Motes & Carr, P.A. is a law firm in the Regency East Office Park that opened in May. The parent firm is based in Orlando.
HOW BIG IS THE OFFICE?
Although there are four attorneys, Robert Sturgess is the only one that exclusively practices out of the Jacksonville office. Currently, he has support staff that includes one paralegal.
“We hope to grow, but in the deliberate way that Motes did,” said Sturgess.
“We’re hoping we can develop a client base here,” added Jack Shaw of the Orlando office. “Our client base is distinct from other lawyers. We don’t get work from other individuals as much as attorneys. We derive some in-house, but the majority of our referrals are from other lawyers — both the plaintiff and defense side.”
WHY TARGET JACKSONVILLE?
“Partly because of Bob,” said Shaw. “He’s someone we’ve been interested in for a number of years. It was a natural fit.”
IN THE BEGINNING
Partners Carl Motes and Hubert Sears began the firm in Central Florida.
“Carl wanted to move out of Winter Park and Hubert wanted to stay,” said Shaw. “George Carr came on board at that point and I joined in 1999.”
GETTING TO KNOW JACK
After graduating from law school at the University of Florida, Philadelphia-born Jack Shaw took a job with Jones, Adams, Paine and Foster in West Palm Beach doing probate work. Later, he wrote law books for Lawyers Cooperative Publishing Company in Rochester, N.Y. Sick of the cold weather and high taxes, he returned to Florida two and a half years later. Shaw clerked at the Florida Supreme Court for a year to learn about appellate law. Then he joined Mathews, Osborne, Ehrlich, McNatt & Cobb.
“By the time I left, they had gone through quite a few transformations to become an insurance defense firm almost exclusively,” said Shaw. “I wanted a broader practice field, so I moved to Orlando.”
WHAT DOES HE
PRACTICE NOW?
“Seventy five to 80 percent of what I do [is appellate],” said Shaw. “It’s mostly research and writing.”
CUCKOO FOR COCONUTS
Bob Sturgess is the founder of Coconuts Music, but decided to sell it to pay for law school. “I started out as a cashier at Peaches and, within two and a half years, I was vice president,” said Sturgess. “They [the subsequent owners] grew Coconuts to 900 stores and then changed the name.”
WHERE DID HE GO
TO SCHOOL?
Born in Sandy Springs, Ga., Sturgess attended the University of Georgia, earning a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. Nova University in Ft. Lauderdale was where Sturgess studied law. After graduating, he was hired as the senior law clerk at the First District Court of Appeal.
WHERE ELSE HAS HE
BEEN EMPLOYED?
Sturgess went to work for a Tallahassee firm, Bateman Harden, in 1993. Two years later, Sturgess moved back to town to work in Paul Harden’s Jacksonville office, where he spent another two years. Subsequently, he joined Foley & Lardner as a partner. In 2000, worked for a smaller firm called Henderson Keasler.
WHY GO FROM MUSIC
TO THE LAW?
“I took three hours of [vocational] tests,” he said. “Lawyer was on the top of the list. It’s probably the best decision I ever made.”
HOW DID SHAW GET
INTO LAW?
“At Georgia Tech during my second year, I was tangling with calculus and calculus was winning. I took the same battery of tests [that Sturgess did] and again, it said, lawyer. It hadn’t occurred to me before that. I took to the law particularly well. It requires, not as much intellect, but a fair degree of memory and hard work.”
WHAT IS YOUR
PRACTICE AREA?
“Appellate law is about half of my practice,” said Sturgess. “The rest is insurance law and commercial litigation.”
WHAT BROUGHT
HIM HERE?
“Growing up, we always came to Jacksonville for vacations,” said Sturgess. “When my banker said I could open my record store anywhere, I chose Jacksonville.”
HOW BIG IS THE
ORLANDO OFFICE?
The parent office employs a receptionist, office administrator, paralegal and document manager.
“All of our documents are optically scanned into the computer so we don’t have to go back to the file room,” said Shaw. “We have the ability to access each other’s files [across offices].”
— by Monica Chamness