Bio

Simon Ferro has over 40 years of experience in the areas of zoning, land use and governmental relations. Prior to joining AVILA, Mr. Ferro had been a partner and consultant for various prestigious legal firms in Florida. Mr. Ferro is also a former U.S. ambassador to Panama, having been appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1999 to lead the U.S. diplomatic mission during the Panama Canal handover. Mr. Ferro has a wide range of experience representing residential, commercial and industrial developers in all phases of the entitlement and permitting process in South Florida, including un-incorporated Miami-Dade County and most of the 35 cities within the county. He also represents developers and property owners on permitting and regulatory issues before county and city code enforcement boards, major county departments such Miami-Dade Water and Sewer, the Department of Environmental Resources Management (“DERM”), Public Works and others, including the Miami-Dade County Environmental Quality Control Board (“EQCB”). In addition to the development community Mr. Ferro has also represented banks, hospitals, hotels, private schools, churches, assisted living facilities, supermarkets, self-storage facilities, mobile home parks, carnivals and even gypsy camps.