E. Scott Golden
E. Scott Golden
Managing Partner | sgolden@goldenlawfl.com
E. Scott Golden has practiced law since 1981 and is the founder and managing partner of Golden Law. A graduate of Harvard Law School and MIT, he uses his background in tax, corporate, and real estate transactions, together with his commercial litigation experience in state and federal courts, to design effective solutions for his clients’ business, construction, and land development issues.
After practicing at the largest tax law firm in the country; one of the largest commercial firms in Miami; and a boutique firm focusing on corporate, real estate, and banking in Broward County, Mr. Golden founded his own firm in 1988. This allowed him to offer a level of service commonly associated with large, national firms, but with greater accessibility. He then added to the firm the component of commercial litigation, resulting in a broad-based commercial practice with a focus on property interests and property rights. As an adjunct to his tax background, Mr. Golden has always maintained a significant practice in estate planning; probate, trust, and estate administration; and church and charitable law.
Since founding the Firm, Mr. Golden has prosecuted and defended jury and non-jury trials and has practiced in state and federal courts throughout the State of Florida. He has briefed and argued appeals to several of Florida’s intermediate appellate courts, the Florida Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court
Mr. Golden has received an “AV® Preeminent Rating” by Martindale Hubbell, the highest rating provided by Martindale-Hubbell—a testament to the fact that his peers rank him at the highest level of ethical standards and legal ability. He has also been featured as a “Top Rated Lawyer” in the area of construction law in The American Lawyer and Corporate Counsel magazines. He is a speaker on commercial real estate matters and has served as a contributing author to several professional journals on corporate, real estate, and related tax matters.
Mr. Golden is active in real estate, construction, probate, and litigation committees of The Florida Bar and the Broward County Bar Association, and he is the Past President of the Broward County Christian Lawyers Association. He is the former Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy and has served as an educational counselor for MIT for more than 20 years.
Education:
J.D., Harvard Law School, 1981
Editor-in-Chief, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, 1980-1981
B.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 1978
Representative Experience:
Represented a real estate developer in state court in a significant land use case testing whether a future developer is bound to pay development fees to the original owner of the parcel (and the surrounding parcels controlled by the same agreement) when the fee is not specified in documents recorded in the Public Records. We defeated the third party’s case on summary judgment, leaving only our party’s counterclaim. The parties settled thereafter.
Represented a subcontractor in state court on a 30-story project in which the general contractor waited until the subcontractor had completed work on the first 20 stories to claim that all the work was defective and the client would not be paid the remainder owed on the project. We successfully showed that the general contractor was at fault, and, further, had intentionally hidden the evidence, resulting in a settlement payment to the client.
Represented an electronics and security contractor in a federal court case involving the construction of a federal building in which, despite the failure of our client to be paid timely and confusion on the job due to the government contractor’s poor oversight of the project, we were able to defeat the government architect’s claim that our client’s work was not performed timely and properly.
Represented an owner of an account with a financial institution in a federal court lawsuit to seek the transfer of the account assets to the client upon the death of the prior owner. Successfully won the disputed account and interest, as well as damages under the law of another state in an amount sufficient to pay the client’s attorneys’ fees and litigation costs.
Negotiated a corporate solution between rival ownership factions of a privately-held U.S. construction company conducting business throughout the Western Hemisphere. The dispute stemmed from the parties’ different views of their rights under poorly-drafted agreements initially prepared by a new investor.
Represented an only (adult) child by prevailing in a four-day trial in which the court invalidated (on grounds of mental incapacity) her father’s trust amendment that essentially disinherited the child in favor of a former sister-in-law of the father.
Represented numerous businesses, churches, and individuals before municipal and county planning committees, zoning boards, and city and county commissions in order to obtain plat approvals, site plan approvals, special exceptions, and variances.
Practice Areas:
Probate & Estate Administration
Real Estate, Title, & Development Law
Wills, Trusts, & Estate Planning
Admissions:
Florida, 1981
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, 1981
U.S. Tax Court, 1982
U.S. Supreme Court, 1992
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, 1993
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, 2003
U.S. Court of Federal Claims, 2005
Community Involvement:
The Florida Bar (Member, Section on: Real Property, Probate and Trust Law; Construction Law Committee)
Broward County Bar Association (Member, Bench/Bar Committee, 2005-present; Secretary, 2009-12; Member, Construction Law Committee)
Broward County Christian Lawyers Association, Past President
Educational Counselor, MIT
Judge, Nova Southeastern University School of Law, various competitions
Member, Christian Legal Society
Recognition & Publications:
AV Rating, Martindale-Hubbell
Top Rated Lawyers, Construction Law, Martindale-Hubbell
5.0/5.0 Peer Rating, Martindale-Hubbell
Section Writing Award, The Florida Bar (1982)
Speaker, Commercial Real Estate Transactions in Florida (2004)
Who’s Who in the World (1989)
Outstanding Young Men of America (1986)
Co-author: “Florida Corporate Income Tax: The Legislature Abandons the Internal Revenue Code,” Florida Bar Journal (1982) and Canadian Tax Journal (1982).
Author: “Enterprise Zones: New Life for the Inner City,” Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy (1982).
