Justia Legal Services & Lawyers Directory

Joel is a Shareholder at Forizs & Dogali, P.A. Possessing legal and practical business experience beyond his years, Joel has handled a wide range of legal matters for both plaintiffs and defendants since he began practicing law in 2001.

Joel enjoys the variety associated with his general civil litigation practice; however, he focuses his law practice in three main areas: securities and investment litigation, trademark litigation and commercial litigation.

In securities and investment litigation, Joel has represented many investors, agents, brokers and broker-dealers in both customer and industry disputes, in matters involving breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, misrepresentation and negligent supervision, among several other areas. Joel has previously served as litigation and corporate counsel for a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority broker-dealer, where his duties included representing the corporation and its subsidiaries in arbitration and litigation proceedings. He gained valuable insight into the securities industry while serving as litigation and corporate counsel.

In his intellectual property practice, Joel has counseled many clients concerning trademark selection, registration and protection. He has experience litigating inter partes trademark proceedings before the United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and has prosecuted and defended trademark infringement claims in state and federal court. Joel has also assisted clients with domain name disputes in Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Proceedings and in courts.

In the area of commercial litigation, Joel has litigated a myriad of cases in state and federal court at both the trial and appellate level. Exemplary cases include Class Actions, as well as Civil Rights, Breach of Contract, Real Estate, Lender, and Personal Injury Claims, to name just a few.

In recent years, Joel's thoughts and opinions on various legal matters have been sought by various media outlets, including the Ocala Star Banner, the Tampa Tribune, the Saint Petersburg Times, and Courthouse News. More recently, examples of Joel's cases to be featured in the press include a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of crime victims whose personal, identifying information was published on a publically-accessible Sheriff's Office website, a lawsuit brought on behalf of a woman wrongfully arrested and jailed for months for a crime she did not commit, a lawsuit brought on behalf of several inmates alleged to have been subjected to excessive force within a regional jail, a lawsuit brought on behalf of a senior citizen duped out of her life savings by a Tampa investment company, and a bankruptcy proceeding involving a Sarasota investment club's perpetration of an extensive ponzi scheme.

At Forizs & Dogali, P.A., Joel has put his natural business sense to use, initiating a complete revamp of the Firmâs logo and website. He has also integrated social networking media into the Firm's marketing efforts, successfully led teams within the Firm to achieve various marketing initiatives, and as a result of his efforts and creativity, the Firm has experienced noticeable business development and growth. While successfully managing his legal practice and the business side of practicing law, Joel consistently finds time to mentor younger attorneys and paralegals to assist in their professional growth.

Outside of work, Joel enjoys exercising and rooting on the only team that matters: the West Virginia University Mountaineers. "Take Me Home, Country Roads." Joel may be reached via e-mail at jewusiak@forizs-dogali.com, via phone at (813) 289-0700, or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ewusiak