Jordi Guso, with Berger Singerman. Photo: Jill Kahn

Corporate bankruptcy attorney Jordi Guso has been elected managing partner of the Berger Singerman effective Jan. 1 as the midsize law firm makes its first generational change at the top.

The firm's equity partners elected Guso to a four-year term Wednesday to succeed James Berger and announced the results Thursday.

The decision was a move "to secure this firm's future and demonstrate that we have proactively planned for the future," Berger said in a statement.

Guso joined the firm in 1997 and has served on its executive committee since 2013. During the transition to new leadership, Berger will serve as the firm's president for four years, and Paul Singerman and Mitchell Berger will remain the firm's co-chairs. The Bergers and Singerman are in their 60s.

"After 2020, the day-to-day operational, managerial duties will fall exclusively to the managing partner, with the president obviously being able to provide his expertise," Guso said Thursday in an interview.

Asked if he planned any initiatives, Guso said: "We're very fortunate. Our firm is really in a great place. … I view my job in this new role to frankly pay that forward and to position ourselves to first and foremost maintain the culture that we have here, which I believe is pretty unique." 

Berger Singerman is a supporter of the University of Miami School of Law's mindfulness in law program and has hosted mindfulness workshops. The firm also hosts an annual BusinessTalk event with a keynote speaker. This year's theme was successful leadership and happiness, two elements not normally intertwined at law firms.

The Miami attorney intends to maintain his practice. He represents Magnum Construction Management, previously Munilla Construction Management, the general contractor in charge of building the Florida International University pedestrian bridge that collapsed last year.

Guso was one of the top billing South Florida attorneys in 2017 based on a review of federal bankruptcy court records, charging $610 an hour. He also represented Herbert Stettin when he served as the bankruptcy trustee in the fraud-ridden collapse of the Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm.

Guso's aviation cases include Arrow Air, Aloha Airlines and Gemini Air Cargo. He also has advised developers, contractors and real estate lenders.

He is finishing a two-year term as president of the Legal Services of Greater Miami Inc. board this month and co-chairs an American Bankruptcy Institute committee.

"I wholeheartedly embrace Berger Singerman's core principles, including that our lawyers have a responsibility to give back to the communities in which we live and work," Guso said in a statement.

He joined the firm from Furr & Cohen weeks after the Miami office opened after working for attorney Robert Roth and clerking for U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sidney Weaver.

The firm's practice areas are business reorganization, dispute resolution, business finance and tax, and government relations. 

A good chunk of its business comes on referrals from out-of-state firms for work in Florida. Berger Singerman follows "an absolutely inviolate no-poach rule," agreeing to direct the client back to its original firm when the work is done. 

James Berger said he is confident Guso "is well-prepared to provide the next generation of leadership."

Singerman said the firm is "a great platform for seasoned attorneys and rising stars alike," Singerman said in a statement.

Guso will take over in the firm's 35th year, which Singerman said "demonstrates our commitment to the future and to continuing the entrepreneurial, collaborative and philanthropic principles upon which the firm was founded."

Founded in 1985 in Fort Lauderdale, the firm has expanded to more than 85 attorneys in four Florida offices. The others are in Miami, Boca Raton and Tallahassee.