Non-Miami South Florida Firms for Corporate Forum

[Anonymous User]

I have been trying to research these firms and there is little out there either on TLS or otherwise. The non-Miami south Florida firms that I can identify as having corporate work are:

Akerman
GT
Hogan
Gunster
...

Any others? Also, does anyone know of the non-Miami pay scale? I think starting is around 135-140k, but how does the scale progress? Any insight into what corporate work these firms generally do? M&A, Banking, etc?

Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

[Anonymous User]

You are asking an extremely specific question. The FTL/Boca Raton/WPB offices of law firms down here typically aren't big on corporate. They do way more trusts & estate planning, real estate, and simple commercial litigation.

By far the biggest - and basically only - exception to the above is Greenberg Traurig (Fort Lauderdale). They have a pretty amazing M&A and securities practice that rivals the Miami office, and maybe even the NY office at times. They just closed like a 4 billion dollar private equity purchase of a Irish company with Iranian and North Korean subsidiaries. Pretty complicated stuff for an office in a city not known for BigLaw

Since Gunster has their HQ in WPB, I guess its a decent place to do corporate work. But I wouldn't say they do true corporate work...it's more like commercial/transactional work for regional banks (which can also be lucrative). If a bank needs to buy property or wants to enter a licensing contract for some reason, they'll go to Gunster. Sometimes that includes M&A amongst the local regional banks, but that's as "corporate" as it gets. And this group rarely takes new associates. In my OCI interviews with Gunster, as soon as I told them I was interested in corporate/transactional work, they lost all interest in me. Maybe I was a bad candidate, but they seemed really interested in pushing me towards litigation. After I told them i didn't want lit I got dinged

Holland & Knight (Fort Lauderdale), Akerman (Fort Lauderdale), Shutts and Bown (Fort Lauderdale), Broad & Cassel (Boca Raton and WPB) are OK for corporate work. But are are really small offices (with the possible exception of Holland & Knight FTL). Shutts & Bowen doesn't really do true corporate work either, its more like transactional work in the healthcare industry. Supposedly Broad & Cassel has a corporate group, but I have never heard of them being on a deal. I think the Boca Raton office focuses on lending and WPB focuses on small businesses

As for the firms you mentioned, they may have some corporate attorneys here and there but they rarely hire associates (as summers or laterals). I can break it down further for you:

Akerman - Lit/Real Estate
GT - Amazing corp group but with brutal hours out of FTL
Hogan - their only Florida office is in Miami*
Gunster - See Above
*If by "Hogan", you meant "Holland & Knight", then your SOL there too because they mostly do lit out of FTL and WP


Also, if you're interested in Non-Miami South Florida offices you better be a lateral with a few years under your belt. The vast, vast majority of these offices take 1 summer associate every year, and have long histories of no-offering people. By far the biggest corporate group here (Greenberg FTL) didn't even take a single summer associate this year.

TL;DR - don't hold your breath if you are looking for a summer associate position in Non-305 South Florida to do corporate work

[Anonymous User]

Thank you very much, this is exactly the information I was hoping to get. And, yes, I did mean Holland and not Hogan. Thanks again.

Any insight on the pay scale and how much increases by class year? Thanks.

[Anonymous User]

Thank you very much, this is exactly the information I was hoping to get. And, yes, I did mean Holland and not Hogan. Thanks again.

Any insight on the pay scale and how much increases by class year? Thanks.

First poster here.

That I can't really help you with. I'm 90% sure, though, that Gunster offers non-lockstep, "merit"-based raises. So if you meet your billable hours for the year (or come reasonably close and do a ton of business dev), then you are "allowed" to progress to the next year (i.e., from being a second-year associate to a third-year associate). In my opinion that's pretty friggin TTT. And if you don't meet your billable you'll probably be fired before long anyways. But again, if you're interested in corporate work they are one of the only shops in town that do it.

