STEPHEN H. BUTTER established his Florida Divorce Law practice in 1965, perceiving the need for an accessible, responsive and skilled legal talent to serve the South Florida community primarily in family and marital law litigation. For more than forty years, he has dedicated himself to provide his clients with prompt, personal, and competent legal services.

STEPHEN H. BUTTER graduated from the University of Miami College of Business administration in 1962 and thereafter attended the University of Miami School of Law. He received his juris doctorate degree in 1965 and immediately opened his own law office in November 1965. He has practiced continuously for almost four decades.

STEPHEN H. BUTTER was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts and maintains personal residences in Rockport, Massachusetts and Aventura, Florida. Although his typical day begins at 7:00 a.m. and concludes around 7:00 p.m., he has found time to write three books.

His first book was entitled Legal Rights of Women in Florida, and was published in 1968. This work involved many of the legal rights of women, such as rights of inheritance, contract, property, annulment, and divorce.

During the military conflict in Vietnam in the late 1960's and early 1970's he became familiar with the selective service law, selective service regulations, and federal civil trial practice. He authored one of the first books in the United States on selective service law which he entitled Legal Rights to Draft Deferments. During those days he not only authored but also lectured at the University of Miami Law School and in several states on different radio and television programs. He represented hundreds of clients in selective service agency appeals. It was a most challenging legal experience for him which culminated in a one hour interview on the Phil Donahue show as well as a one hour Channel 7 special on selective service law.

In 1971, Florida passed the "No Fault Divorce" statute. STEPHEN H. BUTTER authored his third book which he entitled No Fault Divorce in Florida, which dealt primarily with dissolution of marriage proceedings. The book was written solely for the layman and was a general outline of dissolution of marriage procedures and laws, including several interesting precedent-setting decisions.

STEPHEN H. BUTTER is an active member of several professional and educational associations. He is a member in good standing of The Florida Bar Association, Dade County Bar Association, Broward County Bar Association, South Broward Bar Association, North Dade Bar Association, and Miami Beach Bar Association. In 1992, he was elected as a director of the North Dade Bar Association. He regularly attends continuing legal education institutes and seminars to maintain his accreditation as a specialist in family law matters.

Over the past few years, STEPHEN H. BUTTER has completed continuing legal education seminars presented solely to the legal community. Some of the seminars which he has completed include Valuation of Assets in Dissolution Proceedings; Equitable distribution: Attorney's Fees in Dissolution of Marriage Proceedings; Twelfth Annual Advanced Family Law Seminar; In The Best Interest Of The Child; Taxation and Dissolution; Trends in Alimony; Punitive Damages in Divorce; and, Modification and Enforcement Proceedings.

MR. BUTTER has no partners, no associates, no assistants, and no paralegals, as he has determined that his clients want him to do their work rather than an assistant. Therefore, MR. BUTTER has limited his practice to family law litigation and other forms of trial practice. In order to provide a high quality of services, he has limited his practice to accepting only approximately one hundred clients per year.

However, to give full service to his clients, he has maintained relationships with experts in other fields of law including but not limited to, real estate, business law, wills and probate matters, and negligence. If any of his clients need assistance in other fields of law, he has the ability to refer his clients to other counsel for consultation, but only to those lawyers who share his high degree of proficiency and professionalism.

STEPHEN H. BUTTER has been quoted by The Miami Herald on prenuptial agreements and interviewed by Channel 10's television columnist Sandy Payton regarding Florida Family Law. He was interviewed by several radio personalities such as WFTL's Marshall Moore show, WHYI's South Florida Community show hosted by Julie Ross, WMRS's Public Affairs show hosted by Naomi Wright; the Nathan Trigaboff and Steve Kane shows on WFTL; Inside South Florida show hosted by Audrey Lynn on Joy 107 radio; The Joanne Rice Public Affairs program on WLVE-FM, and the Rick Seiderman show, WFTL.

MR. BUTTER also appeared on WLRN's show, Staight Talk, hosted by Audrey Finkelstein; WQAM's Gold Coast show hosted by Paul Santiago; WTMI's Community Awareness show hosted by Alan Corbett; and, the Al Rantell show on WFTL. He also was a guest panelist on the WLRN-TV Channel 17 program, Speak Out. The one hour program was entitled "Hostility in Divorce...Can It Be Avoided?" He also appeared with guest host Milton A. Corey on WMRZ's show, All Things Financial, discussing insurance and matrimonial settlement agreements.

MR. BUTTER accepted the position as an adjunct professor of law and taught Family Law at the St. Thomas Aquinas University School of Law. He was published in November, 1991 by The Miami Review in their feature entitled "A Consumer's Guide to Legal Services". MR. BUTTER wrote the article entitled "Is a Lawyer Needed to End Marriage?"

In 1993 he received national publicity. The nationally distributed magazine Complete Woman did a feature article on "millionaire bachelors" throughout the United States. MR. BUTTER was interviewed for the publication and appeared in the October, 1993 issue. It was truly flattering to be featured in Complete Woman with other successful men in the United States. Also in the fall of 1993 he was interviewed and appeared as a guest panelist on the national television show Options and Issues, which is heard in more than thirty (30) million homes throughout the United States. The show concerned itself with grandparent visitation rights and appeared several times on both local and cable networks.

As reported in the Miami Herald, STEPHEN H. BUTTER has handled million dollar cases. He represented Mrs. Jon Secada in her divorce against the singing sensation Jon Secada. He also represented Mrs. Glen Rice in her dissolution of marriage proceeding against professional basketball star Glen Rice who was then being paid $2,600,000 annually by the Miami Heat professional basketball association. Mrs. Christiana Bauer of Steven Bauer fame was also represented by MR. BUTTER. Steven Bauer starred with Al Pacino in "Scar Face", had his own television program "Que Pasa USA", and has appeared in several full length movies. He also represented baseball star Javier Ortiz who was drafted by the Texas Rangers, and represented Rythym & Blues singer Caroline Elise LeGrande in her case with basketball star Chris Gatling.

Previously, STEPHEN H. BUTTER was a member of the Bench/Bar Committee of the Family Law section of the Florida Bar. Presently he is serving on the Mediation and Conciliation Committee of the Florida Bar. He is a published member of the Editorial Board of the Dade County Bar Association Bulletin, and served as a member of the Family Court Committee, Mediation committee, the Professionalism Committee of the Dade County Bar Association, and the Legal Ethics committee of the Broward County Bar Association.

MR. BUTTER primarily practices in Dade and Broward County, but will accept a case in Monroe and Palm Beach Counties. In MR. BUTTER's family law practice, he represents either the husband or the wife, and developed a technique and strategy for presenting all issues that develop in family law litigation.

Pursuant to the Code of Professional Responsibility and rules of ethics, each law firm shall have available in written form for delivery to any potential client a factual statement detailing the background, training, and experience of each lawyer in the firm. This information is provided pursuant to Code of Ethics Rule 4-7.3.