4 minute read
Market voices: Advantages
Kevin Johnson Shareholder Johnson Jackson
The labor pool for legal sta is tight, but we are happy with the people we have on our team. We have found that there are good people out there who you can hire, but there is obviously a lot of competition for them. As a smaller firm, we have to work harder to find those right people, and it really depends on finding the right recruiter to help with that process. It is also very much about the type of work environment we can oer potential candidates. Culture is truly the big driver behind this. We made a commitment to create the kind of culture where people would enjoy working for us. Not only do we oer competitive pay and good benefits, but they also have a lot of freedom in terms of being flexible with their work time to meet family obligations. We also oer legal sta the opportunities to learn and grow so that they can adapt to new skills and new positions. It is all about creating an environment where people really enjoy coming to work and where work doesn’t feel like a jobolor.
Tampa is a great place to live. It is an area that has had undervalued real estate, especially in the Downtown area, and that has attracted a lot of development. There has been a steadily growing young population. It has become a city where we talk about technology all the time. Local leadership has had a great positive impact in the area as well. The county commissioners and past and present mayors have had their eyes on the future and have worked very hard to develop a true vision for Tampa. Also, we do not have an income tax in the state of Florida, which is an attractive factor on top of all the amenities Tampa has to oer. Michael Lundy Managing Partner Older, Lundy & Alvarez
Jim Robbins Managing Shareholder & President Hill Ward Henderson
It is all about relationships. We were fortunate that the founders of the firm had very strong relationships, which we have continued to foster and build upon. The people who come into the firm have the common denominator of also having great relationships and of being very capable of building and sustaining them. It creates a tremendous amount of stability, and it has allowed us all kinds of opportunities to keep growing. We are one of the last fully, locally-owned firms of our scale in the region, which we take pride in. We think being independent grants us great flexibility in terms of how we run our practices, how we meet our clients’ needs and also the ability to focus on our area and region. We do work in other places, but our primary focus is the Tampa Bay region.
The Tampa Bay Region is home to Florida’s oldest law school and one of the state’s oldest firms.
( ) president of the Florida Bar in 2013. Following in this spirit of increasing diversity and inclusion, the 2016-2019 Strategic Plan of the Florida Bar includes several objectives emblematic of the Bar’s continued commitment to advancing the goal of a more diverse legal profession. The objectives include: creating a diverse judiciary that reflects the Florida population; continuing the Bar’s “Get Involved” campaign that encourages all Florida lawyers to get involved in one or more of the Florida Bar’s sections, divisions, or committees, or other service opportunities, with a special emphasis on increasing participation among members of diverse gender, ethnicity, geography, practice area, and firm size; encouraging members to provide self-identifying information to the Florida Bar to establish baseline membership data; encouraging the Board of Governors to be more active in terms of speeches and outreach to Bar members and the public at large; and continuing to enhance the Bar’s diversity grant program.
Looking ahead Tampa Bay’s legal sector is going through an exciting time, with the region serving as a flashpoint for some of the day’s biggest legal questions, such the regulation of the medical marijuana industry and attempts to better regulate firearms to prevent future tragedies. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs act also continues to provide no shortage of interesting legal questions, with its many nuances and ramifications continuing to manifest as it rounds out two years since its passage. To tackle these issues, the Florida Bar is seeking to develop an even more diverse body of lawyers that better reflects the actual demographic composition of Florida. By maximizing diversity of backgrounds and ideas, the legal profession will be better equipped to tackle the complex legal issues that are continuing to unfold across the state.
Real Estate:
The story of the housing and commercial real estate markets in the Tampa Bay region is a tale of steady appreciation as investors continue to see value across all segments, including rentals. Like other metros across the nation, affordability remains a leading issue, leaving some residents priced out, and the advance of COVID-19 also darkened the horizon in the early part of 2020.
