Burr & Forman is growing.
The Birmingham, Alabama-based law firm opened an office in Jacksonville three years ago with three partners and since has grown to nine partners, seven associate attorneys and a staff attorney.
This month the firm acquired, effective in January, the McNair law firm with its 84 attorneys in seven offices in North Carolina and South Carolina.
That will expand Burr & Forman to 19 offices in eight states in the Southeast and more than 350 legal professionals who specialize in transactions, litigation and regulatory issues across a range of businesses and industries.
Practice areas include banking, economic development, public finance, labor and employment, manufacturing, transportation, intellectual property, real estate, food and beverage, hospitality and health care.
“We pretty much cover the waterfront on the civil side – predominantly litigation – but we have a vibrant transactional practice as well,” said Jacksonville managing partner Greg Lunny.
The acquisition of McNair is part of Burr & Forman’s business plan.
“The way the firm has grown is to acquire talent in place,” Lunny said.
Jacksonville was the firm’s fourth office in Florida after Tampa, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.
“Burr & Forman made a commitment to Florida and Jacksonville was always part of the strategy. The firm has no particular size target for Jacksonville. It’s not our objective to be the largest law firm. We have grown based on the areas of law our clients need,” said Lunny.
Each office can draw on the expertise of practitioners in the other offices when needed for a client and the acquisition of McNair will strengthen that position, he said.
“A law firm is a business. If we need expertise, we can find someone in the firm in another office,” Lunny said.
He said when the firm was established in Jacksonville, the partners practiced mostly in banking and finance, then diversified with the addition of business transactions, real estate and construction and health care law.
The firm anticipates continued growth in its health care practice, considering the major providers in the market such as Baptist Health, St. Vincent’s, UF Health and Mayo Clinic.
“Jacksonville is a destination health care city. It’s a really positive factor in our community,” Lunny said.
With the local economic growth trends, manufacturing and logistics also will continue to be strong markets for Burr & Forman in Jacksonville.
“We have a diverse and robust economy,” said Lunny.
“We are bullish on Jacksonville and we are bullish on Burr & Forman in Jacksonville.”
