Our Attorneys

Dan Lobeck is the Managing Partner of the firm. He has represented condominium, cooperative and homeowner associations and similar clients since 1980. Prior to that, he was on the staff of the Bureau of Condominiums in Tallahassee, with primary responsibility for proposing and drafting new rules and statutes. Dan has been active with various statewide organizations which seek to influence condominium and HOA law, including service for two years as state legislative chairman of Community Associations Institute. He has also lectured extensively on topics of association law and co-authored a Florida Bar law textbook for attorneys, in both the first and the new current editions.

Dan Lobeck has also been recognized locally for his community involvement. In 1998, he was named by Gulf Coast Business Review as one of the fifty most influential business people in Sarasota and Manatee Counties. In 2016, he was named by Sarasota Magazine as one of the “25 Most Influential Men and Women in Sarasota Today”, in an article headlined “Power Players” and promoted on the magazine cover as “Who Runs This Town?” The only attorney so honored (other than a judge and a county commissioner), he was identified as an attorney who specializes in condominium law who also strives to protect the public interest in matters concerning land use and development.

Also, over the past 30 years Dan has developed land use law as a significant part of the firm’s practice, concerning such matters as rezonings, site plans, special exceptions and comprehensive plan amendments. We assist associations and individuals in seeking to influence or challenge land use changes as well as developers who seek responsible revisions.

Partner Mark Hanson is also a very experienced attorney, serving since 1985 in private practice, primarily in litigation. He also has experience in administrative law and appellate practice and has handled numerous arbitration cases before the Bureau of Condominiums. In addition to supervising and handling the firm’s arbitration cases and litigation in such matters as rules enforcement, assessment lien foreclosures and construction defect claims, Mark represents the firm’s non-association clients in a broad range of legal needs. His services for the firm include representation in areas such as civil litigation, construction, condominium and HOA disputes and personal injury. Mark is also certified by the Florida Supreme Court as a mediator.

Partner Michelle Rowe joined our practice as an attorney in 2007 after clerking for the law firm during her studies at Stetson University College of Law. While at Stetson University College of Law, Michelle was in the Honors Program, and was a Federal Judicial Intern for the Honorable Elizabeth A. Kovachevich, United States District Court Judge during the fall of 2006. Prior to Michelle’s studies at Stetson, Michelle was a member of the moot court team for a New York law school where she was named best individual in a competition. Additionally, Michelle has extensive experience as a paralegal, a marketing manager, and is a published writer. Michelle provides various services to our association clients, including enforcement of rules and restrictions by correspondence, litigation and arbitration, and also provides services to individuals in family law and other matters.

Partner Leah Ellington joined our firm in 2013 after service with another law practice in St. Petersburg. She earned her Juris Doctorate from Stetson University College of Law, where she was a student editor for the Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy and was active in several campus organizations. Leah was the recipient of the Hearne Environmental Law Award, the William F. Blews Pro Bono Service Award, an Equal Justice Works Summer Stipend and the inaugural Public Interest Summer Fellowship from the Florida Bar Environmental and Land Use Law Section. Leah was also a Biodiversity Fellow while in law school, completing projects concerning international law, treaties and conventions. Prior to that time, Leah worked for the Clean Water Network of Florida, a statewide environmental organization. Leah Ellington provides various services to our Association clients as a general counsel and is in charge of revisions to an association’s governing documents.