Top Florida creditors' rights firms mergeLawyer dismisses complaint against child welfare agency6th District JNC chooses judicial nomineesSchwartz joins bar grievance committeeCarlton Fields elects Sasso new presidentPhelps Dunbar adds associateWolfe joins Bricklemyer Smolker & BolvesFowler White adds insurance attorneyCarlton Fields receives awardFoley & Lardner recognized for workAttorneys receive board certification
Top Florida creditors'
rights firms merge
Two of Florida's largest creditors' rights firms - Echevarria & Associates PA and Codilis and Stawiarski PA - finalized a merger Aug. 1.
"With the increasing complexity of creditors' rights representation, we believe that our combined resources can have a huge, positive benefit to our customers and the industry at large," says Michael Echevarria, managing partner of the new group, called Florida Default Law Group PL.
The new firm will do business as Echevarria, Codilis & Stawiarski. Mike Echevarria will be president, and Joe Circelli and Ron Wolfe will serve as vice presidents and join the firm's management committee.
The merger "of equals" creates one of the largest creditors' rights firm in the state, says William B. Casale, chief operating officer.
"If we're not No. 1, we're nipping at their heels," Casale says. "Our plan is to continue to grow. We're adding new clients every month."
The 23-lawyer firm has locations in Tampa and Orlando and an attorney who works out of South Florida, Casale says.
"We bring together our technologies, which I'd say are state-of-the-art in this industry," Casale says. "Plus we have seasoned lawyers who have been in business for a long time."
In the past few years, both firms became automated to increase efficiency, Casale says, adding: "We have a case management system that is proprietary. We're basically a paperless environment. There's not a lot of duplicate data entry which decreases errors and labor costs."
The firm's primary competitors are the law offices of Marshall Watson and David Stern, both based in South Florida.
More growth might be forthcoming.
"We'd like to look to other law practices out there that would like to grow with Florida Default Law Group," Casale says.
The group does work on behalf of creditors such as large lenders, financial institutions and investors. In addition, the firm's partners - Echevarria, Ernie Codilis and Leo Stawiarski own a separate entity, Newhouse Title, which does more than 100 real estate closings monthly.
As for the firms' customers, Casale says, "It should be seamless to them."
Lawyer dismisses complaint against child welfare agency
A lawsuit brought in May against Hillsborough Kids Inc. and Children's Home Inc. by a court-appointed administrator for the estate of 4-month-old Phoenix Jordan Parrish was dismissed last month at the request of the plaintiff's attorney.
Chris Glover, an attorney with Hollis & Wright PLC of Birmingham, Ala., did not return a telephone call, and there's no explanation in the court file for Glover's request for dismissal without prejudice.
Glover sued the child welfare agency for allowing the infant to be taken from Florida to Dothan, Ala., where he rejoined his abusive parents, whose parental rights were severed by a Florida court shortly after his birth. The lawsuit states the child died in December from a skull fracture, broken ribs and two broken wrists. His mother is charged in his death.
Glover accused the social workers at Hillsborough Kids of losing track of the child.
6th District JNC chooses
judicial nominees
The 6th Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission chose six lawyers, including two county judges, as nominees for a vacant circuit judgeship in Pinellas-Pasco counties.
Nominees are Thane Bobbitt Covert, Joe Lovelace, John "Jack" Helinger, George M. Jirotka, and Judges Shawn Crane and Dorothy Vaccaro. Gov. Jeb Bush is expected to decide within 60 days which one is named circuit judge.
The JNC also chose six nominees for two county judgeships: Susan Helms Bingham, Carl E. Brody Jr., John Carassas, Myriam Irizarry, Edwin B. Jagger and Joe Lovelace. Carassas, a deputy attorney general, is a former state representative; and Irizarry works for the Pinellas clerk of the court.
Schwartz joins bar
Carlton Fields PA shareholder Adam P. Schwartz was appointed vice chair of the Florida Bar Statewide Advertising Grievance Committee for a three-year term. Schwartz practices in the areas of white-collar criminal defense, health care fraud and pharmacy law. He has degrees from St. Joseph's University and Temple University School of Law.
Carlton Fields elects
Sasso new president
It's official: Gary L. Sasso will replace Tom Snow as president and chief executive officer of Tampa-based Carlton Fields PA, the fourth largest firm in Florida by number of lawyers.
Sasso, a 52-year-old Miami native, was elected at an Aug. 4 shareholders meeting.
He has an economics degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated at the top of his law class at the college in 1997.
At Carlton Fields, he most recently was a member of the firm's executive committee and board of directors. He also chairs the firm's litgation and dispute resolution practice group.
Prior to joining Carlton Fields in 1987, Sasso worked for Bredhoff & Kaiser, Washington, D.C., and as a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White. He also clerked for Judge Spottswood W. Robinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia.
Snow, who has led the 240-lawyer firm for nine years, plans to retire in February.
"Gary brings clear vision, integrity and a leadership style that will serve the firm extremely well," Snow says in a written statement.
In other firm news, American Lawyer magazine ranked Carlton Fields as one of the top 200 firms in the nation for the fourth consecutive year, based on 2004 gross revenue of $93.5 million or $460,000 per lawyer. The firm moved up six slots to 189th place.
Net operating income was $36.5 million or $410,000 per equity partner for the same period, according to the trade publication. Average compensation per partner was $340,000.
Phelps Dunbar adds associate
Wolfe joins Bricklemyer Smolker & Bolves
Fowler White adds insurance attorney
Carlton Fields receives award
Foley & Lardner recognized for work
• Construction Law - Anthony J. Abate, William Garth Christopher, George Joseph Dramis III and Conrad Jorge Lazo, all of Sarasota; Michael R. Carey, Trenton Hugh Cotney, Andrea Marie Fair, Stephen Douglas Marlowe, George Joseph Meyer, Randall Patrick Mueller, Louis Prats, John Harrison Rains III, Hardy L. Roberts, George Edson Spofford IV, Brian Frederick Stayon, Joseph George Thresher, John Sebastian Vento, Brett Garrett Wadsworth, William Cary Wright and Mark Andrew Campbell, all of Tampa; and Brian Paul Deeb, St. Petersburg.
• Tax law - Cristin Ann Conley, Tampa, and Earl John Wagner II, Sarasota.
• Workers' compensation law - Mark William Ingram, Sarasota.
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