by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Cover ground quickly, and never pass up a good shot. It’s an approach that has served Howard Coker well whether hunting for big game or million-dollar verdicts.
The Coker, Myers, Schickel, Sorenson and Green partner has hauled down more than his share of both. He’s won hundreds of millions of dollars worth of verdicts, prosecuting liability cases like medical malpractice and automobile negligence.
He attributes his success as an attorney to his aggressiveness. And it’s served him as well on the plains of Africa as it has inside the courtrooms of Florida.
For evidence, look to the walls of Coker’s Empire Point home. In 30 years of hunting that’s taken him from the mountains of Montana to Ireland to Africa, Coker has taken enough trophies to cover almost every wall in the house.
“The deal my wife (Fran) and I worked out was that I wouldn’t put any animals in the bedroom. It’s a fair deal,” said Coker, who apparently has a talent for understatement as well as shooting.
If an animal walks, crawls, or flies, there’s a good chance it’s ended up on the wrong end of Coker’s telescopic sight. From the standard hunting fare like mule deer and elk to more exotic captures like an African leopard, Coker’s walls are packed with beasts wearing the vacant expression of a corporate CEO who has been hit with a multi-million dollar verdict.
Even after 40 years of hunting, Coker said it’s the jury verdicts that still give him the biggest rush. His “greatest thrills and biggest disappointments” have occurred in the courtroom, he said.
After he spent his high school and college years at the University of Florida participating in football, basketball, baseball and track. It’s not a coincidence that his interests finally settled on hunting and the law.
Both provide Coker with a competitive outlet. Both require absolute focus when an opportunity presents itself, he said.
An attorney gets several opportunities during a trial to “pull the trigger,” he said. It might be a decision about when to present evidence or when to ask a question on cross examination. Attorneys who make the right decisions feel the thrill that comes with victory, he said.
“The law attracts a lot of competitive people because it’s one of the few professions where you get a clear-cut winner and a clear-cut loser,” said Coker. “There’s no greater high or low than being a trial lawyer. Sometimes you feel like Picasso, sometimes you feel like a house painter.”
Coker said he feels the same satisfaction from a perfectly-placed shot in the field. He snagged his prize leopard trophy through patient preparation. When opportunity presented itself, he’s proud of how he responded.
He had hunted the leopard for days across the African plains. When the animal appeared at dusk in a tiny crease among distant tree branches, Coker fought off a surge of adrenaline as he realized the fast-fading daylight had reduced a days-long hunt to a single shot. The memory of the shot still brings a satisfied smile to Coker’s face.
Sometimes the opportunity takes years to develop.
Coker hunted for a single elk for 13 years without taking a shot; he just never came across an elk that was worth pulling the trigger. The shot that brought down the beast with the chandelier-sized antlers now hanging in his living room might have ended his elk hunting career. Coker doubts he’ll ever find an animal to top it.
But some visitors to Coker’s house aren’t so impressed. He hears “all the time” from animal rights advocates who find his pastime appalling. But Coker doesn’t see any inconsistency in a hunter acting as chairman of wetlands conservation group Ducks Unlimited, as Coker did from 1991-92, or as chairman-elect of the Jacksonville Zoo’s board.
Coker said his love of hunting is rooted in a love for the outdoors. In fact, as he gets older the 59-year-old Coker said he enjoys the surroundings of hunting more than the shooting.
Coker believes there’s plenty of common ground between environmentalists and hunters and points out that hunters are often among the staunchest advocates of preserving wildlife areas.
Coker’s favorite hunting grounds these days are in Montana and Africa. They’re separated by thousands of miles but joined in Coker’s mind by the beauty of their vastly different terrains.
“The two places are totally different but their beauty is awe-inspiring,” said Coker. “More and more, that’s what seems to affect me when I spend time in the outdoors.”