Michelle Gervais co-chairs the firm’s Sports Law practice and advises high-profile athletes, celebrities, and executives, as well as businesses in the sports, entertainment, and finance industries in complex disputes that involve the intersection of business and family law matters. Known as a “fixer” across several legal disciplines, Michelle handles highly delicate matters protecting her clients from serious financial and reputational harm.
For select professional athletes and executives, Michelle helps them handle a variety of family law matters including dissolutions of marriage, domestic violence, paternity, custody, support, and pre-nuptial, post-nuptial, and cohabitation agreements. She also assists her clients and their businesses with other risk management issues affecting their brand, their company, and their professional legacy.
With deep experience in complex commercial litigation, as well as world class client service that goes above and beyond for her clients, Michelle is the lawyer to call when you need a holistic solution to a complex and delicate legal problem.
Sports, Entertainment, and Matrimonial Law
- Collaborative and litigate divorce/dissolution of marriage
- Domestic violence, domestic disputes
- Pre-nuptial/ante-nuptial, post-nuptial and cohabitation agreements
- Paternity, disestablishment of paternity, custody, parenting plans, child access, child support, alimony, palimony, and modification
- International kidnapping/Hague/ICARA, jurisdictional disputes, surrogacy, and relocation
- Contract negotiation, drafting, review and litigation, breach of fiduciary responsibility, Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) claims, and unjust enrichment disputes
- Name, Image. and Likeness (“NIL”)
Commercial, Real Estate & Business Litigation
- Dissolution of partnerships
- Fraud, misrepresentation, and civil conspiracy
- Violation of non-compete agreements, trade secret protection, and breach of fiduciary responsibility
- Insurance disputes, violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (“FDUTPA”)
- Purchase/sales contract disputes, Interstate Land Sales Act (“ILSA”) litigation, and construction/builder disputes
- Real estate disputes/litigation
Consumer Finance
- Represents lenders and financial institutions in contested foreclosures, quiet title, TILA, RESPA, FDUTPA, FCCPA, TCPA, title and lien priority disputes, and eminent domain
Select Speaking Engagements & Publications:
- Joined Bobby Hacker on episode 38 of Sports Lawyers Association’s Sport Shorts, discussing the intersection of business and family law matters. (July 2022)
- Presented “Steps to Becoming Wise and Winning” for Professional Football Players Mothers Association’s (“PFPMA”) Annual Retreat (July 2021)
- Lectured on “Top 10 Tips for Drafting Prenuptial Agreements” at the 29th Annual Family Law Nuts & Bolts of Divorce Seminar presented by Dade Legal Aid-Put Something Back Program, the Dade County Bar Association’s Family Courts Committee and its Young Lawyers Section (June 2021)
- Representing Professional Athletes in Divorce and Paternity Suits for the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyer’s Division (June 2021)
- Interviewed by Pam Huff for the Tampa Bay Business Journal “Michelle Gervais Looks Ahead to Post-COVID Business Litigation” (April 2021)
- Financial Services Regulatory and Litigation Update: Where Do We Go from Here?” for the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Banking & Financial Services CLE Institute (March 2021)
- Co-moderated Champions of Social Justice: Professional Sports Leaders on Anti-Racism and Allyship (February 2021)
- Authored the feature article, “My Winning Playbook: Fading into the Fix,” for NFL THREAD’s The Playbook (Volume 3), the premier annual magazine for THREAD, a private social network for NFL spouses (current and former) and mothers and daughters of former and current NFL players and coaches (2021)
- Interviewed by The Legal Examiner on the spike of divorce cases during the coronavirus pandemic, discussing how her family law practice has seen the divorce caseload double and her thoughts on why there has been such an increase. (August 2020)
- Interviewed for USA Today article “Divorce during coronavirus: Will splits soar after pandemic quarantines end?” (June 2020)
- Served as a guest speaker discussing the complex nature of maintaining wealth in divorce and other setbacks with host Richard Levick of LEVICK on In House Warrior, a daily podcast presented by the Corporate Counsel Business Journal (December 2020)
- Panelist on “Trying Cases during COVID: Roundtable on Best Practices and Lessons Learned” at Blank Rome’s annual Emerging Litigation and Employment Issues for In-House Counsel CLE program on emerging issues in business and employment litigation (December 2020)
- Lectured on “Hot Tips on PreNups & PostNups” at the 28th Annual Family Law Nuts & Bolts of Divorce Seminar presented by Dade Legal Aid-Put Something Back Program, the Dade County Bar Association’s Family Courts Committee and its Young Lawyers Section (December 2020)
- Participated as a panel speaker at “The Modern Athlete: Empowerment, Wellness & Transition,” a special event held by Carillon Miami Wellness Resort, The Shine Firm, and the Sports Lawyer’s Association to kick off the NFL’s Super Bowl 100th Anniversary week in Miami, Florida (January 2020)
- Lectured on “Hot Tips on PreNups & PostNups” at the 27th Annual Family Law Nuts & Bolts of Divorce Seminar presented by Dade Legal Aid-Put Something Back Program, the Dade County Bar Association’s Family Courts Committee and its Young Lawyers Section (December 2019)
- Spoke at the Tampa Bay Lightning Teammate Networking Event (November 2019)
- Lectured on “Civic Engagement: The Why and How” at the Tampa Women’s Leadership Summit (October 2019)
- Lectured on “Women Empowering Women” at the National Association of Sports Commissions 2019 Women’s Summit (April 2019)
- Co-chaired AdventHealth Tampa Foundation’s Third Annual Fashion for Hope (February 2019)
- Panelist on “The Business World of Medicine; Contract Negotiation, Dissolution of Partnerships, Non-Competes” (September 2018)
- Lectured on “Intro to Divorce & Hot Topics in Prenuptial Agreements” at the 25th Annual “Nuts & Bolts of Divorce” Seminar presented by Dade County Bar Association’s Family Courts Committee & Dade Legal Aid (November 2017)
- “Florida District Court Rejects Use of Statute of Limitations as a Basis for Asserting Consumer Protection Claims,” Blank Rome's Consumer Finance Blog (January 2017)
- Hosted Round Table of Hot Topics in Sports with Assistant General Counsel of Miami Heat, Legal Affairs for Miami Dolphins, Assistant General Counsel for The University of Miami and moderated by Kenneth Shropshire (2014)