Andréa T. Searle (f/k/a Andréa T. Tullo) is a Partner at the Dogali Law Firm. Ms. Searle's practice provides transactional, litigation and alternative dispute resolution services for individuals and businesses with growth, compliance-related, technology-related, or business-related disputes and/or transactional needs. Ms. Searle graduated from Princeton University and received her law degree from Hofstra University's School of Law. She has completed additional coursework at Cornell and Harvard Universities. During her legal studies, Ms. Searle interned for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Eastern District, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District, the U.S. Attorney's Office, and the Major Offense Bureau of the District Attorney's Office in Nassau County, New York.
After law school, Ms. Searle held key positions in the offices of the General Counsel of a prominent risk management firm, as well as a federal Congressman. In addition to the practice of law, Ms. Searle has held a five-year position as lead writer and editor of The Guide to Computer Law, published by CCH Incorporated. In that role, Ms. Searle published articles monthly on the topics of Privacy and Information Security, Information Acquisition and Use Agreements, Compliance and Risk Mitigation for lost data.. Ms. Searle has been a featured guest speaker at a number of business law and tech-related legal conferences, including those sponsored by the Computer Law Association, ITEC, the Association of Information Technology Professionals and Stetson University's College of Law. Ms. Searle has been further featured on the Time Warner program, Insights, to discuss HIPAA and database privacy issues.
Over her sixteen (16) years of practice, Ms. Searle has developed a significant Corporate Law practice which provides corporate representation during mergers, acquisitions and the related aftermath as companies meld business practices and reporting. Ms. Searle handles the relevant licensing applications, compliance filings and third party negotiations and deal crafting as companies move forward in their business relationships. Ms. Searle also has a well developed ability to negotiate financing as businesses move forward. Her Banking, Foreclosure, and Collection practice primarily caters to her Corporate Clients as well as Lenders, Commercial Landlords and Creditors. This aspect of her practice includes drafting loan documentation for commercial loans in excess of $1 million, commencing foreclosure actions and pursuing debt collection for various businesses, creditors, and landlords. This skill set also allows Ms. Searle to effectively represent clients who, from time to time, find themselves engaged in commercial litigation at both the trial and appellate levels.
Ms. Searle has qualified multiple non-profit clients for tax-exempt status and counseled both for-profit and non-profit entities in areas of compliance and growth. She has created Uniform Franchise Offering Circulars for entities wishing to franchise their concept, and has served as counsel to several franchisors, handling the commercial real estate acquisition, construction, technology, and franchisee closing issues for each.
Ms. Searle has built a significant commercial and residential real estate practice. In addition to Ms. Searle's involvement with real estate sales, leases and related issues, she is also a member of the firm's title group and has personally represented parties (either in the capacity of Counsel, Title Agent or Closing Agent) in over $425 million in real estate sales.
During their tenure, Ms. Searle was the only attorney invited to serve on the Tampa Bay and South Florida CIO Councils. These councils, combined, represented 118 Chief Information Officers from corporations generating $100 million or more in revenue per year. She has created curriculum and instructed business development, computer crime and network security law classes at various universities in Florida, including St. Petersburg College. Ms. Searle has served as the chairperson of the Intellectual Property and Cyberlaw Committee of the Florida Bar's practice section on Sports and Entertainment Law, the Advisory Board to the Technology and Management Bachelor's Program at St. Petersburg College, as well as the Co-Chairperson of the Hillsborough County Bar Association's Technology Committee. She continues to serve on the Board of the FBI's Tampa Chapter of Infraguard, and also serves on the advisory board of a regional bank.
