Mahon & Farley is a downtown law firm with deep roots in the Jacksonville community.
Harry Mahon and Joseph Farley Jr. are the partners.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN AT 350 E. ADAMS ST.?
“We’ve been at this site since 1972 or 1973,” said Harry Mahon. “My daddy started in the Graham building, which later became the Florida Title building at the corner of Laura and Forsyth. Dad and Steve [Stratford] were in the BayMar building at the corner of Bay and Market, which was later torn down and the Blackstone building was erected on that site. Then we built a building over on Washington Street. The City took that for the police station and the jail. That’s when we bought this lot.”
A PAGE OUT OF HISTORY
The firm was formed in 1918 by Mahon’s father, the late Lacy Mahon Sr., and his two partners, brothers Moe and Louis Safer. Steve Stratford, former City attorney for Jacksonville Beach, later partnered with Mahon’s father. Mahon joined the firm in 1959. By 1970, Stratford had moved on and Farley, Mahon’s nephew, joined the office. Lacy Mahon Sr. died in 1968 after 50 years in the profession. Farley practiced with Mahon and Lacy Mahon Jr. until 1984 when Lacy Mahon Jr. left the firm to establish a practice in the Blackstone building with his son Mark Mahon, who was an assistant state attorney at the time and is now a state representative. From 1973-78, the firm was known as Mahon, Farley & Vickers, after Ken Vickers joined the firm. Vickers left and was subsequently replaced by Gregg McCaulie (now a Circuit Court judge) in 1988. The firm has been simply Mahon & Farley since McCaulie left in 1994. “It’s been Mahon and somebody else since 1918,” said Mahon.
A FAMILY AFFAIR
Farley’s mother worked as the office manager from 1955-1986. Currently, Farley’s wife and Mahon’s wife share the office manager duties.
WHAT IS their SPECIALTY?
“In the old days they had general practitioners,” recalled Mahon. “Lately, things have gotten more and more specialized. Over the years we’ve done a wide range of practice.”
“Primarily, we do family law,” said Farley.
“We’re both masters in the Family Law Inn of Court,” added Mahon.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A MASTER?
“It means you’re supposed to be pretty good,” laughed Mahon. “It really means that you are expected to help and impart to the barristers and the associates [lower level members of the Inn of Court] the professionalism, law and ethics of family law.”
WHY SPECIALIZE IN
FAMILY LAW?
“It’s an area of the law where you represent mostly just people,” said Mahon. “I feel like we’re performing a service to the general public as opposed to banks or big corporations.”
TALK ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUNDS
“The only place I’ve practiced is here, other than nine months in the Public Defender’s Office when I got out of law school [Florida State University],” said Farley.
“I’ve practiced with my dad, my nephew and my brother ever since I got out of law school [University of Florida] in 1959,” said Mahon. “Before that I was an Air Force pilot flying F80s and F86s in Korea during the prisoner exchange.”
DO THEY CLASH OVER COLLEGE FOOTBALL?
“We don’t have too much of a Gator-Seminole rivalry,” said Farley.
HOW HAS THE NATURE OF THE BUSINESS CHANGED?
“Family law over the last 8-10 years has become an increasingly popular area of law,” said Mahon. “It used to be the big law firms never handled domestic matters. Now, large firms have developed whole family law departments.”
WILL THEY ADD
ANOTHER PARTNER?
“I’m getting so old that before too long, Joe will probably need someone else to come in,” said Mahon.
“We’ve had three and we’ve had four, so we’ve always stayed relatively small,” said Farley. “I don’t know how the big firms operate. Some people bring in business, some people do the business, some do the research for those that do the work, some go to court and some don’t. I don’t know how you keep it straight.”
WHAT’S MOST CHALLENGING?
“Staying current with the law is probably as challenging as anything,” replied Mahon. “The law has changed 180 degrees since I first started practicing. You used to have to prove grounds for divorce. Now you don’t have to prove grounds. In the old days there was no such thing as equitable distribution. If the husband managed to keep the property in his sole name, the wife had a real tough time owning any part of it upon dissolution.”
“Back in the good old boy days, the husband and wife went in with a financial affidavit to determine how much will be paid for child support,” said Farley. “Well, the judge would look at all the husband’s bills and would say, “Gee, lady, he doesn’t have any money left to pay child support.’ Now, they look at the amount of money you earn. They look on a chart and that’s how much support gets paid. You go figure out the bills all by yourself because the children come first. A lot of changes have been for the better but you get such a multiplicity of laws that it’s impossible now to be a general practitioner in all the areas of the law.”
— by Monica Chamness