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E. Lee Worsham

Of Counsel
Biography

E. Lee Worsham is Of Counsel in Shutts & Bowen’s West Palm Beach office, where he is a member of the Real Estate Department.  Mr. Worsham has experience in water-related topics such as drainage, water use, wetlands and broadly with permitting and enforcement activities of regulatory agencies and local governments relating to urban and agricultural development. His practice also involves environmental and land use approvals, permitting, enforcement and litigation in Florida and he has practiced before state and federal courts as well as the various Florida administrative agencies.

Mr. Worsham is a member of the board of the South Florida East Coast Corridor Coalition, promoting a proposed commuter railway. He previously served as Senior Attorney for the State of Florida Department of Community Affairs,  where his practice concentrated on Areas of Critical State Concern, Developments of Regional Impact and Independent Special Taxing Districts. He is also the former General Counsel to the St. John’s River Water Management District, a nineteen county regional water regulatory authority.

Mr. Worsham’s practice also consists of obtaining land use, zoning and environmental regulatory approvals for residential, commercial and agricultural development including regional shopping centers and other large developments.  He has significant experience with CERCLA, RCRA and their state counterparts regulating hazardous substances and devotes a large portion of his practice to the financing, purchasing and remediation of contaminated real estate and in litigation arising out of the Federal Superfund Law and RCRA.

Mr. Worsham is a frequent lecturer before The Florida Bar Continuing Legal Education, the Florida State Chamber of Commerce and other professional groups. While at the University of Florida, he served as a member of the Florida Law Review Board, taught Legal Writing, and later taught a seminar in Antitrust Law.

PUBLICATIONS 

  • Demystifying the Intersection of Surface Water Permitting and Common Law Drainage Rights: The Twain Actually Do Meet.
  •  Must Information in the Public Record be Disclosed to Buyers of Residential Real Property and May it be Misrepresented?

Recognition

  • Martindale Hubbell AV rated
  • Selected for inclusion in Chambers, Environment, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010.  
  • Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
  • Named  “Top Lawyer in South Florida” by the South Florida Legal Guide, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
  • The International Who's Who of Environmental Lawyers 2010

Education

  • University of Florida School of Law, J.D. 1974
  • Colorado State University, B.S. 1968

Affiliations

  • Past Chairman, Palm Beach County Environmental Control Hearings Board
  • Past Member, Palm Beach County (Traffic) Oversight Advisory Council
  • Columnist, "Water Management Watch," Florida Environments Monthly Newsletter 
  • Member, State of Florida, Department of Community Affairs, Wildlife Advisory Group
  • Vice Chairman, Palm Beach Water Resources Advisory Council's Subcommittee of Water Conservation
  • Member, Palm Beach County Comprehensive Plan Citizen Advisory Committee on Infrastructure
  • Member, South Florida East Coast Corridor Coalition
  • Member, Leadership Palm Beach County
  • Past Director, Special District Association
  • Past Vice-Chair, Florida Bar Agricultural Law Committee
  • Member, Florida Bar Environmental and Land Use Section