Profile
Bill Spivey has been a leading litigator in Central Florida for over 30 years, concentrating his practice on complex commercial matters in state and federal courts. Bill has broad experience in jury and non-jury trials, arbitrations and administrative proceedings. Bill represents clients in a diverse spectrum of cases involving real estate ownership and development, corporate and partnership governance, trustee/fiduciary disputes, insurance issues, creditor's rights, business torts, contracts, and health care issues, among other subject matters.
Concentrations
- Complex commercial litigation
- Real estate ownership and development
- Corporate and partnership governance
- Trustee/fiduciary litigation
- Insurance coverage and fraud disputes
- Creditor's rights
- Business torts
- Contracts
- Health care disputes
- Non-competition and trade secret enforcement
Capabilities
Experience
- Represented victim of multimillion-dollar fraud scam in recovering substantial portion of the misappropriated funds, and in securing federal convictions of the offending parties.
- Defended officers and directors and majority shareholders of closely held Florida company in acrimonious shareholder derivative action.
- Successfully defended a $200+ million damages claim arising from an international derivative trading relationship.
- Represented multiple financial institutions serving as Trustees in municipal bond financings and significant estate plans.
- Proved as fraudulent the claim of a commercial insured seeking millions of dollars for alleged property damage arising from a Florida hurricane.
- Successfully removed from office a Trustee who failed to properly administer a family trust that controlled closely-held entities worth over $80 million.
- Represented multiple lenders in the takeover of distressed multimillion-dollar construction projects, obtaining the appointment of receivers, expedited completion of the foreclosure process, and obtained dismissal of lender liability and other defensive claims.
- Handled appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and Florida's Fifth District Court of Appeals.
- Handled numerous emergency injunction proceedings to enforce noncompete agreements and trade secret protection statutes.
- Defended $65 million lender liability claim and the recovery of a $1.2 million verdict on behalf of a court-appointed receiver in a securities fraud action.
Recognition & Leadership
- Listed, The Best Lawyers in America, Commercial Litigation; Litigation - Banking and Finance; Litigation - Real Estate, 2009-2025
- Named, "Lawyer of the Year," Litigation - Real Estate, Orlando, 2015 and 2023
- Named, "Lawyer of the Year," Banking and Finance, Orlando, 2022
- Team Member, a Law360 "Real Estate Practice Group of the Year," 2023
- Team Member, U.S. News - Best Lawyers®, Best Law Firms Edition, "Law Firm of the Year," Real Estate - Litigation, 2017 and 2022
- Listed, Super Lawyers magazine, Florida Super Lawyers, 2009-2024
- Listed, Florida Trend magazine, "Legal Elite," 2006, 2008, 2012, 2015-2017, and 2020
- Commercial Litigation, 2015-2017 and 2020
- Member, American Bar Association
- Member, Orange County Bar Association
- Member, The Florida Bar
- Member, Litigation Section
- Member, Real Property Section
Credentials
Education
- J.D., with honors, University of Florida Levin College of Law, 1987
- B.S., Business Administration, magna cum laude, Florida State University, 1984
Admissions
- Florida
- U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit