Joseph Z. Fleming

Joseph Z. Fleming

Joe Fleming is an experienced litigator and labor and employment lawyer who represents a diverse group of clients, including governmental entities, national and international airlines, utilities companies, land developers and mining interests in issues of labor and employment matters, workplace safety, hazardous-waste regulatory and insurance matters, environmental and land use, and complex international litigation. In addition, he has worked in the entertainment, arts and sports law areas.

Joe's labor and employment practice involves representation of management in matters involving: opposition to union organizational efforts; collective bargaining negotiations; representation in arbitration proceedings and in enforcement of collective bargaining agreements; affirmative action and equal opportunity compliance and related administrative and judicial proceedings; defending management decisions in labor and employment discrimination cases (in civil rights discrimination, age, disability, wage and hour, occupational safety and hazard, workplace environment, defamation and other labor and employment related claims); and related complex litigation (including the Railway Labor Act, National Labor Relations Act, ERISA and RICO-related litigation).

Joe has had wide-ranging litigation experience in ADA litigation (ADA, Title II and III litigation).

Areas of Concentration

· Labor and employment

· Environmental, land use and natural resources

· Entertainment

· Arts and sports law

· Intellectual property

· Defamation law

· Media law

· Constitutional law

· ADA, accessibility, building, life safety codes

Significant Representations

· Represented Christo and Jeanne-Claude in connection with the permitting and litigation involving the "Surrounded Islands Project for Biscayne Bay." Representation in connection with federal, state, regional, county, and local government permitting and representation in the United States federal district court litigation involving federal statutory permitting, resulting in judicial approval of the ability to proceed with the project.

· Represented governmental, historic preservation and conservation groups on a pro bono basis and, also, developers, utilities, and manufacturing entities in federal and state administrative agency tribunals, judicial proceedings and appellate cases involving complex environmental permitting issues, including ADA compliance issues.

· Represented management in administrative and judicial trials and appellate cases relating to labor and employment laws and environmental laws, and advised management on labor, employment and environmental transactional issues involving acquiring and selling companies.

· Served as an Arbitrator in commercial, employment and environmental arbitration cases and arbitrated numerous cases on behalf of management.

Professional & Community Involvement

· American Law Institute American Bar Association (ALI-ABA)

· Member, Advisory Group on Labor Law for the Committee on Continuing Professional Education (one of six labor and employment lawyers selected in the United States)

· Chair, ALI-ABA's Course on The Law of the Workplace Environment (November 2004 in Washington, D.C.)

· Chair, ALI-ABA's Course on Airline and Railroad Labor and Employment Law (continuing course next scheduled for Spring, 2006 in Washington, D.C.)

· Co-Chair (and Founding Chair), Historic Preservation on Historic Preservation Law program, sponsored by the ALI-ABA and the National Trust (continuing course next scheduled for Fall, 2005 in Washington, D.C.)

· Co-Chair (and Founding Chair), ALI-ABA's Course on Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law (continuing course next scheduled for January 2005 in Los Angeles)

· Past Member, Board of Directors, National Center for Preservation Law

· Past Chair of the following Florida Bar Sections: the Environmental and Land Use Section; the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section; and the Labor and Employment Law Section

· Past Chair, Emerging Issues Committee, American Bar Association's State and Local Government Law Section (and Past Section Council Member)

· Member, America Arbitration Association's Miami Employment Advisory Council and the AAA's Arbitrators Panel

Awards & Recognition

· Listed, Best Lawyers in America, 1984-2010

· Selected by Super Lawyers magazine, 2006-2009

· Listed, Chambers & Partners USA Guide, an annual listing of the leading business lawyers and law firms in the world, 2003-2009, every edition

· Recognized as one of the "Top Lawyers in South Florida," South Florida Legal Guide, 2004 and 2005

· Listed, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 Legal Elite, Florida Trend magazine, listing of Florida's top attorneys as selected by their peers

· Certified by The Florida Bar as a specialist in Labor and Employment Law.

· Honored by The Florida Audubon Society, the Tropical Audubon Society and 1,000 Friends of Florida and other non-profit organizations for efforts on behalf of conservation and protection of coastal lands in numerous cases including:

- Successful representation in environmental litigation enabling the protection of Cross Creek.

- Successful representation in numerous matters including obtaining the first 404(c) Clean Water Act Veto by the EPA of a United States Army Corps of Engineers permit.

- Represented a non-profit entity successfully suing the United States and its agencies, the State of Florida, Dade County and the City of Miami Beach to obtain the right to proceed with an experiment that would eliminate secondary treatment pursuant to the provisions of the Clean Water Act in connection with RITE-Research Improves the Environment v. Costle, 65o F.2d 1312 (5th Cir.1981).

· Honored by Progressive Magazine for work on the Miami Beach "Art Deco" Historic District Preservation Plan and successful representation in administrative and governmental and judicial proceedings ultimately to enable the protection of the District.

· Listed, Who's Who in American Law, and in Best Lawyers in America (past and current editions, listed in Labor and Employment, Environmental Law and Entertainment Law)

· AV® Peer Review Rated

Articles, Publications, & Lectures

Articles

· Author, "Management Law: What are Management's Rights, and How Can They be Used in Your Business?" Smart Business Miami, October 2005

· Lecturer at numerous seminars, and author of numerous articles and published chapters in books on labor, employment and environmental law including: Railway Labor Act, Bureau of National Affairs [BNA], International Labor and Employment Law [BNA Supplement]

· Co-Author, "Analysis of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA)," Florida Environmental and Land Use Law, Florida Bar, 2004-2005

· Author, "Title IX From The Rose Crew to Gutter: The Law and Literature of Sports," 14 Fordham Intel. Prop. Media & Ent. L.J. 793, 2004

· Author, "The Untied States," An Analysis of Federal Maritime Commission v. South Carolina Ports Authority, 34 URB. LAW 859 (The National Quarterly on Local Government Law of the Urban, State and Local Government Law Section of the American Bar Association) No. 4, Fall 2002

· Author, "Mt. Healthy, Causation, and Affirmative Defenses," 51 Mercer Law Rev. 637, Winter 2000

Lectures

· Lecturer and author of articles relating to labor and employment, environmental and entertainment litigation for The Florida Bar, The American Bar Association and ALI-ABA

(Board Certified Labor and Employment Lawyer, Florida Bar Board of Legal Specialization and Education)