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Coral Gables Law Firm McArdle Franco PLLC Achieves National Distinction in 2026 Best Law Firms® Rankings, Reinforcing Its Role as South Florida’s Trusted Authority in Construction and Business Law

Firm Earns Tier 2 Designation in Miami for Litigation – Construction; Partners Xavier Franco and Michael Mullavey Receive Individual Best Lawyers® Recognition

CORAL GABLES, FL – In a region where cranes dot the skyline, multimillion-dollar developments reshape entire neighborhoods, and international capital flows through the market at a pace matched by few cities in the world, the stakes of legal representation could not be higher. McArdle Franco PLLC, one of South Florida’s most respected Coral Gables business litigation law firms, has been named a Tier 2 firm in Miami for Litigation – Construction in the prestigious 2026 edition of Best Law Firms®. The designation reaffirms the firm’s position as an indispensable legal resource for the businesses, developers, investors, and entrepreneurs who are shaping South Florida’s future.

For a region experiencing unprecedented growth across residential, commercial, and mixed-use sectors, having access to legal counsel that truly understands the local market is not a luxury—it is a necessity. The Best Law Firms® Tier 2 ranking provides independent, data-driven confirmation that McArdle Franco consistently operates at the highest levels of professional excellence, a distinction recognized by clients, peers, and industry leaders throughout the South Florida corridor and beyond.

A Ranking Earned Through Rigorous Evaluation

The Best Law Firms® rankings stand among the most respected and trusted benchmarks in the American legal profession. The evaluation methodology is deliberately comprehensive, drawing on multiple independent streams of assessment to ensure that only the most deserving firms are recognized. The process incorporates detailed client feedback evaluating responsiveness, strategic thinking, and results; confidential peer assessments from attorneys practicing in the same legal disciplines; in-depth interviews with recognized leaders across relevant industries; and an exhaustive review of each firm’s professional credentials, notable case outcomes, and organizational achievements submitted through a formal research process.

The cumulative effect of this multi-layered evaluation is a ranking system that businesses and individuals across the United States rely on when seeking top-tier legal counsel. For McArdle Franco, earning a Tier 2 designation within this demanding framework represents the culmination of more than two decades of focused, client-centered advocacy in the South Florida market—a milestone that the firm views as both a recognition of past achievement and a mandate to continue raising the bar.

Individual Partner Recognition

Adding to an already exceptional year for the firm, two McArdle Franco partners received distinguished individual honors that further illustrate the depth and caliber of the firm’s legal team.

Xavier Franco was named to The Best Lawyers in America® 2026 for his outstanding work in Litigation – Construction. In a South Florida market where construction disputes frequently involve complex multi-party dynamics, aggressive timelines, and substantial financial exposure, Franco has built a formidable reputation as one of the region’s most effective and respected construction litigators. His selection to Best Lawyers® reflects not only his technical command of the law but also the deep trust he has earned among clients and colleagues throughout the South Florida legal community.

Michael Mullavey earned a well-deserved place on the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America 2026 list for both Commercial Litigation and Litigation – Construction. The Ones to Watch® designation identifies attorneys who are early in their careers but have already demonstrated exceptional professional achievement and peer recognition. Mullavey’s dual selection across two demanding practice areas signals his rapid emergence as one of South Florida’s most talented young litigators and reflects McArdle Franco’s commitment to developing the next generation of legal leaders in the region.

A Firm Forged in the South Florida Market

Since its founding in 2002, McArdle Franco Miami Law Firm has been inseparable from the South Florida business community it serves. Headquartered in the heart of Coral Gables—one of the region’s most vibrant commercial centers—the firm was purpose-built to meet the legal needs of a market defined by rapid expansion, international connectivity, and a constant flow of ambitious development projects.

