Brian M. Karpf is a Florida Bar Board Certified divorce and family law lawyer and mediator and Fellow in both the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) as well as the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL), working in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Palm Beach, Naples, and throughout Florida. He is a partner in the firm. A South Florida native, Mr. Karpf graduated cum laude from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science degree in 2004 where he was president of his Fraternity. Mr. Karpf received his Juris Doctor from Florida International University in 2007. He was also distinguished by the CALI Excellence for Future Award in Intellectual Property law, a recognition given to the student with the top grade in the course.
Mr. Karpf is an expert and specialist lawyer in Divorce and Family law, having become a Board Certified in Marital and Family Law Attorney by the Florida Bar. He is also a Fellow in the prestigious and elite American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) and International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL).
Mr. Karpf is AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell and was named by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in Family Law every year since 2013. No more than 2.5% of lawyers under 40 years old receive this honor. He was honored by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation as one of South Florida’s Top 40 Lawyers Under Age 40. He also received the Rising Star Award in South Florida Business and Wealth’s Leaders in Law awards.
As an attorney, Mr. Karpf focuses his law practice in the areas of Family and Divorce Law, Appeals, mediation, Prenuptial (“prenups”) and Postnuptial Agreements, surrogacy / assisted reproductive technology, mediation, and International Child (Hague Convention) Abduction Cases in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Weston, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Palm Beach, and Naples. As a divorce and family lawyer, he has represented high net worth clients, celebrities and athletes and is routinely involved in complex family law cases involving divorce, child custody and timesharing, alimony, equitable distribution, business valuations, prenuptial agreements and postnuptial agreements, contempt as well as international custody disputes. He is also a divorce, paternity, and family law mediator. Mr. Karpf has lectured on a variety of family law, legal and social media issues.
Mr. Karpf is the Chair-Elect of the ABA Family Law Section Section and has served on its Executive Council since 2010. He was also appointed by the President of the Florida Bar to serve on the Family Law Rules Committee until 2017, and was elected to the Board of Governors of the Florida Bar’s Young Lawyer’s Division. He served on the Board of Directors of LEV Children’s Museum and Kidside. Mr. Karpf is also a fellow of the Florida Bar’s Leadership Academy.
Mr. Karpf has been interviewed on a variety of divorce and family law topics by entities such as E!, Law360, The Miami Herald, Daily Business Review and others, to give insight as a family law and divorce attorney. He is widely active in legal and family law organizations both nationally and locally.
Author/Publications
- CLOSED: These Florida Courts Are Shuttered Due to Storm
- Karpf Sets Priorities for ABA Family Law Section
- Sophie Turner-Joe Jonas Custody Battle Could Hinge On Hague Treaty
- Locked up: Marriage and divorce during COVID-19
- Losing Your Child for Saving Lives: The COVID-19 Timesharing Dilemma (Daily Business Review)
- Take-Down: How Social Media May Win or Lose Your Lawsuit
- Take-‐Down: altering your social media content during litigation
- Florida’s Take On Telling Clients To Scrub Social Media Pages
- Take Down: Attorneys Advising Clients to Clean Up Social Media Pages
- Enforcement. The Civil Contempt Conundrum
- “Florida Courts Shouldn’t Treat Families Like Businesses”, Daily Business Review, July 2012
Lectures
- Florida Bar’s Practicing with Professionalism Seminar, Miami, 2016 (Chair & Moderator)
- Slippery Slope: Counseling Clients to Alter Their Social Media Content; Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (Miami chapter) 2016
- Produced a full day Law Practice Management Symposium and presented on Technology Hot Tips. ABA Family Section Conference, May 2016.
- Social Networking for the Family Lawyer: What You Need To Know about Ethics, Evidence, & Discovery
- Evidence for Family Lawyers
- Social Networking for the Practicing Attorney
- Identifying and Solving Tax Issues in Family Law Cases
- Social Networking for the Family Lawyer: Evidence, Research, Marketing, Ethics & More
- 100 Days Before Trial-No Time to Lose (Producer)
- Labor and Employment Law for Family Law Practitioners (Producer)
- Thinking Inside the Box: Creative Internet Research and Investigation for the Family Lawyer (Producer)
- Tech Talk Law (Bi-weekly Legal Webinar Series)
- Broward County Bar Association, Family Law Nuts and Bolts (multiple years)
Interviews/Quotes/In the News
- TV: ABC Ch. 10 WPLG – Covid-19 and Family Law (timesharing, alimony, and child support)
- TV: NBC Ch. 6 – Divorce in the Time of Quarantine
- Radio: Brian Mudd IHeartRadio Interview – Covid-19 family law troubles (child support and alimony)
- Why Amber Heard and Johnny Depp’s Divorce Case May Just Quietly Go Away After Its Bombshell Beginning
- Amber Heard And Johnny Depp Reach a Divorce Settlement – Her Shocking Lies Uncovered In…
- Amber Heard ‘grilled for seven hours by Depp’s legal team’ over domestic violence claims
- Could Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s divorce battle ‘go away quietly’?
