by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
Twenty-five Jacksonville attorneys have been named by their peers to rank among Florida’s 846 Legal Elite by Florida Trend magazine.
With ballots going out to 54,135 members of The Florida Bar who practice in the state, the attorneys on the list are considered in the top 1 percent by those who work with and against them.
Most of those who were asked to comment on the award, however, said others were more deserving than they.
“I have never considered myself to be among the elite in any aspect of life,” said George E. “Buddy” Schultz Jr., with Holland & Knight, named in Business Litigation/Business Law. “But any time something like this comes from your peers, people who know you best and who have worked in trial practice against you, it certainly is flattering to receive the recognition.
“I work with many lawyers who are better lawyers and people than I am who for whatever reason were omitted from this list. I am very appreciative of this recognition.”
The list compiled by Florida Trend includes 24 practice areas. Attorneys in Jacksonville named to the list represent 11 practice areas.
“It’s an honor after practicing law for 24 years to be recognized in the state of Florida as one of the best lawyers in my area of expertise,” said Eric Holshouser, of Coffman Coleman Andrews & Grogran, named in the area of Labor and Employment. “I’m sure there are a number of other lawyers just as deserving who didn’t get the honor.”
Most attorneys learned of the recognition in February. The list was made public last week.
“ I was excited to hear I had made the list,” said Tracy S. Carlin, with Mills & Carlin, selected in Appellate Practice. “But when I saw who the other appellate lawyers on the list were, I was truly honored.”
Scott Makar, head of the Appellate Division for the General Counsel’s Office, was also named. He was also one of only a few non-private attorneys who were chosen.
“It came as a total, pleasant surprise,” said Makar. “These lists are always underinclusive. There are a lot of great folks who ought to be on those lists as well.”
The ballots sent out by Florida Trend asked for attorneys to choose the top lawyers in the state. The magazine then asked those who were named for the area in which they wished to be recognized.
“I am flattered,” said Henry M. Coxe III, with Bedell Dittmar DeVault Pillans & Coxe, chosen in Criminal Law. “But there are several other attorneys who are just as deserving or more.”
Five Jacksonville firms had multiple winners. Foley & Lardner, the Bedell Law Firm, Holland & Knight and Akerman Senterfitt each had two attorneys on the list. Smith Hulsey & Busey had four.
“It is nice for our firm to be distinguished like this, but I have to put it in perspective,” said Stephen Busey, chosen in Business Litigation/Business Law. “There are a lot of equally capable lawyers in our community who are not on this list.”
Being named by their peers has made the award particularly rewarding.
“That’s the special part, that this comes from other lawyers rather than as a promotional thing,” said tax attorney Peter Larsen, with Akerman Senterfitt. “It’s particularly nice to know they think highly of you. That’s the best part of this award.”
The Legal Elite lawyers are based in 53 Florida cities and have been practicing for an average of 25.4 years, according to the information gleaned by Florida Trend. Those who were chosen are an average of 52.7 years old. The 846 who were chosen represent 371 firms.
Law schools producing the most Legal Elite graduates are University of Florida (24 percent), University of Miami (18), Florida State University (9) and Stetson University (6).
Following is a list of the local attorneys, their areas of expertise and their firms.
• Appellate Practice
Tracy S. Carlin (Mills & Carlin).
Scott Douglas Makar (Office of General Counsel)
• Bankruptcy and Workout
John Barber MacDonald (Akerman Senterfitt)
• Business Litigation/Business Law
Stephen Donald Busey (Smith Hulsey & Busey)
William George Cooper (Cooper Ridge & Lantinberg)
John Andrew DeVault III (Bedell Dittmar DeVault Pillans & Coxe)
Kenneth M. Kirschner (Kirschner & Legler)
George E. “Buddy” Schultz Jr. (Holland & Knight)
• Civil Trial
William C. Gentry (Law Offices of W.C. Gentry).
Wayne Hogan (Brown Terrell Hogan)
Brett Quincy Lucas (Saalfield Coulson Shad & Jay)
• Criminal Law
Henry Matson Coxe III (Bedell Dittmar DeVault Pillans & Coxe)
William J. Sheppard (Sheppard White & Thomas)
• Environmental & Land Use
M. Lynn Pappas (Pappas Metcalf Jenks & Miller)
• Health
Jeanne Elaine Helton (Smith Hulsey & Busey)
Malcolm Richard Lewis jr. (Smith Hulsey & Busey)
• Labor & Employment
Michael J. Dewberry (Hedrick Dewberry Regan & Durant)
Guy Otto Farmer II (Holland & Knight)
Eric James Holshouser (Coffman Coleman Andrews & Grogan)
Kevin Eugene Hyde (Foley & Lardner)
• Real Estate Transactions and Eminent Domain
Andrew Prince Brigham (Brigham Moore)
Charles E. Commander III (Foley & Lardner)
G. Ray Driver Jr. (Driver & McAfee)
• Tax
Peter Larsen (Akerman Senterfitt)
• Wills, Trusts and Estates
David John Hull (Smith Hulsey and Busey)
Balloting rules allowed attorneys to vote for members of their own firm as long as they named an equal or greater number of attorneys from outside firms. An in-house vote counted one point; a vote from outside the firm counted three points.
“I’m certainly honored,” said Driver, with Driver & McAfee, named in Real Estate Transactions and Eminent Domain. “I think it’s as much a reflection on the people in my firm and the people I have worked with in the past as anything I’ve done individually.
“I think I’ve been very fortunate to work with people I consider not only with top-notch legal ability but unquestioned ethical and moral standards as well.”
If it were not for Jacksonville attorneys tending to stay fairly close to home, many more would have probably made the list, said Hogan.
“The Bar in Jacksonville has many excellent lawyers, but, in many respects, they tend to conduct their work in this area,” he said. “In that sense, there are perhaps many excellent lawyers whose names were not included but who would have been well qualified.
“As I was looking down the list, it occurred to me that many of our top-notch lawyers didn’t happen to be included because we’re sort of the quiet bar.”
MacDonald noted that, within the Bar, there are many subsets, “and I think the Bankruptcy Bar is an extremely capable group. I am honored to be recognized within that group.”
He also agreed with the essence of Hogan’s reaction.
“Both through my own observation and the observation of others around the state, Jacksonville has an extraordinarily capable and highly respected bar,” said MacDonald, who has been practicing in Jacksonville for 27 years. “But we are kind of in a corner of the state. And, at the conventions and meetings, you’d see the loudest voices tend to come from Miami, Tampa and Orlando.
“We are comfortable we can stand with them and not have to crow about it.”