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==Practice areas==
==Practice areas==
Akerman Senterfitt has the largest [[Corporate law|corporate]], [[intellectual property]], and [[litigation]] practices in the State of Florida. The firm also has large practices in [[construction law]], [[real estate]], [[Bankruptcy in the United States|bankruptcy]], [[United States labor law|labor and employment law]], and [[lobbying]].<ref>[http://www.chambersandpartners.com/usa/FirmProfile.aspx?fid=1742&mode=firms&display=1 Chambers USA profile]</ref><ref>[http://www.akerman.com/public/practice/index.asp Full list of practice areas]</ref>
Akerman Senterfitt has the largest [[Corporate law|corporate]], [[intellectual property]], and [[litigation]] practices in the State of Florida. The firm also has large practices in [[construction law]], [[real estate]], [[Bankruptcy in the United States|bankruptcy]], [[United States labor law|labor and employment law]], and [[lobbying]].<ref>[http://www.chambersandpartners.com/USA/Firms/65304-36457 Chambers USA profile]</ref><ref>[http://www.akerman.com/public/practice/index.asp Full list of practice areas]</ref>


==Famous lawyers and alumni==
==Famous lawyers and alumni==
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* [http://www.lawperiscope.com/profiles/017.html LawPeriscope profile]
* [http://www.lawperiscope.com/profiles/017.html LawPeriscope profile]
* [http://www.vault.com/companies/company_main.jsp?co_page=1&product_id=22085&ch_id=242 Vault.com profile]
* [http://www.vault.com/companies/company_main.jsp?co_page=1&product_id=22085&ch_id=242 Vault.com profile]
* [http://www.chambersandpartners.com/usa/FirmProfile.aspx?fid=1742&mode=firms&display=1 Chambers USA profile]
* [http://www.chambersandpartners.com/USA/Firms/65304-36457 Chambers USA profile]
*[http://www.martindale.com/Akerman-Senterfitt/law-firm-648825.htm Profile] from [[LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell]]
*[http://www.martindale.com/Akerman-Senterfitt/law-firm-648825.htm Profile] from [[LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell]]


Revision as of 15:51, 11 June 2010

Akerman Senterfitt LLP
Akerman Senterfitt
HeadquartersMiami, Florida
No. of offices14
No. of attorneysapproximately 500
Major practice areasGeneral practice
Key peopleAndrew M. Smulian, Chairman,[1] Robert Zinn, President[2]
Date founded1920
FounderAlexander Akerman and John Moses Cheney
Company typeLimited liability partnership
WebsiteAkerman.com

Akerman Senterfitt is a large law firm, BigLaw, based in Miami, Florida. It was founded in 1920 and has grown to become one of the largest in the United States. In 2008, the National Law Journal ranked the firm as 92nd largest in the U.S. by number of attorneys, and the second-largest Florida-based firm (behind Greenberg Traurig). In December 2009, Law360 ranked Akerman Senterfitt as 88th largest in the U.S. by the number of attorneys practicing within the U.S.

History

Early history

Akerman Senterfitt, P.A. is a full-service law firm headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The current CEO is Andrew Smulian. It was founded in 1920 by Orlando attorneys Alexander Akerman and John Moses Cheney as Cheney & Akerman, with offices in the Dollins Building on 10 West Pine, Orlando, Florida.[3] By 1925, following the death of John Cheney a few years earlier, Alexander partnered with his first cousin Hugh Akerman as Akerman & Akerman.[4] By 1931, Alexander had retired and Hugh's brothers Emory Akerman and Joe Akerman joined the family-owned firm.[5] In 1933, Allison E. Palmer and William H. "Billy" Dial were hired. They were among the first attorneys to join the firm who were not related to the Akerman family. In 1936, Hugh Akerman and Billy Dial formed a partnership with Hugh's brother William Y. "Willie" Akerman. As Akerman, Dial & Akerman, these three men were largely responsible for the success of the firm up through the 1950s. Other figures in the firm's early history were George Garrett (1930s), Ed Shinkelzer (sp?) (1930s), Joe S. Kirton (1940s), Ben B. Moss (1940s), George T. Eidson, Jr. (1951), Ferg Monroe Alleman (1956), W. Stewart Gilman (1956), William G. Mateer (1957) and Donald T. Senterfitt (1958).[6] Name partners Eidson and Senterfitt played major roles in the growth and success of the firm from the 1950s through the 1990s. Some early clients of the firm included Orange County, Florida, the Gentile Brothers Company, A. Duda & Sons, and the Dr. P. Phillips Company. In 1934, a group of local businessmen, including Akerman attorneys Billy Dial and Allison Palmer, organized the First National Bank of Orlando (which later became SunBanks, now known as SunTrust Banks). In the 1950s, Dial was involved in bringing defense contractor Martin Marietta to the area. In the same decade, Billy Dial (as a member of the state Road Board) and Martin Andersen, owner of the Sentinel Star (now Orlando Sentinel), were instrumental in the routing of Interstate 4 through the Orlando area. Dial is also credited with bringing the Florida Turnpike through Orlando, but this was actually the result of a combination of fortuitous circumstances, not least of which was local opposition to the initial plans to locate the interstate through the eastern coastal counties of Florida.[7] The decisions to bring I-4 and the Florida Turnpike through the area literally made Orlando into the crossroads of Florida, one of the factors that later led to Walt Disney's choice of the area as the location for his amusement park, Walt Disney World.

