Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Affiliations
Accomplishments
References
Admitted:
Timeline
Generic

Paras Desai

St. Augustine,Florida

Summary

Seasoned Florida Attorney with 16 years of litigation and legal drafting experience. Adept at establishing trust and rapport with clients through strategic communication techniques. Dedicated to delivering quality representation and counsel through comprehensive legal knowledge and research.

Overview

27
27
years of professional experience

Work History

Attorney

The Desai Firm LLC
Jacksonville, FL
07.2010 - Current
  • Presented court cases to jurors and judges.
  • Helped explain complex concepts in court by developing timelines, graphs and PowerPoint presentations.
  • Interpreted laws, rulings and regulations for individuals and businesses.
  • Conducted thorough interviews of prospective jurors as part of voir dire process to assess for competency and biases, making for-cause challenges to dismiss unfit candidates.
  • Advised clients regarding legal matters, business transactions and claim liability.
  • Used in-depth knowledge of legal precedents to analyze probable outcomes of cases.
  • Leveraged knowledge of precedents and applicable laws to determine probable case outcomes.
  • Negotiated and drafted settlement agreements to resolve litigated cases.
  • Managed successful voir dire processes to optimize jury selection.
  • Administered complex civil or criminal litigation in trial and appellate courts.
  • Performed complex legal research to prepare for cases or arbitration.
  • Argued clearly, logically and persuasively in written and oral form.
  • Searched for and examined public and other legal records to write opinions or establish ownership.
  • Maintained loyal client base by establishing trusting alliances and fair billing practices.
  • Advised clients on intricacies of law, fostering informed understanding of legal rights and obligations.

Assistant County Attorney

Board of Saint Johns County Commissioner
St. Augustine, FL
11.2006 - 07.2010
  • Counsel for the Board of County Commissioner’s for St
  • Johns County, Planning and Zoning
  • Agency (PZA), Ponte Vedra Zoning and Adjustment Board (PVZAB), Ponte Vedra Architectural
  • Review Committee, Ponte Vedra/ Palm Valley Coastal Overlay District, South Anastasia Island
  • Coastal Overlay District, Mid Anastasia Island Coastal Corridor Overlay District, North Coastal
  • Corridor Overlay District, and Value Adjustment Board (VAB
  • Spearheaded negotiations to settle cases before trials.
  • Helped explain complex concepts in court by developing timelines, graphs and PowerPoint presentations.
  • Examined legal data to determine advisability of defending or prosecuting lawsuits.
  • Presented court cases to jurors and judges.
  • Advised clients on intricacies of law, fostering informed understanding of legal rights and obligations.
  • Reviewed Development Agreements, Impact Fee Agreements, Amendments to Comprehensive
  • Plan, Planned Unit Development with associated modifications, rezoning, variances, special use plat submission, plat vacations, and re-plats
  • Reviewed Development of Regional Impact (DRI), and Notice of Proposed Change to
  • Development of Regional Impact (NOPC) applications
  • Reviewed Concurrency Exemptions and Requests for Determination of Vested Rights and/or
  • Equitable Estoppel
  • Assisted the County in Eminent Domain Proceedings and performed on a property valued at $15,000
  • Reviewed issues with respect to Inverse Condemnation, Regulatory Takings and Bert J
  • Harris Act
  • Resolved issues concerning Right of Way and Public/Private Road Issues, including Road Naming and Vacations
  • Conducted searches of the Public Records of St
  • Johns County for title and other related issues
  • Real Property Litigation including boundary disputes and foreclosures
  • Assisted in Land Use Litigation in State Court
  • Drafted Amendments to St
  • Johns County’s Land Development Code
  • Reviewed Community Development District Establishment and amendments thereof
  • Provided legal advice for County Staff and County Administration
  • Reviewed and drafted Complex Real Estate Transaction documents persuasive legal memoranda, motions and briefs synthesizing facts, evidence and legal authorities.
  • Interpreted recent court opinions and current legal research to remain current with developments.
  • Executed high-level analysis of facts, evidence and legal authorities in connection with post-conviction litigation.
  • Interpreted laws, rulings and regulations for individuals and businesses.
  • Used in-depth knowledge of legal precedents to analyze probable outcomes of cases.
  • Conducted in-depth research in order to write effective proposals, agreements and contracts.