Also, I get the sense now that you're not a law student. In that case, I should temper my cynicism quite a bit. Since the Florida firms typically have tiny/non-existent summer associate classes, they typically are always big on taking laterals. I've heard from quite a few people that the FTL/WPB/Boca shops are basically always on the hunt for laterals with at least one year under their belts from major markets. Hell, I've even seen quite a bit of laterals from mid-law/semi-shit law get great positions with Florida firms. The lateral market is much easier to crack in FL

[Anonymous User]

Thank you very much, this is exactly the information I was hoping to get. And, yes, I did mean Holland and not Hogan. Thanks again.

Any insight on the pay scale and how much increases by class year? Thanks.

First poster here.

That I can't really help you with. I'm 90% sure, though, that Gunster offers non-lockstep, "merit"-based raises. So if you meet your billable hours for the year (or come reasonably close and do a ton of business dev), then you are "allowed" to progress to the next year (i.e., from being a second-year associate to a third-year associate). In my opinion that's pretty friggin TTT. And if you don't meet your billable you'll probably be fired before long anyways. But again, if you're interested in corporate work they are one of the only shops in town that do it.

Also, I get the sense now that you're not a law student. In that case, I should temper my cynicism quite a bit. Since the Florida firms typically have tiny/non-existent summer associate classes, they typically are always big on taking laterals. I've heard from quite a few people that the FTL/WPB/Boca shops are basically always on the hunt for laterals with at least one year under their belts from major markets. Hell, I've even seen quite a bit of laterals from mid-law/semi-shit law get great positions with Florida firms. The lateral market is much easier to crack in FL

Many thanks, again.

[Anonymous User]

This was really helpful. Do you happen to have similar insight on the corporate practices of Orlando and Tampa?

[lavarman84]

This was really helpful. Do you happen to have similar insight on the corporate practices of Orlando and Tampa?

I'm not the poster above, but you'll run into similar issues in those markets. You're more likely to see transactional practices than the more traditional corporate work (that you'd associate with a major market). And from what I've seen, openings are pretty limited. Hopefully, somebody who has transactional experience in those markets can offer more guidance.(I'm going into lit)

[Anonymous User]

You are asking an extremely specific question. The FTL/Boca Raton/WPB offices of law firms down here typically aren't big on corporate. They do way more trusts & estate planning, real estate, and simple commercial litigation.

By far the biggest - and basically only - exception to the above is Greenberg Traurig (Fort Lauderdale). They have a pretty amazing M&A and securities practice that rivals the Miami office, and maybe even the NY office at times. They just closed like a 4 billion dollar private equity purchase of a Irish company with Iranian and North Korean subsidiaries. Pretty complicated stuff for an office in a city not known for BigLaw

Since Gunster has their HQ in WPB, I guess its a decent place to do corporate work. But I wouldn't say they do true corporate work...it's more like commercial/transactional work for regional banks (which can also be lucrative). If a bank needs to buy property or wants to enter a licensing contract for some reason, they'll go to Gunster. Sometimes that includes M&A amongst the local regional banks, but that's as "corporate" as it gets. And this group rarely takes new associates. In my OCI interviews with Gunster, as soon as I told them I was interested in corporate/transactional work, they lost all interest in me. Maybe I was a bad candidate, but they seemed really interested in pushing me towards litigation. After I told them i didn't want lit I got dinged

Holland & Knight (Fort Lauderdale), Akerman (Fort Lauderdale), Shutts and Bown (Fort Lauderdale), Broad & Cassel (Boca Raton and WPB) are OK for corporate work. But are are really small offices (with the possible exception of Holland & Knight FTL). Shutts & Bowen doesn't really do true corporate work either, its more like transactional work in the healthcare industry. Supposedly Broad & Cassel has a corporate group, but I have never heard of them being on a deal. I think the Boca Raton office focuses on lending and WPB focuses on small businesses

As for the firms you mentioned, they may have some corporate attorneys here and there but they rarely hire associates (as summers or laterals). I can break it down further for you:

Akerman - Lit/Real Estate
GT - Amazing corp group but with brutal hours out of FTL
Hogan - their only Florida office is in Miami*
Gunster - See Above
*If by "Hogan", you meant "Holland & Knight", then your SOL there too because they mostly do lit out of FTL and WP


Also, if you're interested in Non-Miami South Florida offices you better be a lateral with a few years under your belt. The vast, vast majority of these offices take 1 summer associate every year, and have long histories of no-offering people. By far the biggest corporate group here (Greenberg FTL) didn't even take a single summer associate this year.

