Akerman Senterfitt
Encyclopedia
Akerman Senterfitt is a large law firm
Law firm
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...

, BigLaw, based in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...

. It was founded in 1920 and has grown to become one of the largest in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. 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
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

-based firm (behind Greenberg Traurig
Greenberg Traurig
Greenberg Traurig LLP and Greenberg Traurig PA is an international law firm based in Miami, Florida.The firm has approximately 1,800 attorneys and governmental professionals in 32 locations in the United States, Europe and Asia. Its founding office is in Miami, Florida with its largest office in...

). In December 2009, Law360 ranked Akerman Senterfitt as 88th largest in the U.S. by the number of attorneys practicing within the U.S. The firm is headquartered at 1 SE 3rd Avenue in Downtown Miami
Downtown Miami
Downtown Miami is an urban residential neighborhood, and the central business district of Miami, Miami-Dade County, and South Florida in the United States...

.

Early history

Akerman Senterfitt, P.A. is a full-service law firm headquartered in Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...

. The current CEO is Andrew Smulian. It was founded in 1920 by Orlando attorneys Alexander Akerman
Alexander Akerman
Alexander Akerman was an American lawyer and judge.Akerman was born in 1869 in Elberton, Georgia. His father was the noted lawyer Amos T. Akerman...

 and John Moses Cheney
John Moses Cheney
John Moses Cheney was an American lawyer and judge.Cheney was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He graduated from Boston University School of Law with an LL.B. in 1886....

 as Cheney & Akerman, with offices in the Dollins Building on 10 West Pine, Orlando, Florida. By 1925, following the death of John Cheney a few years earlier, Alexander partnered with his first cousin Hugh Akerman as Akerman & Akerman. By 1931, Alexander had retired and Hugh's brothers Emory Akerman and Joe Akerman joined the family-owned firm. 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). 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
Orange County, Florida
Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida and is part of the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford Metropolitan Statistical Area . As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 1,145,956....

, 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
SunTrust Banks
SunTrust Banks, Inc., is an American bank holding company. The largest subsidiary is SunTrust Bank. It had US$172.7 billion in assets as of September 30, 2009...

). In the 1950s, Dial was involved in bringing defense contractor Martin Marietta
Martin Marietta
Martin Marietta Corporation was an American company founded in 1961 through the merger of The Martin Company and American-Marietta Corporation. The combined company became a leader in chemicals, aerospace, and electronics. In 1995, it merged with Lockheed Corporation to form Lockheed Martin. The...

 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. The decisions to bring I-4 and the Florida Turnpike
Florida's Turnpike
Florida's Turnpike , designated as the Ronald Reagan Turnpike, and originally known as the Sunshine State Parkway is a north–south toll road that runs through 11 counties in the Florida peninsula, from U.S...

 through the area literally made Orlando into the crossroads of Florida, one of the factors that later led to Walt Disney's
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

 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
Winter Park, Florida
Winter Park is a suburban city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 24,090 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2006 estimates, the city had a population of 28,083. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area...

) 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
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...

 office was opened, marking the beginning of the firm’s current sustained pattern of expansion. Two short-lived offices were opened in Tallahassee
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...

, the first in the late 1970s and again in 1986; 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
Tampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....

 office. The 1990s saw Akerman Senterfitt’s greatest expansion, mostly through mergers and acquisitions of other law firms. New offices were opened in Tavares, Florida
Tavares, Florida
Tavares is a city in central Florida in the United States. It is the county seat of Lake County. The population was 9,700 at the 2000 census. The Census Bureau estimated the population in 2008 to be 13,746. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area...

 (August 1996), West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...

 (December 1995), Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...

 (June 1997) and Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

 (late 1999). At one time, the firm also had an office in Boca Raton, Florida
Boca Raton, Florida
Boca Raton is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, USA, incorporated in May 1925. In the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 74,764; the 2006 population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 86,396. However, the majority of the people under the postal address of Boca Raton, about...

 (December 1998 to August 2003). 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) and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 (November 2005), followed soon thereafter by Tysons Corner, Virginia
Tysons Corner, Virginia
Tysons Corner is an unincorporated census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Part of the Washington Metropolitan Area located in Northern Virginia, Tysons Corner lies between the community of McLean and the town of Vienna along the Capital Beltway . The population was...

, Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

 and Madison, Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....

.

Name changes

(see below for documentation)
  • Cheney & Akerman (1920–1921)
  • Akerman & Akerman (c. 1925 – c. 1932)
  • Akerman & Grey (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)
  • Turnbull & Senterfitt – May 1958
  • Moffitt, Hart & Herron – January 1991
  • Stagg, Hardy & Mathews – November 1993
  • 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
  • Katz, Kutter, Alderman & Bryant, PA – April 2004
  • Pickholz Law Firm, LLP – November 2005
  • Wickwire Gavin – June 2006

Departing attorneys

Akerman Senterfitt has recently had difficulties retaining attorneys. Several high-ranking partners
Partner (business rank)
A partner in a law firm, accounting firm, consulting firm, or financial firm is a highly ranked position. Originally, these businesses were set up as legal partnerships in which the partners were entitled to a share of the profits of the enterprise. The name has remained even though many of these...

 had left the firm, including Robert Fernandez, who previously served as deputy general counsel to Florida Governor Jeb Bush
Jeb Bush
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is a prominent member of the Bush family: the second son of former President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush; the younger brother of former President George W...

