by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
Phillip Buhler may have run up on a shoal as he prepared to go down to the sea in ships, but that didn’t keep him from doing business in great waters.
Buhler is a third-generation Miamian, the grandson of a man who moved about as far south as the land would allow “back when it was all dirt roads.”
His family owned a shipyard. His father was a naval architect who designed PT-1 and PT-2 during World War II. The business also built about 300 air-sea rescue crash boats “that saw service all over the world” for the Navy.
“My father wanted me to be an engineer,” Buhler recalled. “When I almost flunked algebra II, that was the end of my engineering career.”
Instead, he double-majored in history and government at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. He then enrolled at the University of Miami Law School and received his LLM from Tulane University, where he specialized in maritime law.
He worked in the admiralty section of Chaffe, McCall in New Orleans before moving to Jacksonville and taking a position with Moseley, Warren, Prichard & Parrish. The firm, appropriately enough, once was the office of George R. Foster & Co., the agent for a line of schooners between Jacksonville and New York.
“I wanted to come back to Florida, doing maritime work, although my other specialty is international commercial, which I’m doing more of,” said Buhler. “The Port of Jacksonville was and is a booming port. The opportunities for the maritime practice are large here.”
He also liked the idea of moving to Jacksonville because it “very much has the atmosphere I want to raise a family in.”
And he likes the company he keeps.
“The legal community is wonderful,” said Buhler, currently the president of the Jacksonville chapter of the Federal Bar Association. “It’s a very professional, very collegial, legal community.
“To this day, in most of my relationships with other lawyers, you can have an agreement on a handshake. You know their word is their bond.”
Coincidentally, Buhler’s office is right around the corner from Jim Moseley Jr., the current president of the Jacksonville Bar Association. The two also share an appreciation for the camaraderie evident throughout the legal community.
“As much stress as you have in this practice, it’s nice not to add to it by having the unprofessionalism and the poor relationships that you see in some bars,” Buhler said. “This is a wonderful place to practice.”
Paid membership in the local chapter of the Federal Bar Association is about 130; an estimated 60 to 80 members attend the monthly luncheons. Buhler appreciates the cozy relationship that comes with a small group, but he’d still like to see those numbers rise.
“I encourage anyone to join,” he said. “You never know when you’re going to be in federal court. Diversity jurisdiction is one way, and you get that a lot in personal injury cases.
“So I would say most lawyers, if they’re litigators at all, are going to be in federal court some time in their lives.
Buhler has responded to the wishes of association members by scheduling judges to speak at the monthly luncheons and is organizing more CLEs, such as today’s inaugural Hon. Ralph W. “Buddy” Nimmons Jr. seminar.
“It’s a way to introduce newer lawyers into the proper method to practice and for some of us more experienced guys to polish ourselves up a bit,” he said. “It’s a golden opportunity for our lawyers to speak with the judges on a more informal basis, and they can learn a lot.”
He may bring in some speakers who practice criminal law to talk to the members, a lot of whom are civil practitioners. And he’s angling for a visit by the president of the criminal side of the Colombia Supreme Court
In his nearly 15 years in Jacksonville, Buhler has seen a renewed interest in international law. It shows no signs of slowing down.
“We’ve got a history that goes back before Miami,” he said. “When Miami was an Indian trading post, Jacksonville was a port.
“But when I came here, you might have had a meeting of the international section of the chamber of commerce in a phone booth. You don’t have that anymore. There’s a lot of interest.
“There are companies based in Jacksonville that have foreign subsidiaries or who do business internationally. We’ve got direct contact cargoes coming in from all over the world.
“I enjoy living here, but I also see this as a growth area. I’m trying to encourage it.”