David J. Volk
Bar Admissions and Education Florida Bar, West Virginia Bar, all Florida Federal District Courts, and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Former partner in what was Brevard County’s largest firm Reinman, Harrell, Graham, Mitchell & Wattwood, P.A. and established Volk Law Offices, P.A. in December of 1994. West Virginia University Bachelor of Science degree in business administration (accounting major) 1983 and juris doctor degree from that school's College of Law 1987. Member: Moot Court Board and Lugar Trial Association. Legal research and writing teaching assistant while in law school.Expertise & Public SpeakingBoard Certified in Business Litigation by the Florida Bar Board of Legal Specialization and Education since 1996. Only three-tenths of one percent of lawyers in Florida have this Certification. Certification requires significant court experience, peer review, extensive continuing legal education, and written testing. First attorney in Brevard County to test to obtain this certification and there are currently only three other certified attorneys in the County. Less than one-half of one percent of Florida lawyers carry this certification. Qualified Arbitrator. Served three years as a member of the Florida Bar Civil Procedure Rules Committee and qualified in bankruptcy and collections under the Florida Bar Designation Plan which was granted upon substantial experience and education in those areas of concentrated practice. Completed the National Institute for Trial Advocacy trial skills program (ten day program at North Carolina University) and Advanced Trial Skills (five day program at University of Florida), is a member of the Florida Bar Speakers Bureau, has spoken publicly on various bankruptcy topics including discharging taxes in bankruptcy, lender liability, environmental liability, collections, trade secrets and non-compete agreements, counseling clients, Real Property Litigation, Using Credit and Financial Planning, and attorney ethics, is listed in Who's Who In American Law and Who's Who In America, serves from time to time as an adjunct professor of law at Brevard Community College (Introduction to the Legal System, Bankruptcy and Debtor-Creditor Law), and as an instructor at the Brevard Community College Small Business Venture Clinic providing start-up business advice. Appeared monthly on The Cerny Success Show on WMEL-AM discussing legal topics. Author of Evaluating a Nonconforming Construction Matter, The Ex Parte (February 2006). Mr. Volk has focused on trial practice and has assisted clients in the following areas of law:
Bankruptcy: experience in virtually all aspects of that field. He has represented creditors, debtors, and professionals in bankruptcy proceedings, including personal, manufacturing, real estate, and restaurant reorganizations, liquidations, stay proceedings, claim disputes, fraud/preference litigation, and discharge litigation.
Commercial Litigation: numerous and varied disputes such as partner and shareholder, employer-employee actions including trade-secrets, non-compete, and employment agreements, breach of contract, UCC, lender liability, RICO, securities, sale of business, and franchise actions.
Fraud: diverse matters including lending, automobile, prop and jet aircraft, race car, and real estate schemes.
Collections: prosecuted and defended attachments, replevins, garnishments, fraudulent transfer suits, and levies.
Real Property Rights: prosecuted and defended mortgage foreclosures and other matters involving real estate such as commercial landlord/tenant, ownership, nuisance, construction defect and lien, and eminent domain cases.
Governmental Misconduct: code enforcement misconduct and owner rights, administrative rights, and civil rights violations.
Appellate Practice: researched and drafted various appellate briefs and conducted oral argument as to those matters.
Forfeiture Litigation: represented the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles in contraband forfeiture suits.
Conducted over seventy trials and over six hundred and fifty hearings as sole or lead counsel. Litigated cases around the State of Florida and in Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania, Alabama, and West Virginia. Experience and results of interest include the successful prosecution of a receivership involving an aircraft equipment manufacturer and approximately thirty other defendants with claims to property on the premises, preventing bankruptcy discharges of approximately $1,000,000.00 and $830,000.00 in business debt owed clients due to misconduct by debtors in filing their cases; obtaining an $830,000.00 fraud judgment at trial regarding false statements used to lease a jet; a $5,400,000.00 housing development foreclosure including negotiating terms by which the developer would allow foreclosure, not file for bankruptcy protection, and assist the lenders in completing the project; reported cases, including regarding bankruptcy dischargeability, regarding the scope of the Florida homestead exemption for rural property and Complaint drafting to obtain jurisdiction over out-of-state defendants; lender liability cases representing borrowers so that strict compliance with loan documents is excused; and commercial landlord-tenant cases where significant lease indebtedness was reduced to de minimis amounts. This dispute experience is also useful in drafting and negotiating agreements for clients.
Organizations: seven years as a member of the Board of Directors of Melbourne Central Catholic High School (President 3 years; Vice-President 1 year), Brevard County Bar (Chair, Local Rules of Civil Procedure Subcommittee, member, Judicial Liaison Committee), Florida Bar (Civil Procedure Rules Committee, 1993-1996) the Central Florida Bankruptcy Association, the Federalist Society, the Melbourne-Palm Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber Industrial Council, National Lawyers Association, 1994-1995 Leadership Brevard Chamber of Commerce program, College Leadership Brevard Mentor Program, Melbourne High School Academy Internship host, was an invitee to the 1998 Supreme Court Symposium on Professionalism, and is a past member of the Credit Professionals of Brevard (President, Vice-President), International Credit Association, and the Florida Academy of Trial Lawyers.
