Started in 1978 by senior shareholder Michael Fisher, the firm is the largest tax and estate planning specialty law firm in North Florida. It has 14 lawyers, nine of which are shareholders. Daily Record staff writer Michele Newbern Gillis met recently with Fisher and managing shareholder Beverly Furtick to discuss the firm.
WHAT DOES THE FIRM DO?
It provides comprehensive tax and estate planning. Specialities include federal income taxation, federal estate and gift taxation, estate planning, probate, pension and profit sharing law, ERISA planning and compliance, corporations and tax litigation.
WHAT DOES THAT ENTAIL?
“We do primarily estate planning which includes wills, trusts, probate of an estate, guardianship for minor children or adults who are incapacitated through illness or accident,” said Furtick. Many of their attorneys have become certified in either taxation or in wills/trusts/estates by The Florida Bar Board of Legal Specialization.
WHERE’S THE OFFICE?
The office, initially opened as Fisher and Sheehan, has been in Independent Square since 1978. “We were one of the earliest tenants,” said Furtick. “It had space available and it was the premier building downtown.” As the firm expanded, the name was changed until it became Fisher, Tousey, Leas & Ball in 1989. Even though they have nine partners, the name will stay the same — for now. “We try to keep it where it is a manageable name,” said Fisher. “In fact, many people now just call the firm Fisher Tousey.” The firm opened a second office in Ponte Vedra Beach in 1989 to meet the increasing demand for estate planning in that area. “People who live in Ponte Vedra don’t want to drive all the way downtown,” said Furtick.
WHAT WAS THE NEED FOR
YOUR TYPE OF FIRM IN JACKSONVILLE?
Fisher was a certified public accountant prior to opening the firm, so he recognized that there was a need for tax attorneys in Jacksonville.
“We are primarily a tax firm. Just one part of it is estate planning. For example, we deal with people who are interested in getting the most out of selling a business and people who are interested in retirement planning where they have IRAs and other types of investments.”
WHO WORKS AT THE FIRM?
John Ball, Robert Dawkins, Michael Fisher, Beverly Furtick, John Lawlor, Michael Leas, Robert Miller, Mary Robinson and Clay Tousey are shareholders. Julie Exum Breuer, Michael Ivan, J. Brooke Matheson, J. Jacob Peek and Krista Waldron are associates. The firm has eight paralegals and eight secretaries.
WHO ARE YOUR CLIENTS?
Individuals, closely-held businesses and a few publicly traded companies. They also do work for The Community Foundation and the Jesse Ball DuPont Foundation.
WHAT DO YOU OFFER YOUR CLIENTS?
“We integrate ownership, estate planning and corporate work,” said Fisher. “You’ld come to us if you owned a corporation and wanted to know how all the tax planning should work, including whether you should have a particular retirement plan or just an agreement among partners or when you expand, should they buy property or lease it, or if you should form another corporation instead of having a single corporation on all the property and how you should deal with your employees on employee benefits. That’s why you would come to us. We can look at all aspects from a tax and business standpoint as well as represent the business owner in his estate tax planning.”
WHAT MAKES
YOUR FIRM UNIQUE?
“The fact that we are as big as we are, but we stay within our variety of subspecialties within tax and estate planning. We try to stay within our focus and get every lawyer to understand a specific area of the tax, estate or probate law.”
COOPERATION
“We do a lot of work with other attorneys,” said Furtick. “For example, if there is a case where someone has been in an accident that resulted in their death and there needs to be some kind of lawsuit to facilitate a wrongful death case, we will work with a personal injury attorney to handle the probate portion of the wrongful death case.”
ARE YOU PLANNING ON GROWING THE FIRM?
“Moderately,” said Fisher. They hire lawyers out of law school and through lateral moves.
PROFESSIONAL INVOLVEMENT
Fisher is the chair of the Probate and Trust Section of The Jacksonville Bar Association. Other individual attorney involvements include the Northeast Florida Estate Planning Council and American College of Trust and Estate Council.
CIVIC INVOLVEMENT
“We encourage people to do whatever they want to do,” said Fisher. “For example, I am on the board for the Children’s Home Society. Others are involved in the Catholic Charities. Everyone has their own involvement where they are involved in particular things.”
WEBSITE
www.fishertousey.com
—by Michele Newbern Gillis