Eugene K. Pettis Esq. One Financial Plaza 100 SE 3rd Avenue, Seventh Floor Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33394

Eugene K. Pettis is a founding partner of the firm and has been practicing law since 1985. He is a graduate of the University of Florida where he achieved a Bachelor of Arts in 1982 and his law degree in 1985. In addition to his admission to the Florida Bar, he is also admitted to the Federal Bar for the Southern District of Florida and the Northern District of Florida.

Mr. Pettis established himself as a public servant throughout his college years. He was elected as Student Body Treasurer in 1981 and was recognized for his extensive contributions to the University of Florida by being tapped into Florida Blue Key, a leadership honorary society, in 1980 and inducted into the University of Florida’s Hall of Fame the following year. Most recently, he was inducted in March, 2007 into Kappa Alpha Phi Fraternity’s Hall of Fame. He has also served on the University of Florida’s Foundation Board of Directors from 1999 to 2007.

In 1991, the late Governor Lawton Chiles appointed Mr. Pettis as the first African-American and the youngest member ever to serve on the South Florida Water Management District’s governing board. The SFWMD establishes and regulates water policy for the Sixteen County area from Orange County to Monroe County. He held leadership positions including Vice Chairman of the Board. He has also been an active member of the Broward Community College Foundation and served as Chairman of the Foundation’s Board of Directors from 2004 to 2006.

In 2005, Mr. Pettis was elected to the Florida Bar’s Board of Governors representing the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. The Board of Governors has the authority to develop policy and to regulate the practice of law in Florida for its 80,000 lawyers. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Board. He has served over the past two years as the Chairman of the Judicial Independence Committee, guiding the Florida Bar’s efforts to make sure that the State of Florida has a fair, impartial and independent judiciary. He is also currently chairing a blue ribbon committee of the Florida Bar’s Board of Governors designed to enhance the Bar’s efforts of diversity in the practice of law. In 2005, now Chief Justice Fred Lewis, Florida Supreme Court, appointed Mr. Pettis to the work group for jury panel sizing.

Mr. Pettis has extensive trial experience in the areas of medical malpractice, premises liability, employment law, and commercial litigation. He has also been called upon by corporate clients and individuals to represent them before very public boards, including county and city commissions.

Mr. Pettis holds Martindale-Hubbell’s highest AV rating. He has been recognized by the Miami Herald as one of Florida’s top lawyers and is most proud of being a 2007 inductee to the exclusive American College of Trial Lawyers, which is an invitation only Academy recognizing lawyers who are regarded by their peers to illustrate excellence in trial skills.

Mr. Pettis has first chaired over 50 jury trials covering more than 200 actual trial days.