MORGAN LAW - Key Persons
Alexander Gonzalez is an attorney at The Morgan Law Group, concentrating in first party property disputes and other areas of civil litigation. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Gonzalez gained significant civil litigation experience as an associate for a small, boutique firm primarily focusing on Family Law.
Mr. Gonzalez was born and raised in Miami, Florida where he earned his Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from Florida International University. Mr. Gonzalez earned his Juris Doctor from Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad College of Law, where he graduated cum laude. In Law School, Mr. Gonzalez received academic recognitions including the CALI award of Excellence Book Award in Criminal Law and Florida Bar Exam Lab. Mr. Gonzalez was also a member of Nova's Law Review and Cuban American Bar Association.
Education
Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law
Florida International University
South Miami Senior High School
Andre Friedson is an associate attorney at The Morgan Law Group where he concentrates his practice on representing plaintiffs in first-party property disputes against insurance companies and other areas of civil litigation.
Prior to joining The Morgan Law Group, Mr. Friedson gained significant litigation experience as a law clerk defending insurance companies on claims against homeowners. Mr. Friedson's experience on both sides of insurance claims makes him familiar with all aspects of litigation, including an understanding of how insurance companies evaluate and handle claims, making him a strong advocate for his clients.
Mr. Friedson was born and raised in Miami, Florida. He attended the University of Miami, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and Philosophy.
After graduating from college, Mr. Friedson received his Juris Doctor from the University of Miami School of Law. Mr. Friedson also contemporaneously earned his master's in business administration from the University of Miami School of Business.
Angel E. Portilla joined the legal profession in order to promote social change, justice, and accountability through the practice of law. He is the Managing Attorney at the Morgan Law Group Puerto Rico Branch Office. He leads a team of talented and committed attorneys and staff, who have assisted both businesses and individuals that suffered as a result of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Additionally, he represents victims of natural disasters in Puerto Rico against the deficient response of insurance carriers. He and his team are responsible for successfully recovering millions of dollars in unpaid claims.
He has also been involved in a series of complex litigation cases ranging from anti-trust to torts and contract law. Mr. Portilla participated in multiple humanitarian missions around Puerto Rico bringing aid to those affected by Hurricane Maria and the 2020 earthquakes. These efforts positively impacted hundreds of families all over Puerto Rico who were in desperate need of assistance.
Mr. Portilla graduated with honors in 2010 from the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico earning his Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in Accounting. In 2009, he earned the Dean's List of Academic Excellence Award after he obtained one of the highest grades in the Business Administration Program. He obtained his law degree from the University of Puerto Rico School of Law, where he graduated with honors and served as a Representative and Treasurer of the Student Council. As a law student, he participated as a pro bono student attorney in the University of Puerto Rico's Legal Clinic, where he assisted indigent citizens in a variety of cases and logged hundreds of hours in pro bono work.
Job Titles:
- Director of Business Development
Brantley Pierce is an attorney in The Morgan Law Group's Nashville, TN office. Brantley is from Mississippi, where he grew up in a small, unincorporated town called New Hope. He's been a litigator from day one and brings with him the exceptional hands-on experience and knowledge he has earned through such a rich and diverse background in all manner of different areas of law.
Brantley attended East Mississippi Community College out of high school on an athletics scholarship before moving on to Itawamba Community College the following year. During his time at Itawamba, he took a Constitutional Law class taught by a retired judge and discovered his passion for the law. From Itawamba, he attended Mississippi State University, graduating cum laude with his bachelor's degree in political science. After graduating from Mississippi State, Brantley moved to Washington, D.C. to work for U.S. Congressman, Alan Nunnelee. Following his time on Capitol Hill, Brantley started law school at the University of Mississippi School of Law, obtaining his juris doctor and graduating cum laude.
His legal career began in Jackson, Tennessee, where he represented clients in domestic/family matters such as divorce and child custody. During his time in Jackson, Brantley also handled criminal defense matters, including misdemeanors, felonies, juvenile delinquency, and dependency and neglect (child abuse). Having quickly earned the trust and confidence of those West Tennessee Courts, those judges consistently entrusted him to represent indigent clients and to serve as guardian ad litem.
From Jackson, Brantley moved to Nashville, stoking his passion for bringing the fight to greedy insurance companies that refused to hold up their end of the bargain when it came time to pay. He's even practiced in the insurance defense field, giving him the unique advantage of understanding the ins and outs of how insurance companies operate-experience he relies on every day to give our clients a leg up in getting the compensation they deserve.
