John W. Daniels Jr., the law firm’s chairman and a part-time Hillsborough County resident, kept an eye on the Tampa market during that time and decided recently it was time to pull the trigger.
The Milwaukee-based organization handpicked some local lawyers from firms with national platforms to form the backbone of its Tampa practice and ended up negotiating to lease even more space than originally anticipated on the 34th floor of the Bank of America building downtown.
“I’ve been watching Tampa grow and develop,” Daniels said. “The synergies here are really terrific for a firm like ours. This is a community that fits exactly our profile.”
Expanding its reach
Quarles & Brady has about 45 lawyers in its Naples office, the firm’s only other Florida presence. Altogether, the full-service firm has about 450 lawyers at offices in Florida, Wisconsin, Arizona and Chicago.
The firm has clients in the Tampa Bay area, Daniels said, but he declined to identify them because of confidentiality restrictions.
He believes the legal industry is undergoing “a convergence process,” meaning the number of law firms will decrease, firms will become more nimble and practices will not be constrained by geography.
Daniels is positioning Quarles & Brady to capitalize on the market changes inherent in convergence by hiring practitioners who understand their clients’ businesses and needs.
“We view this as a growth market for the firm, and we have a very clear value proposition that is attractive to lawyers,” he said. “First, we have a national platform with deep depth, and second, we invest in the human talent. My philosophy is everybody counts every day.”
With Tampa lawyers in the intellectual property and “biospace” arenas similar to the firm’s practices in other areas, Daniels is counting on new opportunities from the area.
When the economy rebounds, he anticipates the Tampa market will be “a dominant player.”
Proximity to ‘the corridor’
The Interstate 4 corridor makes the area a premiere location for many law firms, said Susan Etheridge, legal placement director at the Hillsborough Bar Association.
“A lot want to be near the corridor to serve clients,” she said. “This is a hot area now.”
It is not unusual for a full-service national firm such as Quarles & Brady to enter a market and create a presence by hiring lawyers from other national firms, although it has not happened in Tampa lately.
“It’s hard for lawyers with national clients to go to a smaller platform if they want to make a change,” Etheridge said. “This involves small spin-offs from national firms. Maybe [Quarles & Brady] has a better package, a better deal.”
Client needs
The firm’s expansion in Tampa could be driven by clients who need the I-4 corridor. Lawyers who talked to Quarles & Brady recruiters “were told they have business for them to work on here,” she said.
Three of the lawyers who joined the firm came from Holland & Knight, a national full-service firm. Brad Kimbro, executive partner in H&K’s Tampa office, said lawyers at large firms relocate occasionally as their practices and personal circumstances change.
He described Quarles & Brady as a firm with “a fine reputation.” Competition is not a real concern.
“H&K is a national law firm with a Florida focus and a long history of outstanding client service in Tampa,” Kimbro said in an e-mail response to questions. “We have for many years found ourselves competing with out-of-state firms that have opened offices in Tampa.”
