Michael L. Chapman

General Counsel
Michael Chapman headshot

Overview

Michael L. Chapman is a member of Holland & Knight's senior management team, serving as the firm's general counsel. In this role, Mr. Chapman is legal advisor to management and the firm's Directors Committee and works to ensure that the firm operates in full compliance with all legal requirements, bar ethics standards, its partnership agreement and core principles.

For more than 20 years, Mr. Chapman has practiced as a commercial trial lawyer. He has extensive experience handling disputes among shareholders and other business owners and in cases involving business entity governance, including shareholder actions, securities fraud actions, derivative actions, corporate dissolution, merger and acquisition claims, and dissenters' rights. He also handles trust claims and other commercial litigation. Representative cases include:

  • representing a closely held business owner in connection with $13 million litigation against his co-owner for fraud spanning more than a decade involving complex transactions among a long list of entities
  • representing a substantial group of minority shareholders of one of Florida's largest private companies in a dissenters' rights action against the company seeking a buy-out of their shares
  • representing a major state university in litigation brought after the death of the former owner of an NFL team concerning more than $10 million in gifts to the university
  • defending a family trustee against an action concerning the administration of the trust and its ownership in real property valued in excess of $30 million
  • representing several public companies in the defense of securities fraud class actions
  • representing a major utility in a state tax dispute concerning the valuation of its power plants
  • representing the widow of the founder of a national restaurant chain in a dispute concerning a stock buy-sell agreement triggered by the founder's death
  • representing affiliates of a major group of Florida property and casualty insurers in connection with the rehabilitation and liquidation of the insurers and related litigation with the state
  • representing the government of a United States territory as plaintiff in litigation seeking more than $20 million in a complex fraud case concerning the establishment and failure of a property and casualty insurer
  • representing a major utility in the defense of multimillion dollar fraud claims arising from its sale of interests in a subsidiary
  • representing the government of a United States territory as plaintiff in litigation seeking over $20 million in a complex fraud case concerning the establishment and failure of a property and casualty insurer

While attending Auburn University, Mr. Chapman was a member of the Alpha Epsilon, Alpha Zeta, Gamma Sigma Delta, Tau Beta Pi and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies and a Graduate Fellow of the National Science Foundation. He was editor-in-chief of the Mercer Law Review and a member of the Brainerd Currie Society. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and is a registered engineer-in-training. 

Mr. Chapman previously served as co-section leader for the firm's National Litigation Section, as a deputy section leader for the Litigation Section and as a practice group leader within the Litigation Section. He has also served as a member of the firm's Directors Committee.

Credentials

Education
  • Mercer University School of Law, J.D., summa cum laude
  • Auburn University, M.S., Agricultural Engineering
  • Auburn University, B.S., Agricultural Engineering, with honors
Bar Admissions/Licenses
  • District of Columbia
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • New York
Court Admissions
  • All State Courts in Georgia
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
  • U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia
  • U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
  • All State Courts in Florida
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • U.S. Tax Court
Memberships
  • American Bar Association
  • Federal Bar Association
  • Hillsborough County Bar Association
  • Leadership Tampa
  • Tampa Connection
  • Ferguson-White American Inn of Court, Former Member and Master
  • American Bar Foundation, Fellow
Honors & Awards
  • The Best Lawyers in America guide, Commercial Litigation, Litigation - Mergers and Acquisitions, 2009-2025
  • Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Peer Review Rated
  • Florida Super Lawyers magazine, 2009-2018
  • Florida Legal Elite, Florida Trend magazine, 2009

Publications

Speaking Engagements

News