Intern

County Attorney
St. Augustine, FL
10.2005 - 04.2006
  • Performed specialized research involving County Ordinances; Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 120); Sunshine Laws, Special and General Laws of Florida
  • Assisted in the drafting of legal documents, correspondence and pleadings for trial
  • Researched issues concerning eminent domain, inverse condemnation and foreclosure actions
  • Assisted in reviewing land use issues
  • Assisted and drafted revisions, amendments and additions to current ordinance’s
  • Attended Board meetings and trials with County Attorney and Assistant Senior County Attorneys

Received Certified Legal Intern

Public Defenders Office, Fourth Judicial Circuit
Jacksonville, FL
01.2005 - 01.2006
  • CLI) status
  • Appeared at first appearance for both misdemeanors and felonies
  • Appeared in court; negotiated and pleaded for Defendants reduced jail time
  • Interviewed Clients prior to trial
  • Summarized Depositions

Westlaw Representative

Westlaw
Jacksonville, FL
01.2005 - 07.2006
  • Educated students to use Westlaw for summer internship, clinics, private placement externships and
  • US attorney externships
  • Trained groups consisting of 30 students or more at one time
  • Educated Law Professors how to research using various Westlaw search criteria and Databases
  • Created Marketing programs and implemented online databases which increased usage in school by more then 30

Law Clerk

Schutt, Schmidt & Burnett
Jacksonville, FL
01.2004 - 01.2005
  • Both Insurance Defense and Plaintiff Injury
  • Large scale litigation involving multiple parties in construction defect
  • Product liability suits involving multiple defendants
  • Fully managed six Personal Injury and Insurance Defense Cases
  • Completed five demand packages with four settling pre-suit
  • Completed Memorandum of law in support of Summary Judgment, Motions to Strike, Motions in
  • Limine
  • Completed and conducted requests for medical records
  • Completed and maintained Pleading Index for case management
  • Completed and conducted requests for discovery
  • Conducted field research and documentation to gather trial evidence
  • Completed multiple medical chronologies for the purposes of trial and mediation

Jayana Corporation
Richmond, VA
01.1998 - 01.2003
  • Responsible for Hotel/Motel property development, operations of existing properties and closing of properties recently sold
  • Reviewed and revised contracts for purchasing new business entities, buying and selling real property, and franchising newly acquired properties
  • Responsible for collecting all outstanding debt from all receivable accounts
  • Negotiated property sale for $2.55 million; net gain of $1.15 million
  • Budgeted and implemented a $400,000 renovation project for the purpose of increasing quality assurance and promoting sale of property
  • Performed Acquisition of 120-room limited service hotel: Negotiated a favorable sales contract for purchasing of property, well under market rate at 2.5 times the gross revenue (market rate for this particular area = 3.5 times gross revenue)
  • Performed Due Diligence and created a marketing report which included reviewing performance of property and investigating new revenue streams
  • Formulated plans to expand business, identify weak areas, and create solutions to meet potential problems
  • Introduced web-based sales and marketing system through introduction of converging technologies

Education

Juris Doctorate Degree -

Florida Coastal School of Law
01.2006

Bachelor of Science - Mechanical Engineering

Union College
01.1998

Skills

  • Mortgage Priority Litigation
  • Litigation Management
  • Primary Authority Research
  • Court Procedures
  • Westlaw Expertise
  • Drafting Motions and Disclosures
  • Case Law and Outcome Analysis
  • Knowledge of Federal and State Laws
  • Legal Document Preparation
  • Establishing Effective Relationships
  • Settlement Negotiation
  • Presenting Evidence
  • Creative and Critical Thinking
  • Discovery and Document Review
  • Lexis-Nexis
  • Contract Review and Negotiation
  • Litigation Experience
  • State License to Practice Law
  • Legal Research and Review
  • Verbal and Written Communication
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Client Representation and Advisement

Affiliations

Vice President, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Union College Chapter Member, SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Studies included Fluid Dynamics; Thermodynamic; Heat Transfer; Dynamics and Statics

Accomplishments

  • Westlaw Certified, Key Cite, West Clip, Lexis-Nexus Certified, Microsoft Office Suite, Watts, Tabs (Time tracking software), HTML, Corel Word Perfect, Computer Aided Drawing (CAD)
  • Tennis, Golf and Running
  • Florida
  • U.S
  • District Court, Middle District of Florida
  • Eligible to sit for the United States Patent and Trademark Office Patent Bar

References

REFERENCE: Furnished upon request

Admitted:

  • United States District Court, Middle District of Florida
  • State of Florida

Timeline

Attorney

The Desai Firm LLC
07.2010 - Current

Assistant County Attorney

Board of Saint Johns County Commissioner
11.2006 - 07.2010

Intern

County Attorney
10.2005 - 04.2006

Received Certified Legal Intern

Public Defenders Office, Fourth Judicial Circuit
01.2005 - 01.2006

Westlaw Representative

Westlaw
01.2005 - 07.2006

Law Clerk

Schutt, Schmidt & Burnett
01.2004 - 01.2005

Jayana Corporation
01.1998 - 01.2003

Juris Doctorate Degree -

Florida Coastal School of Law

Bachelor of Science - Mechanical Engineering

Union College

Similar Profiles

CREATE PROFILE
Paras Desai