Legal Briefs (Tampa edition)

Legal Briefs (Tampa edition)

Preston Cockey opens

solo practice in Tampa

Preston O. Cockey Jr. has opened a solo law practice in Tampa. He continues to represent clients in the area of commercial real estate transactions, development, lending and leasing.

Cockey formerly worked at GrayRobinson PA and at Annis Mitchell Cockey Edwards & Roehn PA.

Thompson Sizemore picks

Tony Cabassa as a partner

Luis A. "Tony" Cabassa is a new partner at Thompson Sizemore & Gonzalez PA. Since 1999, Cabassa has worked as an employment law defense attorney at the Tampa law firm.

A graduate of Cornell University, Cabassa earned a law degree in 1995 from the Florida State University College of Law.

Macfarlane Ferguson

hires Michele Pittman

Michele C. Pittman is a new attorney in the Tampa office of Macfarlane Ferguson & McMullen. She will focus on litigation; constitutional issues, particularly First Amendment law; and national security law.

A graduate of Stetson University College of Law, Pittman focused on insurance defense law prior to joining the firm. She had worked as a clerk in the U.S. Navy Office of the General Counsel and as a legal intern for the judge advocate general's office at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks.

Cheryl Thompson becomes

director of bankruptcy bar

GrayRobinson PA attorney Cheryl Thompson is a new member of the Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association's board of directors. She practices in the areas of commercial litigation, bankruptcy and creditor's rights.

Prior to joining the law firm, Thompson served as a clerk in the Tampa division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the office of former bankruptcy judge C. Timothy Corcoran, III.

Bush Graziano & Rice

hires Robert L. Nipps

Robert L. Nipps is a new member of Bush Graziano & Rice PA, Tampa, where he will focus on long-term care defense law.

Prior to joining the firm, Nipps was an economic damages litigation consultant at Mulder & Eastridge Economists.

A graduate of the University of South Florida, Nipps earned a law degree in 2003 from Southern Illinois University School of Law.

Paige Greenlee elected

2004-05 HAWL director

Paige Greenlee is a new member of the Hillsborough Association for Women Lawyer's board of directors. She practices bankruptcy law in the Tampa office of Akerman Senterfitt.

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Greenlee earned a law degree in 2002 from Emory University.

Ellwanger elected to Hillsborough foundation board

Thomas J. Ellwanger, a shareholder with Fowler White Boggs Banker, was elected to the Hillsborough Community College Foundation board of directors. Ellwanger practices in the firm's trusts and estates group.