TL;DR - don't hold your breath if you are looking for a summer associate position in Non-305 South Florida to do corporate work

What does BRUTAL hours mean for GT FTL? How bad is it there?

[Anonymous User]

This is a great topic. Would Atlanta be considered a major market from which one could later down to WPB/FTL

Also fwiw, do these firms look favorably on lateral candidates who are from WPB/FTL area

I've heard the FL market is tough if you went to school outside the state?

[Anonymous User]

Not op here but just curious.. How difficult is the Miami BigLaw market if you have ~3 years of associate experience in a BigLaw firm in NYC?

[Anonymous User]

BUMP super interested in any insight into this topic

[Anonymous User]

Not op here but just curious.. How difficult is the Miami BigLaw market if you have ~3 years of associate experience in a BigLaw firm in NYC?

I made the transition as a 2nd year. Here's the deal, there are few openings and few shots,(once u get rejected from a firm unlikely to have a realistic shot again for a bit) but the few spots that do exist are attainable. In NYC you are always one second away from a Cravath/sullcrom etc kid coming in and taking your spot after you interview well. The pool of people applying with decent credentials is much less in Florida. If you are at V50/100 firm you will stand out. Given that if you connect with a firm on your interview and have solid ties (really important) you have a pretty good shot.

[Anonymous User]

You are asking an extremely specific question. The FTL/Boca Raton/WPB offices of law firms down here typically aren't big on corporate. They do way more trusts & estate planning, real estate, and simple commercial litigation.

By far the biggest - and basically only - exception to the above is Greenberg Traurig (Fort Lauderdale). They have a pretty amazing M&A and securities practice that rivals the Miami office, and maybe even the NY office at times. They just closed like a 4 billion dollar private equity purchase of a Irish company with Iranian and North Korean subsidiaries. Pretty complicated stuff for an office in a city not known for BigLaw

Since Gunster has their HQ in WPB, I guess its a decent place to do corporate work. But I wouldn't say they do true corporate work...it's more like commercial/transactional work for regional banks (which can also be lucrative). If a bank needs to buy property or wants to enter a licensing contract for some reason, they'll go to Gunster. Sometimes that includes M&A amongst the local regional banks, but that's as "corporate" as it gets. And this group rarely takes new associates. In my OCI interviews with Gunster, as soon as I told them I was interested in corporate/transactional work, they lost all interest in me. Maybe I was a bad candidate, but they seemed really interested in pushing me towards litigation. After I told them i didn't want lit I got dinged

Holland & Knight (Fort Lauderdale), Akerman (Fort Lauderdale), Shutts and Bown (Fort Lauderdale), Broad & Cassel (Boca Raton and WPB) are OK for corporate work. But are are really small offices (with the possible exception of Holland & Knight FTL). Shutts & Bowen doesn't really do true corporate work either, its more like transactional work in the healthcare industry. Supposedly Broad & Cassel has a corporate group, but I have never heard of them being on a deal. I think the Boca Raton office focuses on lending and WPB focuses on small businesses

As for the firms you mentioned, they may have some corporate attorneys here and there but they rarely hire associates (as summers or laterals). I can break it down further for you:

Akerman - Lit/Real Estate
GT - Amazing corp group but with brutal hours out of FTL
Hogan - their only Florida office is in Miami*
Gunster - See Above
*If by "Hogan", you meant "Holland & Knight", then your SOL there too because they mostly do lit out of FTL and WP


Also, if you're interested in Non-Miami South Florida offices you better be a lateral with a few years under your belt. The vast, vast majority of these offices take 1 summer associate every year, and have long histories of no-offering people. By far the biggest corporate group here (Greenberg FTL) didn't even take a single summer associate this year.

TL;DR - don't hold your breath if you are looking for a summer associate position in Non-305 South Florida to do corporate work

What does BRUTAL hours mean for GT FTL? How bad is it there?

+1 -- can someone expand upon "brutal"? And what tends to be the standard QOL for Miami/Fort Lauderdale biglaw?

[Anonymous User]

Any advice for an interview with FTL GT corporate group?