Karel Suarez is the founding and managing partner of The Legal Team, PLLC.  Karel practices complex commercial and international litigation at the trial and appellate levels.  He also advises clients on international law with a focus on Cuba.

In the litigation arena, Karel primarily handles highly contested matters involving large sums of money and multiple parties in Florida’s state and federal courts.  He has successfully argued various cases in the Complex Business Division of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit.  Karel has also conducted Oral Arguments at the Third District Court of Appeal.

Prior to founding The Legal Team, PLLC, Karel was an associate at a prominent Florida law firm, where he handled various types of cases in Federal court including commercial and bankruptcy litigation.  Karel has experience taking and defending depositions and has successfully mediated several cases on behalf of his clients.  He has extensive motion practice experience, not only drafting numerous motions but also arguing them in court and through Zoom.

Karel is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (ACAMS).  He frequently advises individuals, as well as domestic and foreign companies, with respect to litigation and compliance issues related to conducting business in Cuba.

In this regard, he regularly counsels clients about OFAC regulations and the applicability of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act.  Karel has travelled with representatives of U.S. and foreign companies to Cuba in order to negotiate business opportunities.

Karel has been recognized by Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch and Florida Super Lawyers: Rising Star.  He currently serves as Deputy Regional President and Member of the Board of Directors for Region VIII of the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA).  He was also recognized by the HNBA for his leadership and service as the National President of the HNBA Law Student Division back in 2015.  Karel is a member of the Cuban American Bar Association (CABA) and the Cuba Committee of the International Law Section (ILS) of the Florida Bar.

Karel was born and raised in Cuba and attended his first year of law school at the University of Havana.  He was only 19 when he arrived to the United States by himself with the goal of becoming an attorney.  After ten years of serving tables in restaurants and attending college and law school, he became a lawyer in the United States.  Karel has had to work hard and persevere his whole life and is confident that as a litigator nobody is going to outwork him.