by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
In about 30 seconds — the time it’ll likely take you to read the next paragraph — you are going to be envious of Paul Healy in some capacity.
He’s a University of Notre Dame and University of Florida graduate, a successful attorney, the sports agent who signed the first kicker to go in the first round of the NFL draft in 30 years and he can just about count more countries he’s been to than ones he hasn’t.
Healy is a partner in Healy Stone & Zahler, a small law firm in San Marco on Atlantic Boulevard with about half a dozen employees and an intern. The firm also owns the building.
Healy grew up in Palm Coast and went to Notre Dame on his own nickel. He said the South Bend, Ind. campus and student life were a big change from Palm Coast, but the price was worth it.
“It was a great place to go to school,” said Healy, who does a mix of automobile personal injury, probate, wills and trusts. “It was a wonderful school and a wonderful experience. Eighty percent of the students live on campus through their senior years.”
Healy knew he wanted to practice law in Florida so he applied to UF.
“The school has a good reputation, it was closer to home and it was cheaper,” he said.
After graduating in 1989 — he just marked his 20th year as an attorney — Healy worked for a large firm. Two years later he took over the practice of J.F. Leonard, who was retiring.
“A year or so later, Mitch Stone joined me. We were classmates in Gainesville,” said Healy.
On the side, Healy is a certified sports agent with the NFL Players Association. His first client was Purcell Gaskins, a linebacker from Kansas State who was drafted in 1998. Today, Healy only has one client playing in the NFL, but he’s pretty well-known around here — former Florida State kicker Sebastian Janikowski, who was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the first round of the 2000 draft as the 17th overall pick.
“He (Janikowski) was the first kicker taken in the first round since Russell Erxleben in 1979,” said Healy of the former Texas kicker who was taken No. 11 overall.
As a result of being a certified agent, Healy has access to information most fans don’t.
“I can get any player’s contract e-mailed to me. Any player, any position, any time,” he said.
Healy also said the negotiations between the players and teams rarely, if ever, directly involve the player.
“Players are never present when we are negotiating contracts,” he said. “One-tenth of one percent of the time they sit down with management. They are involved in the negotiations from the outside, but I don’t think management wants them there.”
Healy’s travels include Europe extensively, New Zealand, South America, Egypt (to see the pyramids), the Arctic Circle, South America, Central America, China and many other countries.
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