Joseph Patrick Covelli

Experience

Joe is a real estate attorney with vast legal and business experience in orchestrating complex real estate and business transactions that involve negotiations, acquisitions, due diligence, entitlements, land use, development, leasing, finance and regulatory issues. In addition, he also has significant experience in the establishment, management, and funding of Community Development Districts (CDDs) throughout the state of Florida.

Joe is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) in the State of Arizona and began his professional career with a “Big 6” accounting firm, where he was the senior audit associate on some of the firm’s largest and highest-profile clients in such industries as retail, nonprofit, government, manufacturing and professional sports.  After receiving his law degree from Stetson University College of Law with honors in 1998, Joe practiced in the areas of corporate transactions, real estate and securities law with another large Florida law firm before joining a privately held real estate company as director of CDD finance in January 2000, following which he held executive positions with two publicly traded home building companies, including Vice President of Business Development, Vice President of Acquisitions and Division Vice President — Operations.  Prior to returning to the practice of law in 2009, Joe established a start-up real estate development company where he managed all company and project-related governance, accounting, finance and legal issues.  Prior to joining Johnson Pope in December 2019, Joe practiced for ten years in the Tampa office of Gray Robinson in the real estate, corporate and finance practice groups. 

Joe is a partner in Johnson Pope’s Tampa office. 

Professional Associations & Memberships

• The Florida Bar

Awards & Recognitions

• AV Preeminent rated by Martindale-Hubbell
• Best Lawyers in America®, Real Estate Law, Since 2018

Education

• Arizona State University, B.S. (accountancy, magna cum laude, 1992)
  • Beta Alpha Psi (first Vice President)
  • Golden Key Society
• Stetson University College of Law, J.D. (cum laude, top 10 percent, 1998)
  • Stetson Law Review