Attorney strikes out on his own

Powerhouse real estate practice breaks up

Five years ago, Tom Garlick started the Naples office of the Tampa-based Annis, Mitchell law firm, a powerhouse in real estate law.

Two years later he helped found the Fort Myers office of the same firm.

Now Annis, Mitchell is no more, “cherry-picked” of its top people by an even larger national firm, Foley & Lardner.

So Garlick and the rest of the Annis, Mitchell attorneys in Fort Myers and Naples are on their own – in his case in a new firm with partners Ron Stetler and Perry Peeples.

Garlick left his previous law firm to go to Annis in the first place because he wanted more autonomy, so it doesn't bother him to be on his own again.

"We will serve our clients as well as if nothing had happened," he said. "I'm not sure we're going to need that support from a parent firm. Our intent is to be more a local boutique if you will, focusing on real estate and development, business and litigation."

What happened to Annis, Mitchell is a little unusual even in the relatively fast-paced world of modern law firms, said Phil Shuey, an Englewood, Colo.-based attorney who's past chairman of the law practice management section of the American Bar Association.

"Musical chairs happens with some degree of frequency but the absorption and split apart is somewhat rarer," he said. "That said, it's still fairly typical in that there's a lot of instability, a significant amount of flux in the legal market as many firms are trying to grapple with how they can become more competitive."

Garlick said that for a firm that deals mainly with local clients, it's less important to have a corporate affiliation with a larger firm.

"When you're doing development you're dealing with local codes and practices, you're dealing with the county commissions," he said. "You have to have local contacts, that's why they're coming to you. I think you'll find national companies, as well as national law firms, will often be looking for a lawyer with a good reputation in the community to give the special competitive advantage to that client."

J.R. Phelps, Tallahassee-based director of the law office management assistance program of the Florida Bar, said that in Florida "there has been a flurry of activity lately as more and more mergers are occurring. Whether it's good or bad, only time will tell."

There's an added incentive for national firms to open local offices in Florida cities, he said. "We have a population that retires here, and a number of the people who retire in Florida come from hometowns where they've had a relationship with a large law Firm that's done their estate work. When they move south, that larger firm ... will want to retain that relationship."

A big firm is a more structured environment than a smaller one, he said.

Underlying the relative turbulence in today's law practices is the same dynamic that causes many businesses to operate at a faster pace than they used to, Shuey said.

"The idea of a long-term relationship used to be 20 years," he said. "Now it's, 'What are you doing next week?'"