LEGAL INTERVIEW
Local expertise Traditonally, specialty services have been sourced from larger markets. That is changing as local firms step up
Alan Higbee Managing Partner – Shutts & Bowen Why is Tampa Bay a good location for a firm like Shutts & Bowen? A full service firm like ours has experience in many areas, including some areas that are not necessarily customary for this market, such as our experience in international trade and transactions, experience with large industrial companies and experience representing large and small federal government contractors. Interestingly, the demand for these specialty practices is actually pretty high in this market. Such specialties have often been sourced from other larger markets in the past. In our experience, businesses in this market are generally very happy to see that these specialty resources are available here to help and they don’t have to look to other markets such as Washington, D.C., or New York. For areas like federal government contractors, it makes sense to have that expertise here. I believe Florida is the third-largest market for federal contracting in the country and we are sitting outside the doors of MacDill Air Force Base, which has virtually every federal agency you can name, from all the defense agencies and divisions to the IRS. How does the firm take part in the business brought to the Tampa Bay Area by new companies and startups? Startup businesses in the Tampa Bay area come in many varieties, but some of the most promising are often spin-offs; people who have had very successful careers in larger businesses and have decided to go out on their own. Many of these companies have a need for legal services in areas of high specialization, such as healthcare, technology and government contracting. We also see an awful lot of companies that are relocating some kind of division or business unit - or their entire U.S. operations to this market and, candidly, besides being a pretty sophisticated business center, this area is also a pretty nice place to live. In the market for legal services,
we also see an increasing need for trusted advisers. Lots of lawyers can tell you what the law is, but very few have the industry and business experience to also tell you what you probably should do and should not do. What are the top challenges for the legal profession in the area? The tightness of the labor pool is difficult, there is no question about that. It is certainly a major challenge for us. The other challenge is the general expansion of the needs of the market. We are becoming more sophisticated. When I moved here in 1980, the needs of this legal community were really pretty basic. In 2019, the businesses in this market are extremely sophisticated and that means their problems and issues are also very sophisticated. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com
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