Personal Background:Mr. Volk comes from a background of working in family-owned businesses, and this has been helpful in understanding how businesses are run. At the age of twelve, Mr. Volk went to work in his parents’ beverage warehouse with tasks such as sweeping floors, loading, unloading, and cleaning trucks, working in the icehouse, forklift operation, and checking in drivers receipts and money. He continued to stay active in the family business affairs up through graduating law school. Other activities included helping with leasing, cleaning, and bookkeeping for commercial and residential rental properties; surface coal mining including operating and servicing trucks and machinery; the sale, delivery, installation, and servicing of manufactured homes; and construction of a mobile home park and commercial building.
Michael E. Dujovne
Bar Admissions and Education Graduated cum laude from the University of Miami 1988 and juris doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., 1991. Attended one year at the University of Kent, in Canterbury, England, through his university’s study abroad program. Admitted to practice in all courts of the State of Florida, as well as the Federal District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Experience Board Certified in Real Estate by the Florida Bar Board of Legal Specialization and Education in 2007. Practices primarily in the areas of real estate, commercial transactions and litigation. Has conducted closings for numerous commercial and residential real estate transactions. From September of 2000 through September of 2002, was general counsel and vice president of Summit Brokerage Services, Inc., a securities broker-dealer and member of the National Association of Securities Dealers. While at Summit, responsible for compliance with NASD, SEC and state regulations governing the securities and insurance industries, as well as licensing of registered representatives, and advising management on day to day decisions. From 1995 through 2000, maintained his private law practice in Melbourne, in which he concentrated on real estate, commercial transactions and litigation, with an emphasis on collections, foreclosures and evictions. From 1991 through 1994, was a litigation attorney with Reinman, Harrell, Graham, Mitchell & Wattwood, P.A., which at the time was the largest law firm in Brevard County.Expertise & Public SpeakingHas completed the National Institute for Trial Advocacy trial skills program, former licensed real estate agent, and has spoken publicly on the Real Estate Contract through Closing Process and evictions.
Organizations: member of the Florida Bar Association (including the Association’s Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section), the Brevard County Bar Association, and a former director of the Brevard County Young Lawyers’ Division. Former member of the Melbourne Area Association of Realtors Lawyers Relations Committee. Member and title insurance agent for Attorney’s Title Insurance Fund.
Personal BackgroundBorn in Argentina and a resident of Brevard County, Florida, since 1974. Speaks Spanish fluently. Mr. Dujovne lives in Melbourne with his wife and two children.
Lawrence B. Kenkel
Bar Admissions and Education Florida Bar, California Bar, Certified Specialist in Bankruptcy Law (California Board of Legal Specialization), and Professional Civil Engineer (California Registration). University of Cincinnati Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering 1973, St. Louis University School of Business and Administration Masters of Business Administration (finance major) and juris doctor degree from that school’s College of Law 1980. Was a member of St. Louis University Law Review.Expertise & Public SpeakingWas an instructor in the Fresno City College Paralegal Program; a lecturer with the Central California Bankruptcy Institute, Central California Bankruptcy Association Chapter 13 Workshops, Fresno County Chamber of Commerce; and Advisor to the Florida Small Business Development Center.
Personal Background: Kenkel moved to the area in 2002 from Fresno, California. He is a civil engineer with experience in structural, soils, hydraulic, and civil engineering design. He has practiced law for over twenty years, owned his own law firm and served as a Law Clerk to a Bankruptcy Judge in California.
Ruth C. Rhodes
Bar Admissions and EducationAdmitted to practice in all courts of the State of Florida, as well as the Federal District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Practices primarily in the areas of commercial litigation and estate planning. Valedictorian, Magna Cum Laude, Florida A&M University College of Law, juris doctor, 2006 (first in class). Member: Estate Planning and Taxation club, Criminal Justice Club, Moot Court Client Counseling competitor at state level, Florida A & M University Law Review 2004 - 2006, The City, County and Local Government Law Section of The Florida Bar, Outstanding Local Government Law School Student Award, 2006. Western New Mexico University in Silver City, New Mexico, B.S., Honors, Administration of Justice, minor in Political Science, 1996. Awarded Outstanding Administration of Justice Student, 1996, and listed in Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities, 1996. Keiser College of Technology in Melbourne, Florida, A.S., Honors, Paralegal Studies, 1992. Melbourne High School, 1986.
Organizations: member of the Florida Bar Association (including the Young Lawyer’s Division), the Brevard County Bar Association (including the Young Lawyer’s Division), the American Bar Association (including the Young Lawyer’s Division), Young Professionals of Brevard, and Rotary International.
Personal Background: Rhodes moved to the area in 1968 as an infant, and lived in the area her entire life with the exception of time spent attending college in New Mexico. Most of her employment since 1992 has been in the legal field. She worked as a Deputy Court Clerk in Brevard County, Florida and Silver City, New Mexico, and held a position of Court Financial Specialist in Silver City, New Mexico. She worked as a paralegal for local firms that practiced in the following areas of law: Social Security Disability; criminal; family; and wills, trusts and estate planning. In addition, she has held numerous positions over the years in the hospitality and facilities maintenance fields.