Over the course of his career, Brantley has practiced in City Courts, Environmental Courts, General Sessions Courts, Juvenile Courts, Probate Courts, Chancery Courts, Circuit Courts, and Courts of Appeals all throughout the State of Tennessee. He also practices in the Federal District Courts for the Western, Middle, and Eastern Districts of Tennessee. Brantley has successfully represented clients in all stages of pre- and post-litigation, including jury trials, bench trials, appeals, and everything in between.
In his free time, Brantley enjoys cooking, playing golf, being on the water, and spending time with his dog, Peeve (pet Peeve)
Brian Reaney is a Senior Associate Attorney in The Morgan Law Group's Louisiana office. Brian represents individuals and entities in first- and third-party insurance claim disputes throughout Louisiana, including issues of coverage, wrongful denials, underpayments, and bad faith.
Prior to joining the firm, Brian spent four years at a firm in New Orleans where he gained extensive civil litigation experience and developed familiarity with Louisiana courts. This enables him to represent personal injury clients as well, including cases involving automobile accidents, product liability, railroads, and toxic exposure. Brian has experience taking and defending depositions, successfully bringing, and defending motions, representing his clients' interests in mediation and arbitration, and managing cases from inception to trial.
Brian is a graduate of Loyola University New Orleans where he earned a bachelor's degree in Psychology. He also earned his Juris Doctor from the Loyola College of Law, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude in the top 10% of his class. He is a Louisiana native, born and raised in Chalmette, Louisiana, where he had first-hand experience of Hurricane aftermath that has provided him with great empathy and dedication to his clients.
In his spare time, Brian enjoys spending time with his wife, Emma, and his three sons, Ashton, Tripp, and Leo. He is also an avid reader, enjoys fishing, and loves to play golf.
Daniel Castro is an attorney at The Morgan Law Group representing plaintiffs in first-party property disputes against insurance companies. Prior to joining the firm, he served as an Assistant Public Defender in the Law Office of the Public Defender in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit of Florida representing indigent men and women accused of criminal offenses.
After leaving the Public Defender's Office, Mr. Castro worked as outside defense counsel defending homeowners' insurance companies in civil actions brought by insureds. He presently focuses the majority of his practice to prosecuting homeowners' claims against residential and commercial insurance companies.
Mr. Castro is admitted to practice law in the State of Florida and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Mr. Castro earned his Juris Doctor from St. Thomas University School of Law. Mr. Castro was born and raised in Miami, Florida and is fluent in Spanish.
Born and raised in Miami Florida, Daniel Frank Lopez is the Managing Partner at The Morgan Law Group, whose primary practice focuses on first-party insurance litigation.
Since 2012, Mr. Lopez has been with The Morgan Law Group focusing on his first-party insurance property disputes, which ranges in matters from typical homeowner insurance disputes to multi-million dollar commercial property claims.
Mr. Lopez also oversees and litigates a wide variety of matters, including complex commercial litigation, construction litigation, insurance and professional liability matters.
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Managing Attorney
Darren Samuel Schwartz is an Attorney for The Morgan Law Group. He handles first party property damage disputes and business litigation matters in our firm's California office.
Mr. Schwartz passed the California Bar in 2013 and has experience working with a variety of different businesses and clients, representing them in matters such as business litigation disputes, transactional agreements, intellectual property, mediation, negotiations and consulting for company's and entrepreneurs. Some of his clients in the United States, Puerto Rico and Mexico include tech unicorn Dave Inc., fashion brand John Geiger Collection LLC, 8182 Group Hospitality, Music Festivals, Oil and Gas industry and consumer brands like Chlorophyll Water, Helix Vodka and DALMATA Jewelry. Mr. Schwartz prides himself on providing honest and dependable representation to his clients.
Mr. Schwartz was born in Santa Monica, California and attended UC Santa Barbara on a Golf Scholarship. After deciding to go to law school instead of pursuing a career in professional golf, Darren attended Cal Western School of Law in San Diego, California.
Mr. Schwartz is fluent in Spanish and is a dual citizen of the United States and Mexico. In his free time, he enjoys daily exercise, golf, tennis and spending time with his family and friends.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Attorney
- Managing Attorney
Dustin Gaston is the managing attorney of The Morgan Law Group's Colorado office where he concentrates on protecting individuals from unfair practices by insurance companies. Specifically, Dustin's clientele primarily consists of homeowners and personal injury claimants.