- What Amber Heard Testifying Against Johnny Depp Means– For Her, For Him, For Their Divorce and For the Millions of People Watching Via E!News
- 5 Things You Should Leave Out Of A Client Pitch
- Permanent alimony may finally end in Florida
- Brian Karpf Admitted to American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML)
- Working Remotely – Litigation and Mediation at Home (Daily Business Review)
Author
- “Florida Courts Shouldn’t Treat Families Like Businesses”, Daily Business Review, July 2012
- “The Civil Contempt Conundrum” , Florida Bar Family Law Section, Commentator, Fall 2012
Awards/Accomplishments
- Fellow, American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML)
- Board Certified in Marital and Family Law by the Florida Bar Board of Specialization and Education, 2015
- Board Certified as a Family Trial Advocate by the NBTA
- Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Law Mediator
- Super Lawyers’ Rising Stars, every year 2013 through present
- AV rated Preeminent by Martindale Hubbell
- Top 40 Lawyers Under 40 in South Florida, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
- NACVA 40 under 40 award
- 2015 Rising Star Winner, Leaders in Law Awards, South Florida Business and Wealth and Lifestyle Magazine
- 2015 Finalist, Up & Comers Award, South Florida Business and Wealth and Lifestyle Magazine
- 2011 NITA, ABA Trial Advocacy Institute
- CALI Excellence for Future Award (Top Grade in Class), Intellectual Property Law
Memberships
- American Bar Association
- Member of Family Law Section:
- Executive Council Member, 2010-present;
- CLE Committee, Co-Chair, 2018-2020 and member, 2012-2020;
- Chair, Law Practice Management and Technology Committee, 2013-2016, Vice-Chair, 2011-2013;
- Co-chair, Sponsorship Committee (2016-2018);
- Liaison to the Young Lawyers Division, 2010-2017; Chair, Young Lawyers Committee, 2010-2013, 2014-2016; Vice-Chair, Host Committee, 2010-2011; Co-Chair, Host Committee, 2011-2012; Member Benefit Development Committee, Executive Member, 2009-2011, Sponsorship Committee, 2010-2012; Strategic Planning Committee, 2015-2018
- Young Lawyers Division: Liaison to the Family Law Section, 2010-2017; Vice-Chairman, Family Law Committee, 2010-2011; Assistant Editor, Affiliate Newsletter, 2011-2012; Mid-year Meeting Host Committee (Miami 2017).
- Member of Family Law Section:
- Florida Bar
- Family Law Rules Committee 2014 – 2017
- Technology Committee, 2016 – 2019
- Annual Convention Committee, 2016 – 2019
- Board of Governors, Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division, 2014-2019
- Chairman of Technology Committee (2015-2016; 2016-2017)
- Chairman, Basic Family Law Course 2015
- Liaison to Florida International University, School of Law
- Committee Member: Communications (2014-2015); Diversity (2014-2015); Technology (2014-2017); Pro Bono (2015-2016); Professionalism (2015-2017); Section Outreach (2015-2016); Practicing with Professionalism (2016-2017); Annual Convention (2016-2017)
- Florida Bar Leadership Academy, Class II
- State Delegate, American Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division Assembly: 2010 Annual Meeting, San Francisco; 2014 Midyear meeting, Chicago; 2014 Annual meeting, Boston.
- Broward County Bar Association, Board of Governors (Technology Committee and Lawyer Service, past chairman)
- LEV Children’s Museum, Board of Directors
- Joe Dimaggio Children’s Hospital, Planned Giving Committee
- Weston Bar Association, Board of Directors (past)
- First Family Law American Inn of Court (past)
- Emerge Broward (past)
- Young Emet Society, Founder
- KidSide Miami (past)
- North Dade Bar Association (past)
- Dade County Bar Association (past)
Book Brian M. Karpf
Education
- University of Florida, B.S., cum laude
- Florida International University, J.D.
Bar Admissions
- Florida
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
Areas of Practice
- Family Law, Divorce and Paternity
- Family Law Appeals
- Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Custody
- Mediation
- Prenuptial Agreements
- Postnuptial Agreements
Recognized Nationally
