Biographical Information
Tasha O. BufordTasha O. Buford
tbuford@yvlaw.net
Tasha O. Buford
tbuford@yvlaw.net
Ms. Buford concentrates her practice in land use, environmental, public utility, legislative and administrative law, with particular emphasis on the representation of landowners and developers in Development of Regional Impact law, coastal construction and permitting, wetlands regulation, State sovereign land issues with regard particularly to marina development and permitting, protected species and zoning. Ms. Buford has successfully represented numerous residential, commercial and coastal property developers before the Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Department of Community Affairs, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund for resolution of regulatory and proprietary matters. Ms. Buford represented Kissimmee Utility Authority and the Florida Municipal Power Agency in their quest for site certification of the Cane Island Power Park Unit 3 before the Department of Environmental Protection, which was successfully concluded. Ms. Buford also successfully represented the Southern Company, Orlando Utilities Commission, Kissimmee Utility Authority and Florida Municipal Power Agency in their quest for a determination of need and site certification for a third unit at the Curtis H. Stanton Energy Center. Ms. Buford is now representing Southern Company and Orlando Utilities Commission with the site certification and permitting for a fourth unit at the Stanton Energy Center. In addition, Ms. Buford represents individual licensed professionals and professional associations before state regulatory bodies in regard to licensing and disciplinary matters. She has also published on land use and environmental law issues, and has lectured in her area of practice.
She is a member of The Florida Bar and the Tallahassee and American Bar Associations.
Mr. Dee routinely handles cases involving environmental permitting, enforcement proceedings, agency rulemaking, and litigation. He has worked extensively with local, regional, state, and federal environmental agencies. He has represented counties, municipalities, environmental organizations, and private developers in a wide variety of cases throughout Florida. Mr. Dee has successfully handled major, complex cases involving electrical power plants, industrial facilities, landfills, resource recovery (waste-to-energy) facilities, cogeneration facilities, CERCLA (Superfund) sites, residential developments, marinas, industrial and domestic wastewater treatment plants, mines, port expansion projects, groundwater contamination, and dredge and fill activities.
Mr. Dee received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1974 from Emory University and a Juris Doctor degree with high honors in 1979 from Florida State University. He is a member of several honorary organizations, including Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa, and the Order of the Coif. He has been selected for inclusion in several Who's Who publications, Outstanding Young Men in America, Florida Super Lawyers, The Best Attorneys Network, Leading Florida Attorneys, America's Leading Lawyers for Business, and The Best Lawyers in America.
He is admitted to practice in all of the state and federal courts in Florida, plus the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 11th Circuit and the District of Columbia. He has the highest rating ("AV") awarded in the Martindale-Hubbell legal directory.
Mr. Dee has lectured at more than 100 environmental law seminars, including programs conducted by the Florida Bar Association, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and other state and national organizations. He has written many articles for the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Dee was the Chairman of the Environmental and Land Use Law Section of the Florida Bar Association. He served on the Section's Executive Council for eight years.
Mr. Dee is a graduate of the Leadership Tallahassee and Leadership Florida programs, which are sponsored by the Tallahassee and Florida Chambers of Commerce, respectively. He served two terms on the Board of Regents for Leadership Florida. Mr. Dee was a member of the Board of Directors of Goodwill Industries of the Big Bend, Inc., for nine years and served as the President of the Board. He served on the Board of Directors for the Tallahassee Chapter of the American Red Cross. Mr. Dee was a volunteer in the American Peace Corps in Nepal and Ethiopia.
Mr. Dee has considerable experience with the Florida Electrical Power Plant Siting Act and many of the other environmental regulations applicable to electrical generating facilities. He has handled the permitting of 13 major construction projects involving electrical generating facilities, including 9 new facilities on "green field" sites.
Mr. Dee has considerable experience with solid waste management issues. Among other things, Mr. Dee:
Employment History
| 2006 | Young van Assenderp, P.A. |
| 1995-2005 | Landers & Parsons, P.A. |
| 1981-1995 | Carlton, Fields, Ward, Emmanuel, Smith & Cutler, P.A. |
| 1979-1981 | Hopping Boyd Green & Sams, P.A. |
He began his legal career in 1975 as an attorney for the Florida Senate and in 1978 became General Counsel to the Florida Division of Elections. In January of 1979, he joined the Tallahassee firm of Madigan, Parker, Gatlin, et al., which later became Skelding, Labasky, et al., in the early 1990's. He remained with that firm until becoming a partner in Landers & Parsons, P.A., in January 2003. On January 1, 2006, Landers & Parsons, P.A. merged with the law firm of Young van Assenderp, P.A.
