Brothers Adrian and Jeffrey Soud run The Soud Law Firm in the Blackstone Building. They are the children of Circuit Court Judge A.C. Soud Jr. and City Council member/mayoral candidate Ginger Soud.
DO EITHER OF YOU PLAN TO FOLLOW YOUR MOTHER’S LEAD?
“I don’t have any aspirations to run for office,” said Jeff. “I have a lot of clients I represent and their interests are more important to me than someone’s pothole.”
“I’ve only been practicing for three years so it’s tough for me to say,” said Adrian. “I’m just learning how to be the best lawyer I can. One day maybe.”
WHAT TYPE OF
LAW DO YOU PRACTICE?
“We represent people that get hurt,” said Jeff. “The focus of our firm is 95 percent personal injury. We’re convenient to the courthouse here. We like the lawsuits and the trial work although many cases tend to get resolved before then.”
WHAT’S YOUR
WORK BACKGROUND?
“I’ve been practicing for over 10 years,” said Jeff. “Out of school I went to a small firm that did plaintiff work and then another that did plaintiff work so I kind of grew in it.” Adrian joined the firm from Holland & Knight four months ago.
EDUCATION
Both Soud brothers graduated from Stetson University, just like their dad, and they are both Jacksonville natives.
DID YOUR FATHER INFLUENCE YOU
TO GO INTO LAW?
“Dad tried to talk me out of it,” recalled Adrian. “He wanted to make sure of what I wanted to do — that sort of talk.”
“I don’t remember being talked into or out of it,” said Jeff. “I just knew I was going to be a lawyer. I think I would have done it regardless of his profession. All the members in the community that I looked up to were lawyers. I got a sense of what they did and it was appealing.”
WHY SPECIALIZE
IN THIS FIELD?
“The clients generally appreciate the work you do for them,” said Jeff. “They’re hurting a lot of the time so anything you can do for them, they appreciate. When you compare that to what some of my other attorney friends say, sometimes their clients don’t necessarily appreciate them. If you can help somebody, whether it’s to get their wage loss paid by the insurance company or help them with some of their basic needs, you feel like you did something at the end of the day. Trials are even better because then you become an advocate for that person. You’re their voice.”
“You do stuff for them and the clients genuinely appreciate it because they don’t know what else to do sometimes,” added Adrian.
HOW MANY
DO YOU HAVE ON STAFF?
Two secretaries, a paralegal and a receptionist.
WHAT’S MOST CHALLENGING FOR YOU?
“At Holland & Knight, I did a lot of defense work for the plaintiff,” said Adrian. “So, at this point, one of the more challenging things is making sure I think outside of the box on each and every case as far as coming up with creative ways to make your case for your client — making sure every ‘I’ is dotted and every ‘T’ is crossed — to make sure every case is given every angle needed for success.”
“What’s most challenging is, for example, when you’re preparing for trial, is whether or not you’ve accomplished all you’ve set out to do,” said Jeff. “Then most challenging, as a small boutique firm like we are, is the marketing. Because we grew up here and have a lot of friends in the community, if a recommendation is given to someone we don’t know, they say they’ve heard the name before. I guess it doesn’t hurt [that his father is a judge] but it’s not a great source of cases.”
HOW LONG HAVE
YOU BEEN IN BUSINESS?
Jeff opened the office in January 1998 as a sole practitioner.
“I left Holland & Knight to join Jeff,” said Adrian. “They’re great people, but under no circumstance could I turn down being a partner here. That difference between clients appreciating you is true. It’s different when you work for a Fortune 500 company. Their work is important; I’m not minimizing what they do. But when you’re representing a plaintiff who has been hurt and literally has no other options available, there’s something just inherently fulfilling about that. Plus, it’s fun.”
WHY IS IT FUN TO YOU?
“You can be creative sometimes,” said Adrian. “There’s strategy involved in how you approach cases and the strategy of a case is intriguing. You take a case from its inception. You meet the client right after the accident or injury. You nurture the case along. I sit down with Jeff and we put our heads together. The trial process, for me, is the ultimate fun. When what’s in their best interest is for the client to go to trial, that’s when this job ceases being a job.”
HAVE YOU EVER WORKED
IN ANOTHER FIELD?
“I was a reporter at the Florida Times-Union for a brief stint when I was taking a break from college,” said Adrian.
WHAT IS YOUR
LONG-TERM GOAL?
“I’d like to see us expand — add attorneys and partners,” said Jeff. “And offer the same services we currently offer as well as other services to help us become a little more well-rounded.”
DO YOU THINK
YOU’LL RELOCATE?
“We’re to capacity right now but if we wanted to expand, we could,” said Jeff. “With the new county courthouse being built I don’t know what there will be for offices nearby.”
WHAT SORT OF
HOBBIES DO YOU HAVE?
“I’ve got a Jeep Wrangler that I treat as a Tonka toy,” said Jeff. “If your readers see a big yellow Jeep riding around town that says ‘Vote for my momma,’ you’ll know that’s me.”
WILL MOM REMAIN IN THE MAYORAL ELECTION?
“You’ve heard it from the horse’s mouth that she will not get out of that race,” said Adrian. “She is in that race to stay.”
— by Monica Chamness