Holland & Knight Names New Leaders of Appellate Team
TAMPA, Fla. and WASHINGTON (May 4, 2022) – Partners Amit Agarwal and Stacy D. Blank have been named co-chairs of Holland & Knight's Appellate Team, which consists of about 50 practitioners with experience handling matters before the U.S. Supreme Court, every United States Court of Appeals and numerous state appellate courts throughout the country. They succeed former Holland & Knight Partner Laurie Webb Daniel.
Mr. Agarwal joined Holland & Knight in October 2021 after serving as Florida's solicitor general for nearly five years. He works in the firm's Tallahassee, Florida, and Washington, D.C., offices. Ms. Blank has been an appellate lawyer in the firm's Tampa office since 1988.
"Stacy and Amit are both brilliant lawyers who bring incredible insight and professionalism to every matter they handle," said Christopher G. Kelly, leader of Holland & Knight's Litigation Section. "Amit has been a wonderful addition to the firm, and Stacy has shown enormous dedication to Holland & Knight throughout her career. To the extent past is prologue, the decades of appellate success enjoyed by Amit and Stacy paint a future ripe with opportunities to continue to write the firm's impressive history of appellate achievements."
"In my short time at the firm, I've seen first-hand the exceptional quality of the representation provided by Holland & Knight's appellate attorneys," said Mr. Agarwal. "I look forward to working with Stacy to build on our appellate team's remarkable record of success."
"I am honored to work with this exceptionally talented group of appellate lawyers," said Ms. Blank. "Appellate litigation has become an increasingly particular area and, because the damages and reputational stakes are frequently significant, the matters have become more critical than ever. Our team has experience in virtually every area of substantive law and the specialized skill set that clients value when choosing effective appellate counsel."
Prior to becoming solicitor general, Mr. Agarwal was deputy chief of the Appellate Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida. He also served as a law clerk for Justice Samuel Alito at the U.S. Supreme Court and as an attorney advisor in the Office of Legal Counsel of the United States Department of Justice. Additionally, Mr. Agarwal worked as a law clerk for the Honorable Brett Kavanaugh of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the Honorable Edward Becker of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia.
Ms. Blank has extensive experience litigating appeals in all of the Florida District Courts of Appeal, the Florida Supreme Court and many of the U.S. Courts of Appeals. She also has assisted trial lawyers with appeals in the state appellate courts of California, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. She is consistently recognized as a leading appellate attorney by Chambers USA, The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers. Additionally, Ms. Blank is a member of the American Law Institute and the Florida Supreme Court Historical Society board of trustees.
Ms. Webb Daniel, who was with Holland & Knight since 1994, recently left the firm to form her own boutique appellate practice.