is an ever-expanding need for qualified, knowledgeable, and diligent legal professionals to address a wide variety of real estate issues that cannot always be worked out amongst the parties. Anthony & Partners has the knowledge and experience to provide prompt goal-oriented legal services to address complex real estate disputes.
COMPLEX COMMERCIAL LITIGATION
Our society is aberrantly plagued by frivolous litigation. Our business environment suffers when parties to distressed lending relationships resort to frivolous “lender liability” litigation as a method of achieving business objectives. Members of the Firm have successfully defended two large lender liability lawsuits before such claims were certified as causes of action. Members of the Firm have successfully defended an international financial institution from a publicly traded Florida-based manufacturer seeking more than $50,000,000 in monetary damages for alleged fraud, violation of the State of Florida’s “Civil Theft Statute,” and on other grounds. This result was upheld on appeal to the Eleventh Circuit, with members of the Firm pitted against the most senior litigators at one of the State of Florida’s largest law firms.
DEBT RESTRUCTURE
A significant percentage of the Firm’s work involves the restructuring of secured debt in a consensual context with obligors having reasonable expectations in light of underlying business realities. Unlike the origination and documentation of new loans, the planning and documentation of loan restructures in a troubled debt context requires special attention in many respects. The documentation of liens and security interests, the perfection of liens on new collateral, the timing of releases, the likelihood and availability of bankruptcy relief, and other considerations, are all among the unique matters to consider when documenting “workouts” in an insolvency environment.
CREDITORS' RIGHTS
Loan enforcement litigation typically occurs in state court, but is also at times pursued in federal court when jurisdiction exists. The Firm has represented more than fifty financial institutions and comparable lenders in litigation to recover on notes, recover on guaranties, foreclose mortgage liens, replevy personal property, and address all manner of affirmative defenses, counterclaims, and similar gambits presented by obligors in response to the same.
RECENT SPOTLIGHT
RECENT RECOGNITIONS
2023 Florida Super Lawyer List
John A. Anthony
2023 Florida Rising Stars
Andrew Ghekas
Nicholas Lafalce
CLIENT REVIEWS
A few years ago, I obtained a $5,500,000 judgment for a client of mine against some people who I believed were insolvent. I asked John Anthony if he would accept 20% of the net recovery together with all attorneys’ fees and costs as a contingent fee for collecting the judgment. He accepted, and he made over $1,000,000. I am glad he did, because our client and I were paid in full. Now, I have recently obtained a judgment of over $60,000,000 against some other people, and my client and I have once again entrusted the matter to John Anthony. He knows how to collect assets by way of enforcing a judgment, and I know no one better.
Veteran Trial Lawyer and Fifteen-Year Client
I have worked with John since 1995. At the time, I was a panel chapter 7 trustee. In the years since, I have been involved in hundreds of business insolvency matters as a professional fiduciary appointed by Federal and State courts. John has been a lawyer for me in all of these fiduciary capacities. He has represented me as chapter 11 trustee in a large case that involved investigation and pursuit of gross business mismanagement. In connection with that case, the former principal of the business was recently sentenced to approximately 250 years in jail. He has represented me as assignee for benefit of creditors, as a chapter 7 trustee, and in other related fiduciary capacities.