Jamie Cole opened the firm’s Fort Lauderdale office in 1999 and served as the firm’s managing director for 10 years, from 2008 to 2017. Under his leadership, the firm built a culture of collaboration and solidified its reputation as a leading Florida law firm for government and business clients. Jamie has served as the Fort Lauderdale Office Managing Director since January 2018.
Jamie represents local officials and governments in matters that help to improve their communities and preserve home rule power. His work includes actions to remove a misleading question from the statewide ballot regarding property taxes; to invalidate penalties that could be imposed against local officials for violation of the firearms preemption; to protect communities from blighting influences (including billboards, excessively intense development and a large gaming vessel); and to prevent overreaching actions by higher levels of government.
Jamie has served as the City Attorney for the City of Weston since 1999, previously served as City Attorney for Hollywood and Miramar, and serves as special counsel for numerous municipalities across Palm Beach and Broward Counties. He has presided over more than 1,500 city commission meetings and has spoken at seminars on subjects addressing ethics, open government, professionalism and civility, property taxes, government finance and charter review.
Jamie is committed to improving standards in the legal profession and in 2019 was named “Lawyer of the Year” by the Daily Business Review for his work in helping create a professionalism and civility magistrate pilot program in Broward County Circuit Court.
Jamie also represents private and public clients in complex litigation and is an accomplished appellate attorney. He has appeared before the Florida Supreme Court, as well as the Second, Third and Fourth District Courts of Appeal, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Jamie has served as lead litigation counsel for several coalitions of local governments challenging State and county laws and actions. He spearheaded lawsuits against the State of Florida invalidating Senate Bill 360 relating to growth management (because it violated the Florida constitution), and removing a proposed constitutional amendment from the 2007 statewide ballot that would have eliminated the Save Our Homes tax exemption. He also represented a coalition of 18 municipalities in a lawsuit against Broward County regarding the distribution of assets of the Resource Recovery Board upon its termination, resulting in a settlement worth approximately $38 million for the municipalities, and represented a county administrator in a dispute over governmental powers, resulting in a declaratory judgment in favor of his client.
Jamie is a native South Floridian and a proud graduate of Broward’s public school system, and was the valedictorian of his Ivy League law school class. He began his career as a commercial litigation attorney at one of the largest global firms before being appointed as in-house City Attorney for the City of Hollywood in 1994.
Florida, 1988
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, 1989
U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit, 1992
University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D., summa cum laude, 1988
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, BSE, Economics, summa cum laude, 1985
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