Smith, Gambrell & Russell, an Atlanta-based law firm merged with Baumer, Bradford & Walters in October 2000, creating a local office. Baumer, Bradford & Walters had been in Jacksonville for 20 years. Daily Record staff writer Michele Newbern Gillis met recently with Dana Bradford, the head of the Litigation Section, who has been with Baumer, Bradford & Walters since its inception, and Managing Partner Bill Rogers Jr. to discuss the firm.
WHAT DOES THE FIRM DO?
It is a general practice firm which focuses on three basic areas: real estate, corporate law and litigation. “Our litigation section handles all types of civil litigation including commercial litigation ranging from large complex transactional matters, class action, anti-trust, securities and real property,” said Bradford. “We handle just about everything in the commercial area. We represent a lot of institutional clients, including insurance companies and banks as well as local businesses and individuals. We also handle professional liability defense work.”
On the transactional side, the firm handles general real property and corporate, which means multi-family apartment deals, construction loans, lending work, basic purchase and sale agreements, shareholder agreements, sales of businesses and land use and zoning issues.
WHY DID THEY CHOOSE TO MERGE WITH A FIRM IN JACKSONVILLE?
“The firm was a top notch firm,” said Rogers, who came from Atlanta to be the managing partner. “We have clients in Florida and we always had to get local counsel for them. We thought it was appropriate to be in Florida and the question was, ‘Where should we go?’ We felt Jacksonville was a good opportunity because Tampa and Orlando — the other cities we looked at — were saturated with lawyers and a lot of the development had already taken place. Jacksonville had much more potential going forward with us getting in on the ground floor of that development. From a development and corporate standpoint, there are a lot of opportunities of people moving here with corporate relocations. We think it is a great city to be in. This is a city that is on the way up.”
WHO WORKS THERE?
There are 15 lawyers, nine of whom are partners. There are also 15 secretaries, three paralegals and an office manager. The partners are Babette Ashley, Chip Bachara, Dana Bradford, Steve Brust, Rebecca Creed, James McCachren, Bill Rogers, David Talbert and Mike Walters.
OTHER OFFICES?
The firm has been around since 1893. Its headquarters is located in Atlanta and there’s another office in Washington, D.C. Between the three offices, including Jacksonville, there are 175 attorneys and 200 support personnel.
WHAT DOES THE MANAGING PARTNER DO?
“I try to coordinate the administrative matters between Atlanta and here,” said Rogers. “I am responsible for trying to grow the office and get lateral hires in the Jacksonville area. I mainly handle the administrative duties in this office, which might include billing and collection matters, public relations and marketing.”
WHERE DOES THE FIRM PRACTICE?
Most of their clients are in Jacksonville, but some institutional clients have a national presence.
ARE THEY TRYING TO GROW THE FIRM?
“Yes, we are very much in a growth mode to expand our practice here,” said Rogers. “We have a bigger litigation department here than any other practice and we’d like to expand that if we could. We’d also like to expand the corporate and real estate areas or any other areas that make sense in this area. We are looking to grow smartly.”
WHAT TYPE OF LAWYERS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
“We are looking for lateral partners who already have business, are entrenched in the Jacksonville area and know people here,” said Rogers. They also hire right out of law school. “We have a new lawyer coming in this fall; we hire about one a year.”
BIG CASES
The firm recently represented attorney Fred Cone in the estate case of Hugh Culverhouse, the late owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Also, they have handled several successful Chapter 11’s [bankruptcy] for The Body Shop, Pic N Save and others. “A successful Chapter 11 is when you reorganize and rearrange your credit and come out of it with a plan. If the plan works, you become big and successful again,” said Bradford. “The Body Shop is now very successful, but Pic N Save ended up dissolving the company.”
WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR CLIENTS?
SouthTrust Bank, Rayonier, First Union, BellSouth and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
HOW IS YOUR OFFICE UNIQUE?
“From a litigation standpoint, there has always been a very small number of firms that handle large or complex commercial litigation matters,” said Bradford. “We have always been recognized as one of those few. In addition to that we have a breadth of experience in all types of litigation. We are not pigeon-holed, we have people who do and have done everything.”
WHAT DOES THE FIRM OFFER THE CLIENTS?
“Full service, prompt service, quality lawyers and dedicated lawyers who have a great deal of experience in the areas we are in,” said Rogers. “It is a very established firm. The Baumer, Bradford & Walters firm was well-known and highly respected. I think we can do most anything for our clients. That was one of the reasons this merger was done, was to be able to offer more services to the clients in Jacksonville.”
DO YOU ENCOURAGE YOUR LAWYERS TO GET INVOLVED OUTSIDE OF THE FIRM?
“We think everybody who is in this profession has an obligation to the public to repay the state of Florida for the privilege of a law license,” said Bradford. “We take that very seriously. Not everyone does the same thing though.”
He said some are involved in the law community, local activities, charities, civic groups, political campaigns and government.
ISSUES FACING LAWYERS TODAY?
“I think from a business standpoint, some of the corporate-type work has slowed down since Sept. 11,” said Roberts. “I think you are seeing some of the smaller to mid-sized firms struggling a bit to keep a client base. I think you are going to see a lot more consolidation of the bigger firms and those coming in and taking over smaller firms. I think it is a challenge of client service and satisfaction because legal fees have always been an issue and continue to be an issue. With what has happened in the economy, the people in charge of those type of things in companies are being looked at. Companies are looking to cut their legal budgets. It has offered a challenge to come up with creative billing in the terms of how do you give your clients the value of services that they need but at an affordable price.”
NEW WEBSITE?
www.sgrlaw.com.