Polsinelli Opens Miami Office with GrayRobinson and Akerman Attorneys
The firm is looking to expand its health care, financial services, real estate and corporate practices in South Florida.
February 26, 2019 at 09:57 AM
3 minute read
(L-to-R) Brian Seidenberg, Michael Gennett, Marisa Rodriguez Wilson, J. Everett Wilson, Milton Vescovacci and James Barnett. Polsinelli Miami Office
Polsinelli has opened a Miami office with attorneys from Akerman and GrayRobinson. The new office is the firm's first in Florida and 22nd overall.
The office has five new shareholders and one associate: real estate attorney James Barnett; corporate attorney Milton Vescovacci; health care attorneys Michael Gennett, Marisa Rodriguez Wilson and Everett Wilson; and associate Brian Seidenberg.
Wilson, Rodriguez Wilson and Gennett jumped from Akerman. Barnett, Vescovacci and Seidenberg came from GrayRobinson.
“We're pleased to announce our expansion in Miami,” said Polsinelli Chairman and CEO Chase Simmons in a statement. “We've been doing business there for years and our firm's focus on health care, financial services, real estate, and midmarket corporate work has been well received in the Miami market.”
The firm has long had clients in the area, and the opening, it said, is a move to better service those clients while hiring attorneys who can work in South Florida's active health care, real estate and finance spaces — staple practice areas for the firm that have been key to the narrow strategy that's in part responsible for a nearly tripling of revenue and doubling of attorney head count since 2009.
Polsinelli posted 8 percent revenue growth in 2018, topping out at $513 million, while its head count increased by 27 attorneys. The firm also opened a Seattle office last year with eight Foster Pepper attorneys.
Simmons took over as CEO in January, succeeding W. Russell Welsh. The firm's founder, James Polsinelli, retired the same month.
Vescovacci said Polisnelli's sprawling reach and larger size was enough to entice him to jump from GrayRobinson to his new firm.
“Over the past 25 years, I've worked with Polsinelli and knew they were a good firm,” he said. “It also has a cadre of lawyers with different specialties and sophisticated practices that GrayRobinson did not have.”
Mayanne Downs, president and managing director of GrayRobinson, said in a statement about Vescovacci's departure: ”We are sincerely grateful for his contributions to GrayRobinson and, as we always do for our alumni, we wish him the best in his endeavors to practice in a national private equity practice.”
In a statement, Akerman Chairman Andrew Smulian said Wilson, Wilson Rodriguez and Gennett are very fine lawyers and the firm wishes them well.
“Like any business, there are routine departures but our firm continues to grow,” he said. “Last year we welcomed 47 new lateral partners who expand our presence in Chicago, Dallas, New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and many other U.S. markets, while expanding our capabilities in key client sectors across the Americas.”
Polsinelli's Miami office is located at 201 S. Biscayne Blvd.
Similar stories:
Polsinelli Soon Just a Brand Name as Founder Prepares to Retire
After 20 Years of Consistency, What's in Store Under Polsinelli's New CEO?
An Increasingly Acquisitive Polsinelli Sets Up Shop in Seattle
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