Bass Law will provide boutique, hands-on, preeminent legal services that leverage three decades of subject matter expertise, institutional knowledge, and front-line litigation experience gained in the trenches.
Miami Attorney Jeffrey S. Bass announces the launch of Bass Law – a boutique law firm located in Coral Gables, Florida. For 30 years, Bass has played a key role in shaping South Florida’s landscapes and skylines. The law firm will focus on complex commercial litigation with a particular emphasis on administrative law, appellate practice, climate, constitutional law, land use, local government law, water, zoning and business disputes.
Following a thirty-year run as co-founder at Shubin & Bass, P.A. in Miami, Mr. Bass begins the year with the launch of a new boutique practice in which he can continue his tradition of hands-on and focused attention to his clients’ matters. The Bass Law team takes great pride in its capabilities to seamlessly handle the most complex matters from the point of initial conflict, throughout trial court proceedings in state and federal court, to the conclusion of the appellate process.
The new firm structure allows Mr. Bass to selectively serve as lead litigation and appellate counsel on complex cases and land use disputes and further allows him to serve as co-counsel alongside national and international firms in need of his subjective matter expertise. The new firm also allows for creative and collaborative fee structures with select clients.
“Bass Law has three simple superpowers: We are hands-on, hyper-focused, and nimble. Our new structure optimizes each of these abilities.” Mr. Bass said. “There is a dynamism in South Florida at this moment that is unlike any other place. The flex and flux of competing policy visions, precious resources, world-class design, deep architectural history, varied cultures, climate challenges, and limited lands make this the most exciting location in the galaxy for what we do. The ability to practice here is a blessing for which we are grateful every single day.”
Some of Mr. Bass’ clients include the University of Miami, the City of Miami Beach, Baptist Health South Florida, NR International, Dezer Development, TREO Group.
The following samples highlight some of Bass’s recent work.
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Special Counsel to the City of Miami Beach with first-chair litigation responsibility to defend the City’s approval of the redevelopment of the historic Seagull Hotel into North America’s first ultra-luxury Bulgari Hotel. Mr. Bass personally and successfully handled 8 cases brought against the City arising from the redevelopment approvals. The litigation and appellate challenges involved constitutional challenges, historic preservation challenges, and extraordinary writ proceedings.
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Lead land use counsel to transform South Miami’s old Winn Dixie site into a mixed-used transit-oriented development featuring a new Fresh Market together with apartments.
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Lead land use counsel who entitled nearly 20 acres along the US-1 corridor in Miami-Dade County’s Coral Gables and South Miami with over 3 million square feet of mixed-use development.
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Lead land use counsel for the transformational entitlement suite for the property known as Sunset Place in South Miami. The entitlements allowed the development of over 1.1 million square feet of mixed-use development along the US-1 corridor.
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Lead land use counsel for the entitlement for Gables Station, the Thesis Hotel and the Residences at Thesis – resulting in 1.6 million square feet of new mixed-use and hotel development along the US-1 Corridor in Coral Gables. As a result, the US-1 corridor is being transformed from antiquated strip shopping centers with seas of asphalt parking into mixed-use, vertical development with vibrant public spaces and connectivity to Metrorail.
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Lead counsel responsible for negotiating, drafting, and successfully advocating for a comprehensive development agreement between the University of Miami and the City of Coral Gables to develop 6.8 million square feet of development on the Coral Gables Campus over a 20-year build-out term together with a host of robust community enhancement packages. It included a comprehensive rewrite of the City’s land development regulations and comprehensive plan.
Mr. Bass’s academic interests in the law have enabled him to train young lawyers and educate the next generation of real estate professionals. He pioneered a course on the regulation of design that he taught at the University of Miami School of Architecture and within the University of Miami’s Masters in Real Estate Development program. He also lectured on comprehensive planning and zoning to a select group of elected officials from across Florida as a faculty-member of the Good Government Initiative at the University of Miami. The nonprofit’s mission was to cultivate leaders of excellence through the development and training of elected officials, as well as those aspiring to run for office, and to engage the community in its governance through outreach and education. Mr. Bass continues to lecture throughout the state on land use and litigation issues.
Mr. Bass is the recipient of the Carnegie Medal for Outstanding Act of Heroism. In 2008, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission recognized Mr. Bass for risking his life to successfully rescue an unconscious and badly injured near-drowning victim in the waters off of Key Largo, Florida. For this life-saving rescue, Mr. Bass was also recognized by the Governor, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners.
Mr. Bass is keenly interested in climate. He sits on the Board of Visitors of Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, and he is a frequent participant in the Aspen Institute Water Policy Form co-hosted annually by Duke’s Nicholas School and the Aspen Institute.
Mr. Bass served on the Judicial Nominating Commission for the Third District Court of Appeal for 12 years and served as its Chair from 2011-2012.
Mr. Bass is admitted to practice law in the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, and the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
Mr. Bass’s pursuit of excellence hasn’t gone unnoticed. Holding an AV rating since 2002, he has achieved a Band One ranking by Chambers USA and has been honored as the Lawyer of the Year in 2021 for litigation, land use, and zoning by Best Lawyers and was awarded Wall Street Journal South Florida Lawyer of the Year in 2021.
Mr. Bass earned his B.A. cum laude from Duke University in 1989 and obtained his J.D. from the University of Miami in 1992.
About Bass Law
Bass Law is a boutique law firm focused on complex commercial litigation with a particular emphasis on administrative law, appellate practice, climate, constitutional law, land use, local government, municipal law, water, zoning, and business disputes. Its seasoned attorneys excel in the boardroom, courtroom, and appellate arena, handling the most intricate cases from initial conflicts to trial and final appellate proceedings. Bass Law is frequently sought as co-counsel by Florida firms seeking expertise in land use and real property substantive litigation. Additionally, it serves as the trusted local counsel for national and international law firms seeking a partnership with a renowned, highly respected, well-connected, and actively practicing subject matter expert. For more information, visit www.basslaw.com