Dustin is passionate about protecting individuals from large insurance companies primarily because of his early background. Dustin was born into a working-class family where he would help out around his father's mechanic shop from an early age. He went on to eventually become the first person in his family to graduate from college. Due to his upbringing, Dustin has always had a David vs. Goliath approach to the practice of law, particularly when it comes to representing individuals for claims against Fortune 500 insurance companies.
After earning a bachelor's degree in psychology, Dustin attended law school at the University of Arkansas School of Law. After graduating from law school and passing the Bar exam, Dustin initially practiced Immigration Defense law. During this period of his career he primarily represented asylum seekers and immigrant children from broken homes. Additionally, during this time Dustin volunteered at a non-profit organization near the United States/Mexico border which served asylum seekers that were detained at one of the country's largest Immigration Detention Centers.
After gaining valuable courtroom experience from practicing Immigration Defense law, Dustin switched practice areas and began practicing personal injury law. He has worked at some of Colorado's largest and most successful personal injury law firms and has used his experience in personal injury to expand his practice area to include homeowners' insurance claims.
Year after year, Dustin has recovered millions of dollars in settlements for his clients. His primary goals for his current practice include: ensuring that his clients obtain what they deserve; providing consistent communication with clients throughout representation so that everyone has a thorough understanding of the case process; and taking cases to trial when needed. Overall, Dustin wants insurance companies to know that Coloradans who are represented by the Morgan Law Group will not settle for anything less than what they deserve.
Outside of work, Dustin enjoys attending Rockies and Nuggets games, whitewater rafting, and snowboarding.
Eddy Franca is an associate attorney at The Morgan Law Group where he concentrates his practice on representing plaintiffs in first-party property disputes against insurance companies and other areas of civil litigation.
Geoffrey "Geo" Hilton Leon Pittman, Esq. is an associate attorney in the Pensacola, Florida office of The Morgan Law Group where he represents people fighting against insurance companies.
Geo's education spanned from Mississippi to Tennessee to Florida. For high school, Geo had the unique opportunity to attend Bass Memorial Academy, a boarding school near Hattiesburg, MS. For his undergraduate degree in History, Geo attended the University of West Florida in Pensacola, then transferred to and graduated from Southern Adventist University, near Chattanooga, Tennessee. During college, Geo volunteered as both a physical education coach at his elementary/middle school alma mater in Pensacola and as a swim coach for a special needs child who later qualified for and competed in the Special Olympics.
Geoffrey attended law school at Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, Florida. During his time there, he clerked for a Circuit Court Judge and interned at the Office of the Public Defender, 4 th Judicial Circuit. After passing The Florida Bar, Geo began work in Pensacola as an assistant public defender for the First Judicial Circuit. In his early years as an attorney, Geo gained extensive trial and courtroom experience.
Following his time in the public sector, Geo shifted his focus to representing injured individuals and joined a local personal injury firm. While there he handled a wide variety of civil cases such as products liability, premises liability, motor vehicle crashes, civil forfeiture, bad faith, medical malpractice, and general negligence cases in State Court and in the Northern District of Florida Federal Court. After several rewarding years, Geo decided to start his own firm, but he quickly concluded that he prefers the practice of law to the business of law.
As far as family life, Geo is the youngest of three children. He is very proud of his two older sisters and their accomplishments-one of them speaks four languages, lives in France, and works in Switzerland, and the other attained a master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida and now works in North Carolina.
Geo is married to his lifelong friend and high school sweetheart, Alexandra, and his greatest life joy now comes from being "Papa" to their two sons. Geo also loves watching and playing the greatest sport in the world-soccer-and supporting his favorite team, Manchester United. He has also enjoyed coaching youth soccer teams in the Pensacola area.
Hermis D. Bofill is a Senior Associate Attorney at The Morgan Law Group. She focuses her practice in the areas of community association law, personal injury, landlord tenant law and civil litigation, including commercial and residential property insurance claims.
She primarily litigates claims when insurance companies unfairly deny or underpay claims and regularly effectively recovers the wrongfully withheld funds on behalf of her clients. She also has expansive experience advocating for insureds in instances when the insurance companies engage in bad faith actions to the detriment of the insureds.
At Mrs. Bofill's previous firm, she resolved hundreds of residential and commercial insurance claims and has recovered millions of dollars for insureds. Her years of experience in the field of property and casualty insurance litigation and pre-suit adjusting of claims equipped her to lead her prior firm's Property Insurance Litigation Department.