Geographical growth

Akerman Senterfitt acquired its first office outside of Orlando (in Winter Park, Florida) in May 1958 with the merger of Turnbull & Senterfitt. The Winter Park office was in business up until about 1963, when Nat M. Turnbull departed the firm. In 1982, a Miami office was opened, marking the beginning of the firm’s current sustained pattern of expansion.[8] Two short-lived offices were opened in Tallahassee, the first in the late 1970s and again in 1986;[9] however, a permanent presence in Tallahassee was not established until January 1991 with the merger of Moffitt, Hart & Herron. This merger also gained Akerman Senterfitt its Tampa office.[10] The 1990s saw Akerman Senterfitt’s greatest expansion, mostly through mergers and acquisitions of other law firms. New offices were opened in Tavares, Florida (August 1996),[11] West Palm Beach, Florida (December 1995),[12] Fort Lauderdale, Florida (June 1997)[13] and Jacksonville, Florida (late 1999).[14] At one time, the firm also had an office in Boca Raton, Florida (December 1998 to August 2003).[15] As a result, by the late 1990s, Akerman Senterfitt was recognized as one of the largest law firms in the state. In the early 2000s, the firm opened its first offices outside of the state in Washington D.C. (April 2004)[16] and New York City (November 2005),[8] followed soon thereafter by Tysons Corner, Virginia, Los Angeles, California and Madison, Wisconsin.[17]

Name changes

(see below for documentation)[18]

  • Cheney & Akerman (1920–1921)
  • Akerman & Akerman (c. 1925 – c. 1932)
  • Akerman & Grey[19] (c. 1932)
  • Akerman & Palmer (1933)
  • Akerman & Dial (c. 1934)
  • Akerman, Dial & Akerman (1936–1958)
  • Akerman, Turnbull, Senterfitt & Eidson (1958 – c. 1963)
  • Akerman, Senterfitt, Eidson, Mesmer & Robbinson (c. 1963 – c. 1968)
  • Akerman, Senterfitt, Eidson, Mesmer, Robbinson & Wharton (c. 1968 – c. 1971)
  • Akerman, Senterfitt, Eidson and Wharton (c. 1971 – c. 1976)
  • Akerman, Senterfitt & Eidson, P.A. (c. 1976 – 2003)
  • Akerman, Senterfitt, Eidson & Moffitt (1991–1992, in Tampa and Tallahassee only)
  • Akerman Senterfitt, P.A. (2003–present)

Mergers & acquisitions

(see below for documentation)[20]

  • Turnbull & Senterfitt – May 1958
  • Moffitt, Hart & Herron – January 1991
  • Stagg, Hardy & Mathews – November 1993[21]
  • Mershon, Sawyer, Johnston, Dunwody & Cole – December 1995
  • Kronegold, Gottlieb & Goldberg, P.A. – June 1997
  • Milam, Otero, Larsen, Dawson & Traylor – late 1999
  • Muller Mintz, P.A. – January 2004[22]
  • Katz, Kutter, Alderman & Bryant, PA – April 2004
  • Pickholz Law Firm, LLP – November 2005
  • Wickwire Gavin – June 2006

Recent developments

Departing attorneys

Akerman Senterfitt has recently had difficulties retaining attorneys. Several high-ranking partners had left the firm, including Robert Fernandez, who previously served as deputy general counsel to Florida Governor Jeb Bush. The firm has brought in executive search consultants to recruit new talent.[23]

Merger difficulties

Akerman Senterfitt's management had planned a merger with the 300+ lawyer Philadelphia-based law firm of WolfBlock,[24] which would have created a single 800-lawyer firm.[25] But on 7 August 2008, the two firms released a joint statement explaining that the merger had been put on hold due to “a client conflict that cannot be discussed publicly”.[26] WolfBlock later dissolved in March 2009 due to financial problems.

