Frank E. MatthewsFrank E. Matthews

123 South Calhoun Street
Tallahassee, FL 32301
850.222.7500

fmatthews@hgslaw.com


Experience

  • Represents clients before local, state, and federal government officials, agencies and elected bodies, including the Florida Legislature, on a variety of issues including land use, environmental, administrative, and local government matters.
  • Provides counsel to major developments and serves as counsel and lobbyist for the Florida Electric Power Coordinating Group, CF Industries, Association of Florida Community Developers, and Florida Home Builders Association.
  • Involved in all facets of environmental issues, developments of regional impact, environmental permitting, mining, review and drafting of environmental legislation, including property rights, total maximum daily loads, brownfields, and land acquisition, and "due diligence" work for lenders, investors, and others acquiring interest in undeveloped land and completed projects.
  • Lead attorney in Administrative Procedures Act seminal case, St. Johns River Water Management District v. Consolidated-Tomoka Land Company.
  • Responsible for various environmental permitting associated with thousands of wetland acres with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, water management districts, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
  • Board certified in Federal and State Administrative Law.

Education

  • University of Miami, J.D., 1981
  • University of Rochester, B.A., 1978

Bar and Court Admissions

  • Florida, 1981
  • New York, 1983
  • U.S. District Court, Southern, Middle and Northern Districts of Florida
  • U.S. Court of Claims

Professional Affiliations

  • American Bar Association
  • Florida Bar Association
  • Florida Chamber of Commerce, Board of Governors, 2000-2006
  • Florida Chamber of Commerce, Legislative Policy Council, 1999-Present
  • Florida Chamber of Commerce, Natural Resources and Growth Management Committee, 1999-Present
  • Association of Florida Community Developers, Associate Member, 1991-Present

Community Involvement

  • Vineyards Property Owners Association; President, 1993-94
  • Tallahassee Community College Foundation Board Member, 1999-2005

Publications and Presentations

  • "APA Reform Refined", March 1999, Florida Bar Administrative Law Section Newsletter
  • "Rules of the Wetlands Regulatory Game", September 10, 1998, CLE International Florida Wetlands Conference
  • "Regulation of Protected Species (with Kathleen Blizzard)", June 1998, Florida Bar Environmental Law in Real Estate Transactions
  • "Mark S. Dennison, Wetland Mitigation: Mitigation Banking and Other Strategies for Development and Compliance (Book Review) [with Kimberly Grippa]", Spring 1998, Florida State University Journal of Land Use & Environmental Law
  • "Florida Water Policy: A Twenty-Five Year Mid-Course Correction (with Gabriel E. Nieto)", Winter 1998, Florida State University Law Review
  • "ERPs, SLERPs, and NWPs: Wetland Permitting and Sovereign Land Authorization", February 21, 1997, Florida Bar
  • "Why Is The Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission An Unconstitutional Body?", February 2, 1993, Environmental Network
  • "Give DOAH Final Order Authority", December 1, 1992, Florida Bar Administrative Law Section Newsletter
  • "Funding for Contamination Clean-Ups", November 4, 1992, Florida Specifier
  • "West Lake: The Creation of Fort Lauderdale's Central Park", September 1991, American Society of Civil Engineers Urban Planning, Journal of Urban Planning and Development
  • "Environmental Mitigation", Florida Environmental Permitting and Growth Management Handbook 1990 & 1992
  • "Wekiva River: Riverine Protection Areas and Buffers - The Wave of the Future", 1989 International Symposium on Wetlands and River Corridor Management
  • "The Wekiva River Buffer Experience: Land Use in the Fourth Dimension", September 1989, South Carolina Riverine Symposium
  • "Why Shouldn't Administrative Citizen Suit Petitioners Pay a Price?", February 1988, Florida Bar Journal
  • "Pro/Con: Intervention in Environmental Permitting - Should There be a Price?" for Environmental and Land Use Law in the Florida Bar Journal, January 1990.
  • "Florida Water Policy: a Twenty-Five Year Mid-Course Correction" in the Florida State Law Review, Winter, 1998.

Awards and Recognition

  • Listed in Best Lawyers in America, for Environmental Law and Land Use & Zoning Law, 2001-2008 Edition.
  • Listed as one of the "Florida Super Lawyers", for Environmental Law, Energy and Natural Resources, and Administrative Law,  in the annual publication of The Florida Super Lawyers, 2006-2008 Edition.
  • Listed in Chambers USA, America's Leading Busines Lawyers, for Environmental Law, 2003-2007 Edition.
  • Listed in the 2004-2007 Edition of Florida Trend Magazine's "Legal Elite" for Environmental and Land Use Law.
  • Has achieved Martindale-Hubbell's highest rating for legal ability and ethical standards.
  • Who's Who Legal: Florida 2008.

Frank E. Matthews Practices in: Climate Change, Due Diligence/Regulatory Compliance Counseling, Land Use and Growth Management, Legislative, Litigation, Submerged Lands, Water Resources, Water Use / Consumptive Use Permitting, Wetland Regulation and Mitigation Banking.