He earned his B.S. Degree from Florida State University in 1973 and a J.D. Degree from the University of Florida in 1975. He is a member of the Florida Bar, the American Bar Association and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. He is admitted to practice in all Florida Courts, the United States Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh and Fifth Circuits, and the United States District Courts for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Florida. He is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell.
Mr. LaVia concentrates his practice in environmental, administrative and utility law. He represents clients throughout the state on environmental permitting issues, environmental enforcement cases, administrative matters and civil litigation. He also practices before the Florida Public Service Commission with a focus on the representation of consumers, independent power producers and producers of renewable energy.
He is admitted to practice in the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Middle Districts of Florida, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, the Florida Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court. He is a member of the Florida Bar and the American Bar Association.
He was counsel to the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives from 1972 to 1975 and, in 1973 and 1974, was assigned responsibility in drafting the Florida Administrative Procedure Act. He was formerly a partner in MacFarlane, Ferguson, Allison & Kelly (1976-1981), in Ausley, McMullen, McGehee, Carothers and Proctor (1981-1985) and in Landers & Parsons, P.A. (1985-2005).
He is a frequent lecturer on environmental and administrative law for continuing legal education programs sponsored by the Florida Bar, American Bar Association and Local Government Lawyers Associations.
Mr. Parsons received his undergraduate degree from Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and his law degree from Harvard Law School. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA Leading Lawyers for Business and Florida Trend Magazine's Legal Elite.
While attending the Florida State University College of Law, Mr. Qualls participated in two externships. The first was with the Florida Attorney General's Office where he assisted in many aspects of civil litigation for the Administrative Law Division. The second was at the State Attorney's Office, Second Judicial Circuit of Florida. As part of this externship he researched various questions of state and federal criminal law, drafted motions, argued pre-trial motions and acted as lead prosecutor in three felony cases.
Mr. Qualls currently assists in the representation of clients in several matters including: the establishment of Community Development Districts under Chapter 190, Florida Statutes; civil litigation including pre-trial discovery, motion pleading and other civil procedure matters; the negotiation and drafting of commercial and intellectual property contracts; representation and counsel on the levy, imposition and collection of ad valorem taxes (with an emphasis on tangible personal property law) and non-ad valorem assessments; advising lobbyists and public officials on ethics, conflict of interest and lobbying law; and on the administrative law aspects of sovereignty submerged lands.
Tim Qualls is a member of the Florida Bar.
Publications:
He was appointed by Governor Jeb Bush in December, 2000 to serve on the Governor’s Select Elections Reform Task Force as a result of the 2000 Presidential Election to make recommendations to the Governor and to the Legislature on election technology, standards and procedures.
He was appointed by Governor Reuben Askew to the New Communities Task Force in 1974 which led ultimately to the New Communities Act 1975 and, at his suggestion and initiation, the Uniform Community Development District Act of 1980.
Appellate work developments in Florida case law:
1. General Law:
He serves as panelist and lecturer on non-ad valorem special assessment law; the law of home rule as related to state constitutional county officers; and special district laws.
He has been active in civic affairs. He was one of sixty American business persons, and the first Florida attorney, selected by the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry to spend a month in Japan in 1985 to study the Japanese economy and its relationship to basic research and economic development in the United States and in Florida. He served, in 1985, as President of Forward Tallahassee, a voluntary civic process dedicated to improving quality of life and enhancing economic development. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Research Foundation of the Florida State University from 1996 through 2000. He has served as Chairman for the Board of Directors of the Alumni Association of the Florida State University from 1987 through 1989. He is a member of the Alumni Association of Cumberland School of Law of Samford University. He is a member of the Board of Visitors of the College of Law of the Florida State University.
He is a member of both the Florida and American Bar Associations and is authorized to practice law before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida and the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
In 2004 he was selected in the inaugural Florida Trend Recognition of Florida's "Legal Elite" for environmental and land use law.
