Ben Fernandez > Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin & Tapanes > Miami, United States > Lawyer Profile

Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin & Tapanes
200 South Biscayne Boulevard
Suite 300
Miami, FL 33131
FLORDIA
United States

Work Department

N/A

Position

Shareholder

Career

Ben has been active for more than 30 years helping to transform properties throughout  Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami by representing landowners, institutional clients and developers on land use and zoning matters.  His practice covers local and state real estate permitting and licensing, zoning, site plan and other land use approvals, amendments of zoning code, local comprehensive plans, and master plans, due diligence reviews, concurrency, public-private partnerships, and environmental matters.  He also frequently represents clients on historic preservation matters.

Ben obtained zoning approvals for the first 85 story skyscraper in the City of Miami located on Brickell Avenue.  He frequently serves as a counselor on matters requiring due diligence  with respect to complex county and municipal regulatory regimes involving zoning, land use, and development matters.

Prior to joining the firm, where he became a name partner in 2007, Ben practiced land use and zoning law with the Miami office of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan and with Ferrel Cardenas & Fertel.  He began his legal career as a litigator with Cassiday Schade & Gloor in Chicago.

Ben has been named as one of the Best Lawyers in America for the past four years, recognizing his role as a leading land use and zoning attorney in the City of Miami.

He was appointed to serve the City of Miami Housing and Commercial Loan Committee by the City Commission in 2009 and holds the position to this day.  He has been a member of the Metropolitan Dade County Environmental Advisory Task Force and together with law firm partner Jeffrey Bercow, contributed to the American Bar Association’s Section on Real Property, Probate and Trust Law National Newsletter for the Eleventh Circuit on land use law issues.

Committed to his community in many ways, Ben also forms part of the Board of Trustees for WDNA 88.9FM Public Radio, a Jazz radio station which provides quality music, arts, and cultural programs to the communities of South Florida.

Languages

English, Spanish

Memberships

  • Florida Bar, Section of Enviromental and Land Use Law
  • Wiscosin Bar
  • Illinois Bar

Education

  • J.D., Marquette University Law School, 1989
  • B.A., University of Florida, 1986

Lawyer Rankings

United States > Real estate > Land use/zoning

The Florida-based boutique firm Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin & Tapanes is reputed for its depth of expertise in land use, zoning, and environmental matters. The department is headed by Jeffrey Bercow, Ben Fernandez, Michael Larkin and Melissa Tapanes Llahues, all of whom are based in Miami. Bercow ‘provides thoughtful and sensible counsel to clients based on years of experience and expedites the approval process by recommending creative yet attainable solutions’, while Fernandez is adept at providing advice on the full range of land use and zoning matters, ranging from permitting and due diligence reviews to environmental and historic preservation matters. Larkin handles a wide variety of zoning and appellate litigation matters in Miami Beach, and Tapanes Llahues represents landowners, industrial clients and developers and specializes in legislative quasi-judicial affairs. In December 2023, Paul Savage joined the firm from Rasco Klock Perez & Nieto.