Harper Meyer LLP is a full-service Miami law firm offering its clients highly personalized attention.
Harper Meyer LLP is a full-service Miami law firm offering its clients highly personalized attention. Our attorneys are involved in nearly all legal aspects of the commercial world, including the planning and coordination of business and family offices, the operations of which are based in the U.S. and abroad. We assist our clients with their legal needs in the areas of tax planning, trusts and estates, immigration and naturalization, business transactions, mergers & acquisitions, aviation, maritime, real estate, complex cross-border transactions, commercial litigation and arbitration, trusts and estates litigation, and franchising and licensing. Our firm prides itself on having robust international and domestic practices. Harper Meyer represents a number of significant international enterprises and large institutions doing business in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, and around the world.
One of our strengths is the legal network of top-notch foreign lawyers and law firms with which we have established relationships over many years. We work with the finest and most prestigious law firms in each hemisphere and are able to identify the right lawyer in each country depending on the particular project under consideration. In addition, to the extent a project being undertaken for a client entails areas of specialization beyond our own, we can comfortably reach out to our colleagues, both in Miami and elsewhere, to assist us in representing our clients to the fullest extent required.
Harper Meyer's history is rich with legendary professional figures, great successes, and a number of renowned and globally significant clientele. The Firm was founded by three friends and lawyers, George Harper, James Meyer and Manuel Perez in 2002. Their primary motivation was the creation of a high quality, personally attentive firm catering to the highest caliber of clientele in the areas of international private wealth, the practice of which would mirror the international business and personality profile of Miami. Thus, while the roots of the firm were firmly planted in South Florida, our practice - like the geographical extent of the South Florida economy - knew no boundaries. Shortly thereafter, Harper, Meyer and Perez were joined by Steven Hagen, Ron Albert and Michael Dribin. Katie DeLuca joined several years later as a first-year associate until she was eventually promoted to partner in 2017. Since then, as the firm grew and expanded its areas of expertise, Jeff Hagen, Andrea Villa, Nicole Baudini, Otavio Carneiro, Laura Reich, Clarissa Rodriguez, Gustavo Negron, Jacqueline Villalba and Rose Parish Ramon have also joined as partners.
Most of our partners have had extensive experience at large, multi-office, multi-national law firms. George Harper, James Meyer, and Steve Hagen had practiced law together for a number of years at the then-premier Miami international law firm of Paul, Landy, Beiley & Harper, P.A., founded in 1964. When that firm dissolved in 1994, Harper and Meyer moved on to Steel Hector & Davis (which later was merged into Squire Patton) and Hagen left to Holland & Knight. Prior to their joining Harper Meyer, Manuel Perez was with Kilpatrick Stockton, Ron Albert was with Holland & Knight, Mike Dribin was with Broad & Cassell, Rose Parish Ramon was with Greenberg Traurig, Laura Reich was with White & Case, and Otavio Carneiro was with Akerman. In 2017, our dear friend and local legal legend, George Harper, passed away. He was our guiding light during the Firm's formative years and we dearly miss him to this day. It was at George Harper's memorial service, that his former mentor from his days at Paul, Landy, Beiley & Harper, Burton Landy, then 88 years old, decided to leave Akerman to join Harper Meyer. He explained at the time he had witnessed and felt in us the same sense of professionalism, quality and collegiality that he remembered and longed for from his days at the prior firm. Burton Landy is often referred to in the legal community as the Dean of International Law and the Father of International Arbitration in Miami.
Harper Meyer was founded on a simple premise: that a smaller, more close-knit firm, composed of highly credentialed lawyers would be able to offer more attentive, first-class legal services at more reasonable rates without compromising on quality. The steady growth of our firm since its founding in 2002 appears to have validated our belief in this regard. Many of our clients have been with us in excess of 40 years, and several for as long as 50 years. Their trust and their support over these years have been a great source of pride and satisfaction to us.