Diana L. Fitzgerald DIANA L. FITZGERALD is a member of the Florida, California and District of Columbia Bars. She is a partner at Villanueva, Bajandas & Fitzgerald, LLP in Miami, Florida.  Over the past 15 years, Ms. Fitzgerald has served as general counsel and outside counsel for several Fortune 500 companies, privately-held companies, start-ups, investors, entrepreneurs, professionals and others. Ms. Fitzgerald’s practice features complex business litigation in federal and state courts involving a wide variety of business torts and contract disputes.

Ms. Fitzgerald’s experience includes unfair competition claims involving non-compete agreements, trade secrets, fraud and unfair deceptive trade practices.  She also has significant experience in coverage counseling and "bad faith" litigation under Business Comprehensive General Liability (CGL) policies, Director's & Officer's insurance policies, and Fidelity Bonds.  Ms. Fitzgerald is knowledgeable in all aspects of employment law having represented both employers and employees. She also has extensive experience representing real estate clients including developers/condominium associations/homeowners in construction defect litigation, foreclosures, and litigation concerning material changes to condominium offerings.

During the dot.com frenzy, Ms. Fitzgerald served as Principal, General Counsel and Executive Vice President of an entertainment conglomerate, which included an Internet portal of celebrated personalities (i.e., Charlie Sheen and Albert Einstein (estate)), a toy company, and an entertainment replica company (licensors included Universal Studios and Canal + D.A.). She was responsible for enforcing intellectual property rights; negotiating and drafting licensing agreements, employment agreements, stock purchase agreements, private placement memoranda, incentive stock option plans, business plans, and financial projections; managing more than 50 employees; and creating and monitoring corporate policies/procedures.

Ms. Fitzgerald is admitted to practice in all Florida and California state courts as well as the United States District Court for the Central District of California, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ms. Fitzgerald is a graduate of the State University of New York at Binghamton (B.S. Finance) and Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles, California (J.D.). In law school, she was a member of the Moot Court Honors Program, and the Western Regional Winner for the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. She was also a judicial intern for the Court of Appeal of the State of California, Second Appellate District, Div. Five, Hon. M. Grignon.

Ms. Fitzgerald’s community work includes serving on the executive committee board for Special Olympics of Miami-Dade, Florida. She is presently the event co-chair for the annual Inspiration 5k Run benefiting Special Olympics. She was also a mentor with Volunteers In Parole, a non-profit program assisting parolees from the California Youth Authority.  She has also been active in various other non-profit organizations.

Contact: attorneydiana@aol.com