Stephanie Martin joined Adams and Reese in 2010 following the firm’s expansion into Florida. She has been practicing law in Florida since 2006 and concentrates her practice on civil, commercial, and real estate litigation.
Stephanie has experience litigating a variety of cases in both state and federal courts, but focuses her practice on real estate, commercial, and appellate cases. Stephanie has extensive experience with the financial services industry and specifically with special assets litigation. In this arena, she has handled many residential and commercial foreclosures, asset recovery issues, and collections matters. Additionally, Stephanie has experience litigating real estate disputes, contractual disputes, residential and commercial landlord-tenant matters, homeowners’ and condominium association matters, and some family law matters.
Stephanie is experienced in all stages of the litigation process. She has extensive experience drafting pleadings, motions, and discovery; conducting depositions; arguing dispositive motions; handling evidentiary hearings; assisting with trials; and handling appeals. Stephanie is also experienced in negotiation, mediation, and arbitration.
Stephanie is committed to providing pro bono legal service to the indigent, and, in 2012, was recognized for her pro bono contributions by the Supreme Court of Florida, the Young Lawyers Division of the Florida Bar, the Florida Pro Bono Coordinators Association, and the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida in Tampa.
Stephanie is a member of the Florida and Illinois Bars and is licensed to practice before the United States District Courts for the Middle, Northern, and Southern Districts of Florida, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.
Her significant contributions include:
Partnering with national and community-based banking and lending institutions in numerous matters to provide them with options for each unique, distressed loan in their portfolio and then, where necessary, securing judgments in their favor and recovering the requisite assets, secured property, and other collateral needed to satisfy the debt;
Obtaining relief for condominium and homeowners’ associations navigating the complex issues and relationships in play when members of the community are not complying with the association’s restrictive covenants and regulations;
Providing more than 200 hours of pro bono legal service since 2010 to indigent clients confronting family law and domestic violence matters in both the trial courts and appellate court; and
Obtaining a favorable settlement for a mobile homeowners’ association in its public dispute with the owner of the mobile home park over the sale of the park, which settlement provided monetary relief to the displaced members of the community and additional time to find suitable, alternative housing.
Originally from the Chicago suburbs, Stephanie graduated from the University of Notre Dame Law School in 2006, after earning her Honors Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from Marquette University in 2003. While studying at Notre Dame, Stephanie was selected to and participated in both the appellate and trial moot court teams. Stephanie also served on the editorial staff for the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy. In 2004, Stephanie spent a summer studying international law at Notre Dame’s overseas campus in London, England. At Marquette, Stephanie was a member of the Academic Honors Program, Pre-Law Scholars Program, mock trial team, Alpha Sigma Nu Honors Society, and Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society. After graduating from Notre Dame, Stephanie relocated to Florida and spent the first couple of years of her career with a national law firm in Naples, Florida, before relocating to the Tampa Bay area.
In the community, Stephanie is active in civic, religious, and charitable organizations throughout the Tampa Bay area, including the Diocese of St. Petersburg and Nativity Catholic Church. In 2012, she was appointed to the Board of Trustees of Catholic Charities for the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Inc., which operates extensive life and shelter ministries and provides advocacy and a broad array of social services to residents of Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas counties.
In her spare time, Stephanie enjoys spending time with her husband, children, and extended family; traveling; reading; escaping to Disney World for a weekend of family fun; attending country and Christian music concerts; experimenting in the kitchen to cook healthy meals, big on taste, but short on fat; following Notre Dame football and the Olympics; horseback riding; and taking ballroom and Latin dancing lessons.
Stephanie deeply respects and admires her husband, her mother, Jesus Christ, Susan B. Anthony, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Pope John Paul II, Blessed Mother Teresa, St. Gianna Beretta Molla, President Reagan, Cardinal Wuerl, Tim Tebow, Phil Rivers, Alan Sears, Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, Bristol Palin, Abby Johnson, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and all who have devoted their lives to serving God through the priesthood or religious life.
Click for headshot