Gary A. Poliakoff

Gary A. Poliakoff was a pioneering Florida attorney best known as the co-founder and former Managing Shareholder of Becker & Poliakoff, P.A., a law firm he helped establish in 1973. He served as the firm's managing shareholder until 2008 and remained a founding principal until his passing in 2014. Poliakoff is widely recognized as a trailblazer in community association law, having helped conceive, draft, and pass the legislation governing condominium and homeowner associations in Florida.

Beyond his law firm leadership, Poliakoff served as the Town Attorney for the Town of Southwest Ranches for a decade and was an Adjunct Professor of Condominium Law & Practice at Nova Southeastern University's Shepard Broad Law Center, where he was named Adjunct Professor of the Year. He co-authored the book New Neighborhoods: A Consumer's Guide to Condo, Co-Op and HOA Living with his son Ryan and frequently lectured on housing law.

Poliakoff's influence extended internationally, as he advised post-communist countries on housing transition, and he provided testimony before the U.S. Senate on shared-ownership housing issues. In a 2004 article, he also addressed legal issues in the computer-game and gambling industries. The University of Miami School of Law named the Alan S. Becker and Gary A. Poliakoff Preeminent Leaders in Law Speaker Series in his honor. He passed away on August 8, 2014.