---
title: South Florida Business Lawyer Matthew Fornaro Teaches Entrepreneurs Before They Ever Need a Courtroom
description: Coral Springs attorney Matthew Fornaro pairs 23 years of business law with entrepreneur education via the Kauffman FastTrac program.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-03-20T15:35:07.730Z
updated: 2026-03-20T15:35:37.100Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/matthew-fornaro-business-lawyer-south-florida-entrepreneurs
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/matthew-fornaro-1.webp
categories: Startups, Legal, Business Savvy
content_type: Profile
region: Florida
publication: Sovereign Magazine
about:
  - type: Person
    name: Matthew Fornaro, P.A.
    description: Matthew Fornaro is a business law attorney and founder of Matthew Fornaro, P.A. in Coral Springs, Florida. With over 23 years of experience, he is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell, a Florida Supreme Court Certified County Mediator, and an instructor for the Kauffman Foundation FastTrac NewVenture Program. He is a graduate of the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship at Florida State University and the University of Florida Levin College of Law.
    jobTitle: Founder
    worksFor: Fornaro Legal
    sameAs:
      - https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewfornaro/
---

Most lawyers meet their clients after something has already gone wrong. A contract falls apart, a partner dispute boils over, a vendor refuses to pay. By that point, the legal meter is running and the damage is done.

Matthew Fornaro has spent over two decades trying to reverse that sequence.

As the founder of Matthew Fornaro, P.A. in Coral Springs, Florida, Fornaro runs a business law practice that serves small businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs across Broward, Palm Beach, and Miami-Dade counties. His firm handles the kind of work you would expect from a business formation lawyer with 23 years of experience: contract drafting, commercial litigation, intellectual property disputes, entity structuring. He is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell, admitted to 16 federal and state courts including the Supreme Court of the United States, and has been recognized repeatedly as a top-rated attorney in South Florida.

But what sets Fornaro apart from most business attorneys is where he spends a significant portion of his time: teaching.

## From Big Law to the Classroom

Fornaro started his career at two AmLaw 200 firms, Shutts & Bowen and Greenspoon Marder, where he focused on civil litigation. The work was rigorous. The clients were large. And the problems, by the time they reached his desk, were expensive.

When he left to start his own practice in 2003, he made a deliberate choice to work with the businesses that those larger firms rarely prioritized. First-time founders. Family-run operations. Entrepreneurs who were [building something from scratch](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/7-questions-to-ask-yourself-when-starting-a-business) and needed legal guidance before they had the budget for a corporate legal department.

Within a few years, a pattern became obvious. The same mistakes kept walking through his door. Clients who had [formed entities incorrectly](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/7-ways-you-can-avoid-legal-ramifications-when-running-your-business). Founders who had signed contracts without understanding indemnification clauses. Business partners who had skipped operating agreements entirely because nobody had ever explained why they needed one.

Fornaro decided he would rather fix the problem upstream.

He became a graduate and then an instructor of the Kauffman Foundation's FastTrac NewVenture Program, delivered through the Broward County Office of Economic and Small Business Development. The program walks aspiring entrepreneurs through the full lifecycle of [launching a business](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/the-biggest-mistakes-that-new-business-owners-make), from concept validation to scaling. Fornaro's role is the legal piece: helping founders understand what structures protect them, what agreements they need before they hire their first employee, and where the common traps sit.

"The entrepreneurs I work with in that program are not coming in with legal emergencies," Fornaro has said. "They are coming in with ideas. And the best time to get the legal foundation right is before a single dollar changes hands."

## The Jim Moran Institute and the Business Model Canvas

In 2020, Fornaro took a step that most practicing attorneys would not consider. He applied to the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship Small Business Executive Program at Florida State University's College of Business. The program accepts just 25 participants and runs for five months. It is not a legal continuing education course. It is an intensive business strategy program built around the Business Model Canvas, a framework that maps how a company creates, delivers, and captures value.

Fornaro completed the program and brought its methodology directly into his legal practice. When a client now comes to him with a new venture, he does not start with the paperwork. He starts with the business model. What are the revenue streams? Who are the customer segments? What partnerships does the model depend on?