Jason Alexander Roberge is an Attorney for The Morgan Law Group. He handles first party property disputes in our firm's California office. His legal experience includes plaintiff and defense litigation.
Prior to practicing law, Mr. Roberge had extensive experience working with insurance carriers as an insurance adjuster and estimator. Notably, he was a Senior Project Manager for the rebuild effort in Hurricane Sandy, which devastated the greater Long Island New York area.
Mr. Roberge is a Veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard. His time in the U.S. Coast Guard was spent conducting inspections of waterfront oil, HAZMAT and shipping facilities. He has extensive experience with enforcement of federal environmental laws.
In his free time, he enjoys daily exercise, golf, tennis and judging the annual Jessup International Moot Court competition.
Mr. Jomarrón is a senior partner of The Morgan Law Group and a highly sought-after trial lawyer. Throughout his career, he has represented clients in thousands of insurance claims and recovered millions of dollars from insurance companies. Mr. Jomarrón is responsible for ensuring that every case is handled with the utmost degree of care and professionalism. Whether he is representing a commercial client or a municipality, Mr. Jomarrón and his team of lawyers and experts have the knowledge and experience necessary to completely handle and adjust your insurance claim from beginning to end.
Mr. Jomarrón also has spent a considerable portion of his career representing clients in complex commercial and condominium litigation disputes. He has successfully prevailed on hundreds of commercial and condominium disputes. These matters also include real estate litigation and probate litigation. He also has developed a specialized area of practice dedicated to creditors' remedies and debtors' rights, which is especially useful for implementing strategies for post-judgment collection and asset protection. When everything is at stake, if you need to "bet the business," when it is too important to trust anyone else, Mr. Jomarrón is your number one choice for the highest probability of success.
Mr. Jomarrón gained valuable courtroom experience as a Judicial Intern to The Honorable Chief Judge David M. Gersten in Florida's Third District Court of Appeal and to The Honorable Judge Cecelia M. Altonaga in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. He also served as a Certified Legal Intern in the Economic Crimes Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida. He was previously a Litigation Attorney at two large Florida law firms: Ruden McClosky P.A. n/k/a Greenspoon Marder, P.A. and Vernis & Bowling of Miami, P.A.
Mr. Jomarrón earned his Juris Doctorate, summa cum laude, from St. Thomas University School of Law and graduated first in his class. While in law school, he was a Senior Articles Editor of the St. Thomas Law Review, a Student Instructor of Property Law, and an active competitor in the law school's trial team. He earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance, magna cum laude, from Florida International University
Aside from being able to assist with the negotiation process, John has experience taking and defending depositions, successfully bringing and defending motions, representing his clients' interests in mediation and arbitration, and managing cases from inception to trial. John began his career as an attorney after graduating cum laude from Florida State University's College of Law. During law school, John interned in the chambers of the former Chief Judge of the Third District Court of Appeal, and clerked with the law firm of Ausley McMullen.
John Mahoney is an attorney with the Morgan Law Group focusing his practice on first-party insurance litigation. Prior to joining the firm, John was a civil litigator on the defense side and represented clients in first-party property and coverage, general liability and casualty, automobile litigation, construction litigation, premises liability, and employment law. Prior to that John served as an attorney with civil legal aid firm with a focus on property law, family law, probate, and general civil practice. John has also worked as a state attorney in Florida's dependency court system as well as a criminal defense attorney with the Office of the Public Defender. John is admitted to practice law in Florida and Pennsylvania.
John earned a juris doctor from Ave Maria School of Law and an undergraduate degree in Supply Chain and Information Systems from the Smeal College of Business at Pennsylvania State University. While in law school, John was a recipient of the Board of Governors Scholarship and served as President of the Business Law Society.
Karina Miralda is an associate attorney at The Morgan Law Group where she concentrates on representing plaintiffs in first-party property disputes against insurance companies.
Mrs. Miralda was born and raised in Miami, Florida. She earned her bachelor's degree in Arts from Florida International University where she obtained a major in Criminal Justice with a minor in Political Science. She earned her Juris Doctor from St. Thomas University School of Law in 2017.
Mrs. Miralda began her interest in first party claims while she was an assistant at a family-owned public adjusting firm where she handled claims from inception through litigation.
After attending law school, Mrs. Miralda gained significant litigation experience in first party and third-party litigation, as well as personal injury litigation. Her years of experience both prior to and after law school has provided Mrs. Miralda an advantage when defending her clients.
