Roundtable: Legal landscape

®oundtable:

Legal landscape

Leading lawyers share their perspective on the impact of the pandemic on the sector and adjusting to a new reality.

Alan Higbee

Managing Partner Shutts & Bowen

What was a key takeaway for Shutts & Bowen from the past year? Well, it has certainly been a different year. Shutts has been around for 111 years. During our last partnership meeting, some of our most senior executives walked through all the major events that occurred in the more than a centuryold history of our firm: the Great Depression, two world wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, 9/11, to name a few. Through all of those events, the firm always managed to have an annual in-person partnership meeting – but that wasn’t possible for the first time in 2021 because of COVID-19. It has certainly been a different year, but we are nimble firm and were able to roll with the punches and we have continued to do well and grow. We now have approximately 300 lawyers in eight different offices across the state of Florida. I think our big takeaway for the past year is that you have to stay nimble and be able to deal with whatever comes your way!

What is your outlook for Shutts & Bowen? The outlook is good for us. The one thing that we do know is that however the pandemic continues to unfold, we’re going to continue to be trusted and strategic advisers to our clients. We will continue assisting them in getting where they need to go. The world was a complicated place before we threw in a pandemic and it is likely only going to get more and more complex. So, more than ever, clients will need trusted advisers who understand their business and their goals, who can jump in and help them navigate a complex world. Trust is the key word there. Somebody they know is going to do whatever it takes to help them get through whatever the problem is.

Kevin Johnson

Shareholder Johnson Jackson

What do you think of the way the courts transitioned into the new reality brought about by the pandemic? There are some long-lasting changes that will come out of this, particularly with the smaller, more routine matters such as hearings on discovery motions. Litigators were used to traveling, to sitting in chambers with judges to deal with short hearings. Now, it’s very likely that we’ll continue to do that via video. That will reduce the need for travel, which will be better for the clients and probably also better for the courts. What we don’t know is what the effect of all these delays will be in terms of the workload for the courts. They have a lot of criminal matters to deal with, they have to deal with other urgent matters and, eventually, they’ll get around to dealing with civil trials, but we think that civil trials will likely be backlogged for a while.

How did you help your clients adjust to the new normal of remote work? From a clients’ perspective, a lot of them had to scramble to get set up and figure out how to maintain those connections, how they were going to hold meetings, what their workflow would look like. For all of our clients, there were many questions regarding leave, accommodations, employees who were fearful of having to deal with COVID, and what the risks were in the workplace. We had to be on our toes to give them good advice on how to deal with all of that because the requirements under federal employment law demand a lot of communication, a lot of interactive conversations with the employee. You can’t just set a one-size-fits-all rule, at least not very easily.

Bill Schifino

Managing Shareholder – Tampa Office Gunster

How did your client needs change over the past year and where have you seen the most demand? Demand has not dropped at all. Last year, our private wealth practice group was as busy as it has been in a long time. People were at home and had time, so they were able to take a look at their financial matters and estate planning. Florida has seen a huge influx of people and businesses, so our real estate lawyers and corporate lawyers have been very busy. The business litigation practice also saw one its busiest years in the last two decades.

How did the firm adjust its recruitment efforts during the pandemic? We continued to hire and grow, and in many respects, this has been a wonderful opportunity. Gunster is a solid, established law firm so we continue to attract the best talent. We have continued to bring in associates through our summer programs. We had a new group join us in September. The hiring process has been relatively seamless but the issue has been in integration. Generally, we have a yearly firm retreat or we have meals together and lawyers would be in the office together. Now, we have virtual meet and greets and I think the social aspect of this has been very challenging.

What is your outlook for the Tampa Bay legal sector? I am very bullish on the business landscape in Tampa Bay. I speak to my peers all the time and for the most part everyone is doing well in the legal profession and continuing to serve clients. There are certainly some pockets in the profession that have been more challenged than others but I think by the fall we will be a little more reintegrated. How did Trenam Law close 2020? In March and April, we were certainly worried because of the pandemic and many of our contemporaries and competitors were as well. There was prevalent uncertainty on how the economy would evolve and what the pandemic would mean not just for us as lawyers but for the more general business communities in Tampa Bay. We were expecting a significant downturn. It turned out that fortunately for us and the greater business community in Tampa Bay, several businesses that were serviceoriented, such as banks, real estate and work related to business transactions, proved highly resilient to the virus, in contrast to the travel, tourism and restaurant industries. Much like our law firm did, these companies found ways to safely and effectively continue doing what needed to be done. In our firm’s case, we continued taking care of our clients and providing excellent legal work. We’ve seen an uptick in some service areas while others are somewhat less busy. On the whole, our business yearend in June 2020 was successful and looking from the end of December 2020, our first half of FY21 promises to be successful.

Which practice areas saw the most demand? Since a slight slowdown in the first weeks of the pandemic, when everyone hit the pause button, our business transactions team has been extremely busy with deals on both ends of the buying and selling spectrum. Our private client services, which has a lot to do with wealth and estate planning and other types of advice for closely held businesses and family businesses, has also been extraordinarily busy.

Marie Tomassi

President & Managing Shareholder Trenam Law