Wood, Atter & Associates is a law firm on Monroe Street that specializes in nursing home abuse, personal injury, medical malpractice, family law, criminal law and eminent domain/condemnation.
HOW LARGE IS THE STAFF?
There are two partners, Clarence Wood and Michael Atter, plus two associates, David Wolf and Randall Erler and one of-counsel, Robert Cowles. They have four paralegals/secretaries, a receptionist, one registered nurse who serves as a consultant, a bookkeeper and an office manager. “We have no immediate plans to grow more,” said Atter. “We would like to stay small to mid-size so we can serve our clients. We prefer fighting large companies instead of being one.”
WHY PRACTICE IN
THESE AREAS?
“I focus primarily on product liability and medical malpractice because that’s what I’ve done for 25 years and I like doing it,” said Cowles. “My first 18 years was on the defense side. It’s interesting and complex work.”
“In terms of why we do this kind of work, Clarence has a keen interest in medicine,” said Atter. “With his knowledge of medicine, it was a natural fit for him to go mainly into injury-related areas. Clarence had the first six figure verdict in Duval County. From my own perspective, it’s an opportunity to make a tangible difference in people’s lives.”
“These are people [the elderly in nursing homes] who can’t really do anything for themselves,” said Wolf. “They’re helpless like children. If a child dies in day care, everyone is up in arms, but if an elderly person is injured or abused, it is ignored or dismissed as part of the aging process.”
HISTORY LESSON
Initially, the firm was Norton & Wood. The partnership dissolved in 1973 after 15 years and Clarence Wood (University of Florida class of 1957) went solo until 1978. At that point, Wood added two attorneys, the late G. Frank Godfrey and Lee Carlin (now at the General Counsel’s Office). Atter was added in 1981. Subsequently, the firm became Wood, Atter & Coleman until 1995. Cowles joined the firm in 2002; Wolf in 1998.
WHAT ABOUT THE
OTHER PARTNER?
Atter, a graduate from Florida State University, worked at the State Attorney’s Office from 1979-1981. After advancing through the ranks, he achieved the title of circuit court division chief his last year there. He has been at Wood, Atter & Associates ever since.
WHAT ABOUT BOB?
Cowles began his legal career in Atlanta. He returned here to his hometown to take a position with Howell, Kirby, Montgomery, D’Aiuto, Dean & Hallowes.
“After 50 years, the firm split when the senior partner went out on disability,” said Cowles. “At that point, I started Cowles, Coker & Myers. I left in 1984 to form Cowles, Hayden, Facciolo & Barfield.”
In 1987, he was appointed as a circuit judge by former governor Bob Martinez. Three years later, Cowles returned to private practice so he could afford to send his children to college. His next employer, Commander, Legler, et al., merged into the national law firm of Foley & Lardner.
“I didn’t want to be part of a large firm because everything had to be done out of Milwaukee and I prefer to have hands-on responsibility,” he said.
From 1993-2000, he was part of Cowles & Shaughnessy. He practiced independently until he joined Wood, Atter.
SHORT AND SWEET
Erler, a Chicago native, graduated from DePaul University in 1982. He operated his own practice in Oak Brook, Ill. until 1999 when he joined the firm. For 12 years, he was outside counsel for the Illinois Attorney General’s Office in the area of condemnation and eminent domain.
EXPOSITION ON WOLF
David Wolf spent two years as a contract attorney for what was the Department of Health & Rehabilitative Services where he handled child support cases in six counties. Later, Wolf took on nursing home, medical malpractice and personal injury cases in Miami for five years.
“During that time, I was a consultant for training with the University of Miami School of Medicine in their department on aging and disability,” recalled Wolf. “I did lectures and seminars at the university to law enforcement agencies to train them on how patients are cared for in long-term institutions and the signs of elder abuse.”
WHAT IS THE LONG-TERM GOAL OF THE FIRM?
“To continue to represent our clients and that the court system and the tort system will be allowed to continue,” said Cowles. “The system is attacked every year in the legislature. Since 1972, when they first came out with no-fault insurance, it’s been a continuing battle against them trying to take away the rights of the people.”
WHERE DO THEY SEE THE LAW HEADED?
“There’s going to be some chipping away at our tort system as we know it,” predicted Atter. “Like any type of gradual erosion, people’s ability to be compensated in the court system will go away and they’ll wonder what happened to it. Caps, to me, are fundamentally unfair.”
— by Monica Chamness