Outside of work, Mrs. Miralda enjoys cooking, reading, and spending time with her husband and two children.
Louis P. Meyer is an attorney in the Tampa office of The Morgan Law Group His practice area includes representing homeowners, business owners, Public Adjusters, and AOB contractors in a variety of property damage insurance claims, business litigation disputes, and personal injury or premise liability matters.
Prior to joining The Morgan Law Group, Mr. Meyer served as defense counsel representing some of Florida's largest insurance carriers. Mr. Meyer successfully defended these insurance carriers against homeowners, business owners and AOB contractors throughout Florida. Having represented insurance companies, Mr. Meyer understands what it takes to effectively manage and succeed in litigation against them. He brings this vast experience and industry insight to The Morgan Law Group.
Mr. Meyer is licensed to practice law in all Florida State Courts and is admitted to the Bar of the United States District Court for the Southern, Middle and Northern District of Florida. Mr. Meyer is also a member of the Federal Bar Association, American Bar Association, Hillsborough County Bar Association, and the Tampa Hispanic Bar Association.
Mr. Meyer graduated with honors from U.C.L.A., then attended Whittier Law School and earned his Juris Doctorate, then continued his post graduate studies at the Sandra Day O'Connor school of law at Arizona State University, where he obtained the LL.M degree with a Pro-Bono Award with the Highest Distinction. Mr. Meyer then earned a Certificate in Contract Law from Harvard Law School and a Certificate in Negotiation Mastery from Harvard Business School.
Mr. Meyer's civic activities include: Florida Defense Lawyers Association, Defense Research Institute, Ferguson-White American Inns of Court, Hillsborough County Bar Association Bar Leadership Institute.
Mr. Meyer's hobbies include: golf, tennis, jiu jitsu, judo, cryptocurrency trading, and spending time with his family.
Marcus R. Rodriguez is an attorney in the Firm's property insurance litigation department and works out of the Tampa office.
Mr. Rodriguez's focus is on representing property owners in residential and commercial insurance disputes, including but not limited to cases involving damage due to hurricanes, wind, hail, fire, water, and mold. Mr. Rodriguez also represents contractors as assignees of insureds' rights in property damage cases.
Prior to joining The Morgan Law Group, Mr. Rodriguez practiced with another Florida based law firm specializing in representing homeowners and contractors, as well as water mitigation and mold remediation companies, in complex property damage disputes with insurance carriers.
Before his time representing plaintiffs in property insurance cases, Mr. Rodriguez spent several years gaining experience as an insurance defense attorney, representing insurance carriers in workers' compensation disputes.
Marcus received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Samford University where he attended on a baseball scholarship. He majored in International Relations while minoring in Spanish and performing as a student-athlete, earning All-Conference honors in his sophomore year. He went on to earn his J.D. from Barry University. Marcus is licensed to practice law in all Florida State Courts.
Education
J.D. - Barry University
B.A. - Samford University
Matthew Averill is a Senior Associate Attorney in the Louisiana Office of The Morgan Law Group where he represents insureds to help them recover what they are owed by their carriers. His practice includes first- and third-party insurance disputes, including those involving the interpretation of policy provisions, coverage, wrongful denials, insufficient payments, and bad faith.
Before joining The Morgan Law Group, Matthew worked at a law firm in New Orleans for over six years honing his skills as a litigator in complex litigation and personal injury cases involving pharmaceutical drugs, medical devices, asbestos, benzene, and automobile and trucking accidents. Through this experience, Matthew has developed the tools necessary to obtain favorable results for his clients and to maximize their recovery.
After graduating from Rhodes College in Memphis, TN in 2009 with a degree in history with a focus in international studies and Latin American affairs, Matthew obtained his Juris Doctorate from Tulane University Law School in 2016 where he graduated Magna Cum Laude and earned a membership in the Order of the Coif-a national honors society for law students who finish in the top 10% of their classes. Between college and law school, Matthew worked in the Communications and Intergovernmental Relations Departments in the New Orleans Mayor's Office where he wrote speeches and helped pass legislation for the people of New Orleans.
Matthew was born in Metairie, LA and has lived in South Louisiana for over thirty years. He has experienced first-hand the devastation Hurricanes Katrina and Ida brought to his family and the people of Louisiana and is familiar with the gamesmanship insurance companies often callously employ to protect their bottom line.
When not advocating for his clients, Matthew most enjoys spending time with his family, playing soccer, reading, writing, playing guitar, watching films and attending concerts.