What has always distinguished McArdle Franco from other South Florida firms is the real-world business experience its attorneys bring to every engagement. The firm’s lawyers have personally developed land across the region, managed private equity and debt portfolios, launched successful web-based enterprises, and built thriving companies in construction, real estate, and financial services. They have sat in the same seats their clients occupy—confronting the operational pressures, financial uncertainties, and high-stakes decisions that define business ownership in South Florida’s competitive landscape.

This entrepreneurial foundation is not simply a talking point; it is woven into the fabric of every strategy the firm develops, every contract it negotiates, and every dispute it resolves. When a McArdle Franco attorney advises a client, they draw not just on legal training but on the hard-won instincts of someone who understands what it takes to build and sustain a business in one of the fastest-growing markets in the nation. It is this capacity to see legal challenges through a businessperson’s lens that enables the firm to consistently deliver the efficient, creative, and smart solutions that South Florida’s business community has come to expect.

Practice Areas Serving South Florida’s Business Community

McArdle Franco’s capabilities are organized around four deeply interconnected practice areas, each shaped by the firm’s distinctive combination of legal sophistication and hands-on market knowledge. Below is a detailed look at three cornerstone disciplines that are especially critical to the South Florida economy.

Transaction Structuring

South Florida’s real estate and commercial markets operate at a pace and scale that demand attorneys who can move quickly without sacrificing precision. As a leading South Miami business transaction structuring practice, McArdle Franco represents partnerships, corporations, and entrepreneurial ventures in the full spectrum of transactions that fuel the regional economy. The firm’s attorneys guide clients through every critical phase of a deal—from preliminary due diligence and term sheet negotiation through final documentation, execution, and closing.

The team handles an exceptionally broad range of transactional matters, including real estate acquisitions and dispositions, construction and development agreements, corporate mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity financing arrangements, government procurement contracts, joint ventures, supplier and vendor agreements, public-private partnerships, and cross-border commercial transactions with Latin American and international counterparts—a particularly important capability given South Florida’s role as a gateway to global commerce.

What sets the firm’s transactional practice apart is its disciplined commitment to consequential thinking—a forward-looking approach that focuses on identifying potential risks before they materialize. In a market where development timelines are aggressive, capital is always in motion, and the difference between a successful closing and a collapsed deal can come down to a single contractual provision, this proactive methodology is invaluable. McArdle Franco’s attorneys stress-test key terms against a range of plausible scenarios, identify fault lines in proposed structures, and negotiate language specifically designed to insulate clients from the kinds of ambiguities and oversights that so often become the seeds of costly litigation. The result is that South Florida businesses can close deals with confidence, preserve critical relationships, and keep their capital working rather than tied up in courtrooms.

Business Structuring

South Florida’s position as a magnet for entrepreneurs, investors, and expanding companies from across the Americas and around the world means that the region’s businesses face a uniquely complex set of structuring considerations. McArdle Franco works in close partnership with clients to design corporate frameworks that are purpose-built for sustainable growth, operational resilience, and long-term competitive advantage in this dynamic market.

Whether a client is launching a new venture in Miami-Dade County, expanding operations across the tri-county area, attracting foreign or domestic investment, or restructuring an existing organization to improve efficiency and reduce exposure, the firm’s attorneys bring a comprehensive understanding of the tax, legal, and economic forces at play. The team specializes in creating sophisticated multi-tiered entity structures that shield valuable assets, contain and quarantine potential liabilities, and establish clear pathways for outside investment, strategic partnerships, and favorable market exits.

Every engagement begins with a consultative deep dive into the client’s specific industry, competitive position within the South Florida market, risk profile, and long-range strategic objectives. From there, the attorneys develop customized organizational frameworks that address liability and litigation risk based on the client’s unique market position, asset preservation through deliberate and strategic segregation, the tax implications of single- versus multi-entity configurations, exit strategies for founders, owners, and investors, and financing plans to support future growth, acquisitions, and capital raises.

