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dburton@icardmerrill.com
Tom Icard is a shareholder in the Sarasota law firm of Icard, Merrill, Cullis, Timm, Furen & Ginsburg, P.A. He holds Florida Bar Board Certifications in both Civil Trial Law and Construction Law and has been a Florida Supreme Court certified circuit civil mediator in state (No. 4665R) and federal courts since 1993. He became a certified Appellate Mediator in 2011. He is a Diplomate of the Florida Academy of Professional Mediators and a member (by invitation) of the Florida Circuit-Civil Mediator Society and the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. Mr. Icard is a Fellow of the Academy of Court Appointed Masters (based in Rockville, MD) and has experience as a special master in federal proceedings. He is a former member of the Panel of Arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association (1993 to 2001) and the Public Arbitration Panel of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA, formerly NASD; 2001 to June, 2015). He is qualified to accept Florida Circuit Court appointments as a binding arbitrator or trial resolution judge (pursuant to Fla. Stat. §44.104). He is a 1970 graduate of Mercer University and a 1973 graduate of The Florida State University College of Law, where he was Notes and Comments Editor of the Florida State University Law Review. He joined the Tampa office of Carlton, Fields, Ward, Emmanuel, Smith & Cutler, P.A. in 1973, became a shareholder in 1979 and practiced there until 1995. Mr. Icard’s trial, arbitration and mediation experience has included employment, land use, condemnation, estates, securities, corporate and other commercial disputes, as well as personal injury, wrongful death, products liability, insurance coverage and professional malpractice in matters ranging from 2 to 19 parties and with exposures ranging from $25,000 to over $50 million. The emphasis in his practice since 1980 has been on construction related matters, both in litigation and in the preparation and review of contract documents. Based on selection by his peers in the legal profession, Mr. Icard has held an AV Martindale Hubbell rating since 1984 and is included on every major published list of the nation’s leading construction attorneys, including Woodward White’s Best Lawyers in America (2012 Tampa metro area “Mediation Lawyer of the Year”; 2016 and 2018 Sarasota metro area “Construction Lawyer of the Year”), FLORIDA TREND’S Florida Legal Elite and the annual compilation of Florida Super Lawyers. He has represented both public and private owners, as well as contractors, subcontractors, sureties and design professionals with respect to the construction of industrial facilities, airports, power plants, municipal sewer systems, hospitals, office buildings and condominiums. He has also written and lectured on all phases of the construction process to Bar and industry organizations. Mr. Icard is a former President of the Hillsborough County Bar Association and a former member of the Executive Council of the Trial Lawyers Section of the Florida Bar. He is a Fellow of the Florida Bar Foundation, as well as a Life Member and Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He is also a former Chair of the Governing Committee of the Forum on Construction Law of the American Bar Association. He served as Chair (2009) of the Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. There is no charge for mileage or travel time for matters convened in Charlotte, Sarasota, Manatee, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Polk, DeSoto and Hardee Counties. Mileage and travel time at one-half the applicable hourly rate will otherwise apply. Contact my legal assistant, Dale Burton, at dburton@icardmerrill.com for additional information.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
English
CONTACTSarasota FL 34237