Foley & Lardner has been in business for 160 years and has been in Jacksonville for 21 years. Originally started in Milwaukee, the firm now has 16 offices in the United States and over 950 lawyers worldwide. The Jacksonville office, located in the Greenleaf Building, was the first to open in Florida and is now the largest with 48 lawyers. Foley & Lardner also has offices in Orlando, Tallahassee, West Palm Beach and Tampa. Daily Record staff writer Michele Newbern Gillis met recently with Managing Partner Chuck Hedrick, John Caven Jr., who heads the litigation group, and Charles Commander III, leader of the business law group to discuss the firm.
WHY DID THEY OPEN AN OFFICE IN JACKSONVILLE?
“Foley & Lardner couldn’t convince Tom Slade [a lawyer in Jacksonville] to move to Milwaukee, so they decided to open an office in Jacksonville,” said Hedrick.
WHAT DOES THE MANAGING PARTNER DO?
“It’s a combination of running this office in terms of the day to day operations, budgeting, personnel issues, hearing complaints and suggesting resolutions. It’s more of the operational as opposed to the legal side of it,” said Hedrick.
WHAT DOES THE FIRM DO?
“It’s a general all-purpose commercial practice. We represent corporations and companies,” said Hedrick. “We don’t do anything involving domestic relations, divorce or criminal [except white collar crimes]. So primarily we represent individuals and business entities in connection with commercial business transactions.” To maximize their service, they have organized the firm into six departments: business law, health law, intellectual property, litigation, regulatory and tax and individual planning. “Each department is like an umbrella because most of them have sub-groupings,” said Caven. “So that each attorney can practice in an even narrower area.”
BIG CASE?
“We are currently defending one of the law firms that was involved with Enron,” said Commander. “The law firm was an advisor to some of the Enron decision-making and now they are being sued. Law firms get sued all time in business transactions, so they have to hire someone to defend them. We took it as a compliment that they hired us. For one law firm to hire another law firm to defend them shows that they have confidence that we will do a good job and get the best outcome possible.”
WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR CLIENTS?
Regency Center, Auchter Company, Elkins Constructors, Perry McCall Construction and The Haskell Company. “Those are the companies that are in the news now because they are working on the Better Jacksonville Plan,” said Caven. Foley & Lardner also represents the ownership of the Jacksonville Jaguars, as opposed to the individual players.
WHAT DO YOU OFFER YOUR CLIENTS?
“Good legal advice and business counseling,” said Hedrick. Caven said they enjoy working for the large and small companies. “Our firm represents some awesome clients around the country, but we all have the thrill of representing the start-ups and seeing them grow and nurture. We will fill any business legal need you can think of.”
WHERE IS THE COMPANY’S HEADQUARTERS?
There really isn’t one. “The firm’s management is beginning to disperse among the various offices,” said Hedrick. According to Commander, this is reflective of the firm’s spread across the country, so there is no one headquarters, each office is its own headquarters.
WILL THE NAME EVER CHANGE?
No. Even though there are 24 partners of the firm, the name will never change. “About 30 or 40 years ago the firm institutionalized as Foley & Lardner, so the name won’t change,” said Hedrick.
do intend TO GROW?
“If the right opportunities present themselves,” said Hedrick. Currently the firm has 48 lawyers, but is steadily growing. “We will do whatever our clients dictate,” said Commander. “We are here to serve our clients.” They also grow sometimes by merging with other firms. “We merge strictly for strategic reasons either because of geographic or practice area, not just for the sake of growing,” said Commander.
HIRING NEW LAWYERS
“We try to grow internally by hiring lawyers right out of law school,” said Commander. “That way we can train them. New hires usually start in the fall after they have graduated law school and passed the bar exam. The bar exam is only given twice a year, in February and July, so they don’t get their results until September, so most firms hire then.”
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
The firm built a HabiJax home each of the last two years. Also, they encourage their lawyers to take time to give back to the community and even give them the time to do it. “Our firm encourages civic or charitable activity to be selected by the individual,” said Hedrick. “We ask that the individual set aside certain hours, so it is less demanding than other firms. We think we are healthier when all of us are integrating into our community. We have a number of lawyers that are involved on the boards of various organizations.”