He earned his B.A. degree in Political Science and History in 1963 from the Florida State University and his J.D. degree in 1972 from the Cumberland School of Law of Samford University. Before becoming an attorney he was Legislative Aide in Washington, D.C. in 1969 to The Honorable Don Fuqua of the 2nd U.S. Congressional District of Florida. From 1965 - 1968 he served as Administrative Assistant for Cabinet Affairs for The Honorable Tom Adams, Florida Secretary of State. From 1963 - 1965 he was an officer in the U.S. Army Artillery.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Wright was a partner at Landers & Parsons, P.A., for 11 years (1994-2005). Before that, he was associated as of counsel to Fine, Jacobson, Schwartz, Nash & Block in Tallahassee (1993-1994) and as an attorney (1992-1993) and consultant (1988-1993) with Wiggins and Villacorta, P.A., in Tallahassee.
Within the general area of utility and energy law, Mr. Wright works extensively on issues relating to retail rates and tariffs, service quality issues, including “undergrounding” of electric distribution facilities, powerplant siting, renewable “green” power and cogeneration, power sales contracts, cost of service analysis, rate design, natural gas regulation, and water and wastewater regulation. In 1998 and 1999, Mr. Wright was lead counsel for the proponents of Florida's first competitive wholesale power plant, successfully obtaining an affirmative determination of need from the Florida Public Service Commission.
From 1980 to 1982, Mr. Wright served as a Senior Economist in the Florida Governor's Energy Office. From 1982 to 1988, Mr. Wright served on the Florida Public Service Commission staff, first as a Senior Economist and later as Chief of the Bureau of Electric Rates. In the 1970s he was Assistant Profession of Economics at Saint Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and served both the Minnesota Legislature (1976-1979) and the Kentucky General Assembly (1979-1980) as a Senior Economist and Legislative Analyst. He received his B.A. degree in Economics with highest honors from the University of Florida (1971), his M.A. degree in Economics from Duke University (1973), and his J.D. degree with high honors from the Florida State University College of Law (1992).
Mr. Wright is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell, and is admitted to practice in all Florida state courts, the Supreme Court of the United States, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Northern and Middle U.S. District Courts in Florida. He is a member of the Order of the Coif and served as a member and Associate Editor of the Florida State University Law Review.
Mr. Young is a member of the Panel of Arbitrators, American Arbitration Association, and is a Certified Circuit Court Mediator.
Mr. Young is a member of the Florida, Virginia, and American Bars and is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida, and the U.S. Court of Appeal, Fifth and Eleventh Circuits.
Mr. Landers is a graduate of Stetson University, where he was president of the student body and named outstanding senior man, and Stetson College of Law which he attended on the President's Award scholarship. Upon graduating from law school, Mr. Landers joined the staff of Secretary of State Tom Adams, and the following year became an aide to Governor Reubin Askew. Mr. Landers was environmental advisor and chief cabinet aide to Governor Reubin Askew, who subsequently named Mr. Landers Executive Director of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund, the agency responsible for managing all state owned lands. The following year Mr. Landers was appointed first Secretary of the newly created Florida Department of Environmental Regulation, which had state-wide responsibility for regulating air quality, water quality, drinking water, and hazardous and solid waste. Askew's successor, Gov. Bob Graham appointed Mr. Landers Interim Executive Director of the Florida Department of Natural Resources, the department with responsibility for managing all state owned lands, development in coastal areas, the Florida Park system, the Marine Patrol, and salt water fisheries.
In 1979 Mr. Landers left government to begin a successful environmental and land use law practice, where he represented major clients such as Walt Disney World, Disney Development, General Development Corporation, U.S. Sugar, Arvida, Westinghouse, and numerous public bodies including the cities of Orlando and Dade and Sarasota counties. Then Florida Senator Lawton Chiles asked Mr. Landers to personally represent him in federal court to oppose strip mining in the Osceola National Forest. Mr. Landers also represented the artist Christo on his Surrounded Island project in Miami's Biscayne Bay. Mr. Landers was repeatedly selected by his peers for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America.
Mr. Landers has been active in civic and charitable organizations, including serving on the national advisory council of The Trust for Public Land, chairman of the Tallahassee Urban League, and chairman of the Southern Scholarship Foundation. He is on the board of directors of the Florida State University Research Foundation, and currently chairs the Stetson University board of trustees.
Mr. Landers is married to Pam Forrester, and they have two children, Elizabeth 14, and Wheeler 10.