Michael D. Starks is a senior attorney of Liebler, Gonzalez & Portuondo, and having practiced in the field almost exclusively since 2009, led the charge to clarify the law surrounding the foreclosure statute of limitations issue. He is a recognized voice in the consumer finance litigation, practice area. He has written and published two book chapters in this (and prior iterations of this) book, as well as two book chapters in two other treatises on the law of spoliation of evidence in Florida. Mr. Starks has lectured at Barry University’s law school on various topics, including Florida constitutional law and legal ethics. He has been representing clients for 23 years in a wide array of legal areas, including foreclosure, consumer finance, general commercial litigation, products liability, construction, spoliation of evidence, and section 1983 actions defending law enforcement agencies.
Since 2012, Mr. Starks has received the Martindale-Hubbell® AV rating, and in 2016 and 2019 been recognized by Florida Trend Magazine as a legal elite honoree. In 2006, he received the Florida Bar Journal Excellence in Writing Award for best written article of that year, after which he served on The Florida Bar Journal/News Editorial Board until 2012. He is a proud member of the Christian Legal Society, the Federalist Society, and the Federal Bar Association, and now serves on the Legislation and Government Regulation of Lending Sub-Committee, and the Foreclosure and Debtor/ Creditor Rights Sub-Committee of the Real Property Finance and Lending Committee, of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section of The Florida Bar.
Mr. Starks received his J.D., magna cum laude, in 1996 from the Florida State University College of Law, where he was admitted to the Order of the Coif and served as both associate and legislative editor of the Florida State University Law Review. He received his B.S. in Advertising, cum laude, in 1990 from the University of Florida. He currently lives in Apopka, Florida with his beautiful wife, Holly, and three wonderful children, Hayden, Kyle, and Addie, who are the major source of his happiness.
Heidi Bassett is a partner at Hellmuth & Johnson in Edina, Minnesota. She represents clients throughout Florida and Minnesota in litigation related to financial services, real estate, and business. She has also represented clients in more than two hundred appeals.
Ms. Bassett is rated AV Preeminent and AV Preeminent (Judicial Edition) by Martindale Hubbell, and was invited by the Litigation Counsel of America to become a fellow in the Trial Lawyer Honorary Society, an elite society comprised of less than one half of one percent of American lawyers. Ms. Bassett obtained her J.D. from the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, Minnesota and her B.A. from the University of Minnesota Duluth. She is admitted to practice before all of the state courts of Minnesota and Florida, the United States District Courts for the District of Minnesota and the Middle and Southern Districts of Florida, the United States Courts of Appeal for the Eighth and Eleventh Circuits and the United States Supreme Court.