. The firm has brought in executive search
Executive search
Executive search is the consultative process of recruiting individuals to fill senior executive positions in organizations. Executive search may be performed by an organization's board of directors, or by an outside executive search organization....

 consultants to recruit new talent.

Merger difficulties

Akerman Senterfitt's management had planned a merger with the 300+ lawyer Philadelphia-based law firm of WolfBlock
WolfBlock
WolfBlock LLP was a large U.S. law firm and lobbying group based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The National Law Journal ranked WolfBlock the 149th largest firm in the United States, and the 10th largest in Philadelphia, by number of attorneys...

, which would have created a single 800-lawyer firm. 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
Conflict of interest
A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....

 that cannot be discussed publicly”. WolfBlock later dissolved in March 2009 due to financial problems.

Practice areas

Akerman Senterfitt has the largest corporate
Corporate law
Corporate law is the study of how shareholders, directors, employees, creditors, and other stakeholders such as consumers, the community and the environment interact with one another. Corporate law is a part of a broader companies law...

, intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...

, and litigation practices in the State of Florida. The firm also has large practices in construction law
Construction law
Construction law is a body of law that deals with matters relating to building construction and related fields. It covers a wide range of legal issues including contract law, bonds and bonding, guarantees and sureties, liens and other security interests, tendering, construction claims, and related...

, real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

, bankruptcy
Bankruptcy in the United States
Bankruptcy in the United States is governed under the United States Constitution which authorizes Congress to enact "uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States." Congress has exercised this authority several times since 1801, most recently by adopting the Bankruptcy...

, labor and employment law
United States labor law
United States labor law is a heterogeneous collection of state and federal laws. Federal law not only sets the standards that govern workers' rights to organize in the private sector, but also overrides most state and local laws that attempt to regulate this area. Federal law also provides more...

, and lobbying
Lobbying
Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by various people or groups, from private-sector individuals or corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or...

.

Famous lawyers and alumni

  • Terry Nelson
    Terry Nelson
    Terry A. Nelson is a consultant and Republican strategist in the United States. He was the political director of the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign...

    , manager of George W. Bush's 2004 reelection campaign
    George W. Bush presidential campaign, 2004
    This article is about the presidential campaign of George W. Bush, the former President of the United States and winner of the 2004 Presidential Election. See George W. Bush for a detailed biography and information about his full presidency, and George W. Bush presidential campaign, 2000 for a...

  • Gary C. Matzner
    Gary C. Matzner
    Gary C. Matzner is the co-founder and former mayor of the Village of Pinecrest, Florida. He was elected to a four-year term as mayor in November 2004. The Village of Pinecrest, Florida is located within Miami-Dade County. He rallied the community to save the former Parrot Jungle site which is now...

    , mayor
    Mayor
    In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

     of Pinecrest, Florida
    Pinecrest, Florida
    Pinecrest is a suburban village in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States of America. The population was 19,055 as of the census of 2000. Pinecrest is governed by a five-member Village Council and operates under the Council-Manager form of government....

  • William H. Dial, founder of SunTrust Banks
    SunTrust Banks
    SunTrust Banks, Inc., is an American bank holding company. The largest subsidiary is SunTrust Bank. It had US$172.7 billion in assets as of September 30, 2009...

  • Mark Wallace
    Mark Wallace
    Mark Alexander Wallace is a Welsh cricketer; a left-handed batsman and wicket-keeper....

    , former U.S. Representative for U.N. Management and Reform Committee

Offices

  • Boca Raton, Florida
    Boca Raton, Florida
    Boca Raton is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, USA, incorporated in May 1925. In the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 74,764; the 2006 population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 86,396. However, the majority of the people under the postal address of Boca Raton, about...

  • Los Angeles, California
    Los Angeles, California
    Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

  • Las Vegas, Nevada
    Las Vegas, Nevada
    Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

  • Denver, Colorado
    Denver, Colorado
    The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...

  • Dallas, Texas
    Dallas, Texas
    Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

  • Fort Lauderdale, Florida
    Fort Lauderdale, Florida
    Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...

  • Jacksonville, Florida
    Jacksonville, Florida
    Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

  • Miami, Florida
    Miami, Florida
    Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...

  • Orlando, Florida
    Orlando, Florida
    Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...

  • Palm Beach, Florida
    Palm Beach, Florida
    The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...

  • Tampa, Florida
    Tampa, Florida
    Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....

  • Tallahassee, Florida
    Tallahassee, Florida
    Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...

  • West Palm Beach, Florida
    West Palm Beach, Florida
    West Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...

  • New York City
    New York City
    New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

  • Tyson's Corner, Virginia
  • Madison, Wisconsin
    Madison, Wisconsin
    Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....

  • Washington, D.C.
    Washington, D.C.
    Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....


External links

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