Daniel Mahfood
Associate
Overview
Daniel M. Mahfood is a litigation attorney in Holland & Knight's Jacksonville office who focuses on complex commercial disputes and appeals.
Mr. Mahfood applies his litigation skills across a variety of sectors, including financial services, transportation, insurance, healthcare and franchising, to proactively resolve disputes and advocate for his clients. He has handled matters involving class actions, product liability, arbitration, trade secrets and intellectual property, fiduciary duties, contract claims and torts.
Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Mahfood was an attorney at a boutique appellate firm as well as a large, national law firm. In those roles, Mr. Mahfood gained comprehensive experience handling appeals, delivering oral arguments and providing strategic trial support on a variety of matters. He also represented and counseled clients in federal and state trial courts, as well as in arbitration and administrative proceedings. Before entering private practice, he served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Susan H. Black of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the Honorable Daniel T.K. Hurley of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
In law school, Mr. Mahfood graduated fourth in his class and served as a managing editor for the Florida Law Review. He also was a research assistant for Elizabeth Rowe, professor of trade secret law, and Robert Emerson, professor of business law, and a teaching assistant for Legal Research & Writing and Appellate Advocacy.
Representative Experience
- Defeated multimillion-dollar trade secret claims arising from a client's transition to a new customer relationship management platform for its health management business
- Used state contract law to defeat patent-infringement claims and defended this outcome on appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- Obtained enforcement of a franchise agreement's arbitration clause against a non-signatory spouse and defended this ruling before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- Persuaded the Florida Supreme Court to dismiss an appeal on jurisdictional grounds in a case involving alleged breaches of fiduciary duty by the trustees of a multibillion-dollar charitable trust
- On numerous occasions, defeated efforts to use petitions for the common law writ of certiorari to obtain interlocutory review and stay trial proceedings in Florida
- Successfully defended a jury's verdict in favor of a private university on appeal in a case alleging gender discrimination and retaliation
- Represented a juvenile previously sentenced to life in prison on remand after his sentence was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court
- Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a state actor charged with violating the free speech and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment in connection with high school athletics
- Protected ongoing residential housing development from an unconstitutional local ordinance purporting to vest rights in the natural environment to be free of pollution
- Defeated several putative national and statewide class actions alleging employees at a national bank opened accounts and applied for products without customers' consent
- Protected a national railroad from interference by utilities and underlying property owners using principles of state law and federal preemption under the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act of 1995
- Procured injunctive relief to halt defamatory radio advertisements by a disgruntled former franchisee and obtained an award of more than $400,000 in attorney's fees
- Defeated a motion for summary judgment and obtained a favorable settlement for an individual harmed by an negligent, experimental use of a medical device
Credentials
- University of Florida Levin College of Law, J.D., magna cum laude
- University of Florida, B.S., Neurobiological Sciences, summa cum laude
- University of Florida, B.A., Economics, cum laude
- Florida
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida
- U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
- Federal Bar Association
- Chester Bedell American Inn of Court, Associate, 2015-2016; Barrister, 2018-Present
- First District Appellate American Inn of Court
- The Florida Bar, Appellate Practice Section
- Jacksonville Bar Association, Appellate Law Committee
- Rising Star, Florida Super Lawyers magazine, 2017-2024
- Legal Elite Up & Comer, Florida Trend, 2016, 2019
- Order of the Coif
- Irving Cypen Scholastic Achievement Award, University of Florida Levin College of Law, 2009
- Book Award, Contracts, University of Florida Levin College of Law
- Book Award, Corporations, University of Florida Levin College of Law
- Book Award, Securities Regulation, University of Florida Levin College of Law
- Book Award, Legal Drafting, University of Florida Levin College of Law