Faceoff: How Miami Law Firms Are Helping Companies Navigate Region’s Growth

Key points:

• • Miami law firms are supporting growth through cross-border transactions, litigation, and corporate advisory.
• • Firms are helping businesses navigate expansion, international investment, and AI-related changes.
• • Miami’s local expertise and global connections continue to attract business activity.

July 2026 — South Florida and Miami law firms have become key partners in the region’s remarkable economic expansion, helping businesses navigate an increasingly complex landscape shaped by corporate relocations, international investment, and rapid industry growth. As companies establish headquarters, expand operations, and pursue new opportunities across the region, legal advisors are playing a critical role in guiding strategic decisions involving corporate structuring, real estate, regulatory compliance, litigation, and cross-border transactions.

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The region’s legal sector has evolved alongside South Florida’s emergence as a global business hub, with firms expanding multidisciplinary capabilities to serve clients across industries including finance, healthcare, technology, real estate, and infrastructure. Firms such as King & Spalding and Carlton Fields are supporting both long-established businesses and new market entrants by combining deep local knowledge with national and international reach. As Miami continues to strengthen its position as a gateway to the Americas, the legal community remains an integral part of the ecosystem driving investment, innovation, and long-term economic growth.

Invest: spoke with Randy Bassett, managing partner at King & Spalding, and Jay Koenigsberg, co-managing shareholder at Carlton Fields, to gain deeper insight into the evolution of law firms in Miami and South Florida, the factors shaping the region’s legal landscape, and the opportunities and challenges driving the industry’s continued growth. 

How has your firm leveraged its presence in Miami and South Florida to support the region’s expanding business community?

Randy Bassett: Miami has always been a gateway to Latin America. When King & Spalding decided to open an office in Florida, we had a range of options, but once we looked at our practice strengths and what we wanted the office to do from a cross-border perspective, Miami was the clear choice.

One of the key pillars behind establishing the office was our strong international arbitration practice, particularly into Latin America. Since then, we have added other practice areas, especially cross-border transactions and project finance, which have allowed us to deepen the role of the Miami office in supporting business activity across the region.

We also have a strong presence in the Middle East, with offices in the UAE, Abu Dhabi, and Saudi Arabia. We are seeing increased interest from investors in those markets looking at opportunities in Latin America, and we are using the Miami office to help connect those interests. In that sense, Miami serves not only as a bridge to Latin America but also as a conduit linking capital and strategic interests from other global regions.

Jay Koenigsberg: Carlton Fields has been here for a long time, so expanding is an interesting word for us. The firm was formed in 1901, and this year marks our 125th anniversary. We are an organic national law firm. We started in Tampa, our largest office is in Tampa, and our second-largest office is Miami.

We cover the state, and as Florida has grown, our presence has grown with it. Over time, that has meant building and deepening practices that match the state’s needs, including real estate development, banking, and healthcare. Healthcare is a huge part of the firm’s work. We represent hospitals, doctors, and physician groups. We also do insurance work, construction, and litigation, among other areas.

Miami has grown in its real estate activity and in its business transactions work, and our office has grown in those ways. At the same time, you do not necessarily have to be physically in Miami to support the Miami market. Because we have offices around the country, we have lawyers from other locations supporting our South Florida practice every day.

How has the Miami office evolved, and what does that say about client demand and team management?

Bassett: Having an office in Miami has enhanced our ability to attract clients in those practice areas. Our Latin American international arbitration practice is led from Miami, and that team works regularly with clients that have disputes across Latin America, whether in Brazil, Peru, or elsewhere in the region.

A significant portion of that work involves state-based investment disputes and protecting capital investments that clients have made in Latin American countries. We have seen consistent growth in that practice since opening the office, and that reflects both the demand for sophisticated dispute-resolution work and the value clients place on having a team based in Miami.

On the litigation side, many of our institutional clients already had significant activity in South Florida. Establishing the office allowed us to continue serving those clients locally while also expanding our litigation bench and developing new relationships in the market. We handle high-stakes litigation, class actions, and product liability cases in sectors like financial services, life sciences, and technology. Our litigators in Miami, including our Product Liability and Mass Torts lawyers, are involved in high-stakes matters in South Florida and throughout the country.

Koenigsberg: There is one issue that is affecting everyone across sectors right now, and that is technology, particularly artificial intelligence and how it is impacting the practice of law and how we do our jobs.

We do not endorse the use of generative AI for legal work product at this time. That includes anything involving legal research or original thinking. Those are areas where judgment, accountability, and precision matter, and where the risks of relying on large language models are not acceptable for the kind of work we do.

That said, technology does offer meaningful efficiencies in certain contexts. In large commercial transactions, there are many documents that have to be reviewed and organized. In litigation, especially in complex matters, technology can help manage large volumes of information. For us, the most practical use of AI has been much more traditional: database sorting, information access, and process efficiency, rather than anything that resembles a chat-based large language model approach.

What legal considerations should companies keep in mind when establishing headquarters or regional offices in Miami?

Bassett: From the beginning, it has been essential for us to work across offices, not only to share clients, but to share the work and the expertise needed to serve those clients effectively.

That collaboration is especially important in areas like Middle East investment into Latin America. We have lawyers in Miami with deep regional knowledge and language capability, and that allows us to serve as a bridge between those markets.

Right now, much of the investment interest we are seeing is tied to diversification and the push into artificial intelligence. That includes investments in data centers, which are becoming a major opportunity in Latin America. Being able to bring together our Miami office and our Middle East offices around those trends is a strong example of how the firm operates as one integrated global platform.

Koenigsberg: One of the realities of doing business in Florida is that the barriers to entry are lower than in many other states. Florida has tried to make doing business easier, and it is often easier to do business here than it is in places like New York, Illinois, or Massachusetts. Florida also has structural factors that many businesses consider, including being a state without a state income tax.

Even with a more business-friendly environment, companies still have to address the laws like they would in any jurisdiction. Having good local counsel is important. The details matter, whether it is corporate structuring, employment, real estate, regulatory issues, or other considerations that vary by industry and by deal type.

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