Hall Booth Smith Opens Tampa Office as Rivas, Maskowitz Join Firm

TAMPA, FLORIDA – November 19, 2020 – Hall Booth Smith, P.C. (HBS) is excited to announce a new office in Tampa as the firm expands to serve health care, aging services and insurance clients in the Central Florida region.

The new Tampa office is located at 2202 N Westshore Blvd, Suite 200, Tampa, Florida 33607, and is led by Partners R. Ryan Rivas and James “JJ” Maskowitz, who both joined HBS earlier this year.

This is the firm’s sixth location in Florida and complements its other offices in the Sunshine State: St. Petersburg, Tallahassee, North Palm Beach, Miami and Jacksonville. HBS also has more than a dozen additional offices in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, New Jersey and New York.

Rivas specializes in complex medical malpractice matters and defends hospitals, physicians and other health care providers in a wide range of lawsuits, such as birth trauma and catastrophic injury. He also represents clients in construction defect, premises liability, insurance coverage and other business matters. Earlier in his career, Rivas was a trial attorney at a large national insurance defense firm and he has also represented facilities and individuals in disciplinary proceedings before the Florida Department of Health. Rivas earned a JD from Barry University School of Law, and a BS from Florida State University.

Maskowitz concentrates his practice on long term care and medical malpractice defense. He represents skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, nurses and physicians in medical negligence and general liability lawsuits, as well as mediation and arbitration. Maskowitz has managed numerous cases from inception through trial, including motions, pleadings, discovery and trying cases to judgment or verdict. He previously worked as an attorney in the Office of the Public Defender in Clearwater, Florida, where he handled hundreds of cases for violent felonies and drug charges. He earned a JD from Florida Coastal School of Law, and a BS from the University of Arizona.

“Ryan and JJ are incredibly talented attorneys with extensive experience in defending the rights of hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and assisted living facilities, insurers, physicians and other health care providers, and this new Tampa office allows us to provide even better service across the entire region,” said Alex Booth, Managing Partner of Hall Booth Smith.

About Hall Booth Smith

Established in 1989, Hall Booth Smith, P.C. (HBS) is a full-service law firm with six regional offices strategically located throughout Georgia, as well as offices in Birmingham, Alabama; Charleston, South Carolina; Asheville and Charlotte, North Carolina; Miami, Jacksonville, North Palm Beach, St. Petersburg, Tampa and Tallahassee, Florida; and Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee; Saddle Brook, New Jersey; and New York City. Experienced across a wide range of legal disciplines, HBS attorneys pride themselves on providing knowledgeable, proactive, client-specific counsel to individuals, domestic and international corporations, state and federal agencies, and nonprofit organizations. The firm’s promise: “Serving to Achieve Excellence.” To learn more, please visit: www.hallboothsmith.com.