The firm’s senior partners bring an additional layer of insight that is particularly relevant in South Florida. As accomplished entrepreneurs who have personally built and grown successful construction and real estate businesses in this very market, they understand the practical realities of operating here—from navigating the region’s regulatory environment and permitting processes to managing the financial pressures of rapid growth in a competitive landscape. That blend of legal precision and South Florida business instinct allows them to structure enterprises not just for compliance, but for genuine commercial success in the regional marketplace.

Land Development and Construction

No practice area is more central to McArdle Franco’s identity—or more vital to the South Florida economy—than land development and construction. The region’s skyline is in a state of constant transformation, with billions of dollars flowing annually into luxury residential towers, large-scale commercial complexes, mixed-use developments, hospitality projects, and critical infrastructure. Behind every one of these projects is a web of legal relationships, contractual obligations, and regulatory requirements that demand attorneys with both legal command and industry fluency.

As a premier South Florida Land Development Law Firm and trusted South Florida Construction Development Law Firm, McArdle Franco represents virtually every stakeholder in the development lifecycle. The firm’s clients include real estate developers, property owners, general contractors, subcontractors, architects, engineering firms, commercial tenants, and both mortgage and commercial lenders. This breadth of representation across all sides of the industry gives the firm’s attorneys a panoramic understanding of the interests, pressures, and priorities that each party brings to a South Florida development project—a perspective that proves invaluable at the negotiating table and in the courtroom.

The attorneys draft and negotiate the full range of documentation that complex South Florida developments demand, including land development and construction contracts, professional service agreements, surety bonds encompassing bid, performance, and payment obligations, real estate purchase and sale contracts, mortgages and commercial financing agreements, private placement memorandums and capital participation offering memorandums, joint venture and public-private partnership agreements, and commercial leases. Every document is prepared with meticulous attention to how each provision affects the broader transaction, ensuring that clients fully understand the legal, tax, financial, and practical implications of every material term before they commit.

What truly elevates this practice within the South Florida legal market is the firsthand industry experience of the firm’s senior partners. They have not merely represented developers and builders—they have personally conceived, financed, and constructed real estate projects across the region. They know the rhythms of South Florida construction, from the realities of hurricane season scheduling to the complexities of working with international supply chains and labor markets. That operational depth provides clients with strategic insights that extend far beyond what traditional legal counsel can offer, and it is precisely this powerful combination of courtroom skill, transactional sophistication, and ground-level industry knowledge that earned McArdle Franco its Tier 2 ranking as a Coral Gables construction litigation law firm in the 2026 Best Law Firms® edition.

A Collaborative Culture Built for South Florida

What ultimately distinguishes McArdle Franco in the South Florida legal market is a deeply ingrained culture of collaboration that mirrors the interconnected, relationship-driven nature of the region’s business community. The firm’s partners do not operate in isolation. They regularly convene to share insights across practice areas, challenge one another’s assumptions, and develop innovative, multi-disciplinary solutions as a unified team. Every client benefits from the collective knowledge and experience of the entire firm—not just the individual attorney assigned to their matter.

When an engagement demands specialized expertise beyond the firm’s core legal disciplines, the attorneys draw on a carefully cultivated network of South Florida’s top professionals—including accountants, tax advisors, financial consultants, engineers, environmental specialists, and industry experts—to deliver the most comprehensive guidance available. This willingness to marshal every available resource in service of the client’s goals is a hallmark of the McArdle Franco approach.

The results speak for themselves. The firm has built a remarkable portfolio of lasting client relationships—many stretching back decades—anchored in mutual trust, complete transparency, and a shared commitment to building something that endures. In a region that rewards bold vision, smart execution, and genuine partnership, McArdle Franco has proven itself to be exactly the kind of legal ally that South Florida businesses need by their side—today, tomorrow, and for the long run.

Contact Information

McArdle Franco PLLC 255 Alhambra Circle, STE 925 Coral Gables, FL 33134 Phone: (305) 442-2214 Email: info@mcper.com Website: www.mcardlefranco.com