Practice areas

Akerman Senterfitt has the largest corporate, intellectual property, and litigation practices in the State of Florida. The firm also has large practices in construction law, real estate, bankruptcy, labor and employment law, and lobbying.[27][28]

Famous lawyers and alumni

Offices

References

  1. ^ Smulian's firm bio
  2. ^ Zinn's firm bio
  3. ^ 1921 "Orlando, Fla. City Directory" (published electronically at www.cfmemory.org; accessed 5 February 2006).
  4. ^ 1925 Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Co. "Telephone Directory" for Orlando, Florida (published electronically at www.cfmemory.org; accessed 5 February 2006).
  5. ^ Inferred from 1925–1931 Orlando telephone directories (published electronically at www.cfmemory.org; accessed 5 February 2006).
  6. ^ Complete names reconstructed from 1963 Orlando City Directory.
  7. ^ Proctor, Samuel. Interview with William H. "Billy" Dial, 15 September 1987 (typescript). Florida Business Leaders Collection of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program, University of Florida.
  8. ^ a b Akerman Senterfitt website (www.akerman.com), accessed 5 February 2006.
  9. ^ "Scales of Justice Bear Shifting Alliances," Orlando Sentinel, 24 February 1986, pg. 25/Central Florida Business (NewsBank).
  10. ^ "Moffitt, Hart & Herron to merge with Orlando firm," Tampa Tribune, 12 January 1991, pg. 1/Business (NewsBank).
  11. ^ "Akerman Senterfitt adds top real estate attorneys to staff," Orlando Business Journal, 9 August 1996 http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/1996/08/12/tidbits.html), accessed 5 February 2006.
  12. ^ "Law Firm opening West Palm Office," Palm Beach Post, 20 December 1995, pg. 5B/Business (NewsBank).
  13. ^ "The First Thing They Do Is Hire All The Lawyers," Palm Beach Post, 15 June 1997, pg. 1F/Business (NewsBank).
  14. ^ "Local expansions can have significant impact," Florida Times-Union, 26 March 2001, pg. FB-2/First Business (NewsBank).
  15. ^ "Another big law firm has landed in Boca Raton," Palm Beach Post, 11 December 1998, pg. 1D/Business (NewsBank); "Business Briefly," Palm Beach Post, 20 August 2003, pg. 20/Neighborhood Post (NewsBank).
  16. ^ "Orlando Law Firm Expands Reach," Orlando Sentinel, 20 February 2004, pg. C3/Money (NewsBank).
  17. ^ "Akerman Senterfitt adds 30 attorneys from Wickwire Gavin ," Tallahassee Democrat, 8 July 2006, pg. E1/Local (NewsBank).
  18. ^ Compiled from Orlando city directories, 1921–1976; Orlando telephone directories, 1925–1931; and Interview with William H. "Billy" Dial, 15 September 1987.
  19. ^ Interview with William H. "Billy" Dial states the firm's name as "Akerman & Grea", however this seems to be a typo for "Akerman & Grey". The 1931 Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Co. "Telephone Directory of Orlando, Fla." (published electronically at www.cfmemory.org; accessed 5 February 2006), has no listing for an attorney by the name of Grea, but does have a listing for "Gray, Claude L. - Atty Exchange bl." Because the "Exchange bl." address is also given for "Akerman and Akerman" in this directory, I surmise that Claude L. Gray is the "Grea"/Grey referred to in the interview typescript.
  20. ^ Compiled from news articles in various Florida newspapers (all previously cited), the Akerman Senteriftt website (accessed 5 February 2006)
  21. ^ "Orlando law firm increases presence in Tampa with deal," St. Petersburg Times, 2 November 1993, pg. 6E/Business (NewsBank).
  22. ^ "Akerman Senterfitt, Miami firm to merge," Orlando Sentinel, 23 October 2003, pg. C3/Money (NewsBank).
  23. ^ Amid Attorney Departures, Akerman Senterfitt Offers Headhunters High Fees as Lure. Law.com, 31 January 2008.
  24. ^ WolfBlock LLP official website
  25. ^ WolfBlock & Akerman Senterfitt to Form 800-Lawyer Firm ABA Journal, 21 July 2008.
  26. ^ Akerman merger with Philadelphia law firm on hold Tampa Bay Business Journal, 7 August 2008.
  27. ^ Chambers USA profile
  28. ^ Full list of practice areas
  29. ^ Matzner's firm bio
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