Tamara “Tammy” Malvin is a partner at Akerman LLP with a focus on gaming and hospitality. Leveraging her base in South Florida, Malvin has expanded Akerman’s gaming practice over the last several years, focusing on casino and parimutuel clients in the United States and internationally. As an emerging leader, Malvin continues to build an extensive network of peers and industry contacts involving her in a myriad of professional associations and causes.
Malvin joined Akerman after receiving her law degree at the University of Miami School of Law following her undergraduate degree from Tufts University. Over the past decade, Malvin has worked extensively in federal, state and appellate courts in a variety of litigation matters, ranging from fiduciary duty claims to contract disputes to premises liability defense.
In addition to her courtroom advocacy, her clients turn to her for regulatory analysis and risk management advice. Malvin routinely defends foreign clients in the hospitality and gaming spaces facing lawsuits in the United States, and helps them to establish best practices. As gaming and hospitality become more dependent on technology-driven developments, Malvin has kept pace, expanding her credentials in cybersecurity and emerging technologies.
Malvin’s interest in gaming, and the parimutuel industry in particular, is no accident. Her father, Scott Savin, has been involved in Florida’s parimutuel slot industry since its inception, and has held senior positions at multiple Florida parimutuel facilities and racinos. While crediting her father as the quintessential mentor and Akerman for providing a supportive landscape, Malvin has forged her own unique path in gaming law.
Malvin considers the evolving nature of gaming law the most fascinating and rewarding part of her work. Assisting her clients in interpreting and influencing the literal “letter of the law” in gaming occupies much of her professional time. Malvin points to trends such as the convergence of online gaming and sports betting, and the regulatory challenges they present, as inflection points that will shape the industry for generations to come. The potential interactivity between federal and state law in this area will change the nature of gaming law, and Malvin is front and center in the discussion.
During her tenure at Akerman, Malvin has received notable honors including her distinction as a “Rising Star” in business litigation in Super Lawyers magazine in multiple years, and “Up & Comer” in Florida Trend’s “Legal Elite.”
Malvin chaired and presented the ABA Business Law Section program titled “Sports Gambling in America: Showdown at the United States Supreme Court” and its follow-up webinar “Sports Gambling in the U.S. in a Post-PASPA World.”
Additionally, she is a member of Global Gaming Women, contributed the Florida section of the Lex Mundi Global Gaming Law Guide, and co-authored an article published by Law360 on litigation avoidance tips for international hotel operators. Malvin is currently working on co-authoring a gaming law book for business attorneys and is slated to speak at several conferences in 2019.
Whether through her client representations, topical speaking engagements and publications, or ability to cultivate true and meaningful relationships, Malvin is leading by example. Her dedication to her clients, unique perspective and innovative thinking as an attorney, and commitment to progress in both law and gaming make her a true Emerging Leader of Gaming.