Only after that conversation does the legal work begin. And because the business strategy is clear, the contracts, operating agreements, and risk allocation documents that follow are more precise, more aligned with how the business actually works, and less likely to create problems down the line.

Most lawyers for small business owners never see the business model. They see the paperwork. Fornaro flipped that order deliberately. He wants to know how the money moves before he drafts the document that governs it.

## A Practice Built on Prevention

That preventive philosophy runs through every part of the firm's work. Fornaro is a Florida Supreme Court Certified County Mediator and a qualified arbitrator, credentials that most small business attorneys do not carry. He uses those skills not just to resolve disputes when they arise, but to structure agreements that anticipate where disputes are likely to develop.

His practice areas reflect that breadth. Beyond business formation and contract work, the firm handles commercial and residential real estate disputes, antitrust and unfair competition claims, trade secret protection, employment litigation, homeowner and condominium association representation, and consumer finance matters. Fornaro also serves as local counsel for out-of-state attorneys who need representation in South Florida courts.

Debra Rochlin, a practicing family law attorney and real estate professional who has worked with Fornaro, put it plainly in [an interview with Grit Daily](https://gritdaily.com/matthew-fornaro-south-florida-strategic-legal-guidance/): "Communication was clear and they were flexible with my schedule, and they always responded promptly. Their business law expertise made everything feel smooth and stress free."

## The Entrepreneurial Lawyer

There is a practical reason Fornaro understands his clients so well: he is one of them. Running a solo law practice for over two decades means he has dealt with every operational challenge his clients face. Cash flow management, hiring decisions, client acquisition, technology adoption. He has navigated all of it firsthand.

That shared experience creates a different kind of attorney-client relationship. When a business contract attorney has actually managed payroll, negotiated a lease, and made the decision to walk away from a bad deal, the advice they give carries a different weight. It is grounded in something more tangible than legal theory.

Fornaro graduated cum laude from Florida Atlantic University before earning his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law. He is admitted to the Florida Bar, the District of Columbia Bar, and a list of federal courts that spans from the Southern District of Florida to the Court of International Trade. His professional recognitions include the Florida Super Lawyers Rising Stars designation, the North American News Legal Elite Award, and the CV Magazine Corporate Excellence Award.

None of that is what gets mentioned first in Broward County's small business circles, though. What people talk about is that he picks up the phone, explains what the clause actually means in plain language, and would rather spend an hour in a classroom heading off a mistake than bill 40 hours litigating the fallout.

## FAQ

**Q: Should you get a lawyer when starting a business?**
Yes. A business formation lawyer can help you choose the right entity structure, draft operating agreements, and establish contracts that protect your interests from day one. Many legal problems that small businesses encounter later, from partner disputes to liability exposure, stem from decisions made (or skipped) during the formation stage.

**Q: What kind of attorney do I need to start a business?**
A business formation lawyer or business attorney who handles transactional work is the best fit for most startups. Look for someone experienced in entity structuring (LLCs, corporations, partnerships), contract drafting, and intellectual property basics. If your attorney also understands commercial litigation, they can draft agreements with an eye toward preventing future disputes.

**Q: Can you start an LLC without a lawyer?**
Technically, yes. Most states allow you to file LLC formation documents yourself. But filing the paperwork is only one part of the process. An operating agreement, which governs how the business runs internally, is where most DIY formations fall short. Without proper legal guidance, founders often leave out provisions for decision-making authority, profit distribution, or exit procedures, gaps that become expensive to fix later.

**Q: Why would someone need a business lawyer?**
A business lawyer handles contract review and drafting, dispute resolution, regulatory compliance, employment matters, intellectual property protection, and entity management. Beyond reactive legal work, many business attorneys now take a preventive approach, helping owners structure their operations and agreements to reduce the likelihood of litigation.

**About Matthew Fornaro, P.A.**
Founder, Fornaro Legal

Matthew Fornaro is a business law attorney and founder of Matthew Fornaro, P.A. in Coral Springs, Florida. With over 23 years of experience, he is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell, a Florida Supreme Court Certified County Mediator, and an instructor for the Kauffman Foundation FastTrac NewVenture Program. He is a graduate of the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship at Florida State University and the University of Florida Levin College of Law.