If you went to a certain Philadelphia private school in the late 1980s, you'd have seen an eighth-grade entrepreneur rolling a cart around during recess, selling treats to kids at the back of the cafeteria line at higher prices.

That child was Peckar & Abramson's Adam P. Handfinger.

And he didn't stop there.

Now co-managing partner for the firm's Miami office, Handfinger also dabbled in startups, collaborated with established businesses and became co-owner of a CrossFit and boot camp fitness facility with his wife.

His most recent venture, Document Crunch, is a platform that uses artificial-intelligence technology to make it faster, easier and cheaper for professionals to negotiate, analyze and improve voluminous contracts and policies. Users can upload a document and get it back in an interactive format, which through machine learning, identifies certain provisions for easier navigation. There, Handfinger heads the advisory board, where his role is not connected to Peckar & Abramson.

But the road to business savvy was not without its bumps.

As a teenager, gaining experience meant stints at Albertsons grocery store, Nathan's Famous hotdogs and Sears shoe department.

"The summer between college and law school I was just home being a loser, I guess, so my dad was like, 'I'm going out of town for a week. If you don't have a job by the time I'm back, you're going to go to the Sears store at the mall and getting a job.' " Handfinger said. " So, of course, I did nothing to find a job. I was like, 'I'm starting law school in the fall, I don't care.' "

At Sears against his will, Handfinger felt like Al Bundy, a character from "Married… With Children," driven to misery by his shoe-store customers.

" Luckily, my professional career has taken a little bit of a better turn since then," he said.

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Unconventional

Handfinger never planned on being a "traditional lawyer," having imagined his law degree would serve as a springboard to something in business. But those plans changed after 2001, when he was recruited to Rosenberg, Reisman & Stein—an intimate, boutique law firm with about 12 lawyers.

About a month in, Handfinger was quite perturbed to discover the firm would be merging with national giant Peckar & Abramson.

But he got over it.

"Other than my initial reaction of, 'Holy crap, I can't believe you guys did this,' I've been in love with this firm because of its culture," he said.

Though the firm is huge, Handfinger says it hasn't felt that way, because its leaders have tried to make attorneys feel connected and included. As a testament to that, the same core group of lawyers who were there when Handfinger joined are still going strong.

The firm, ranked among the top by Chambers USA, focuses on representing large general contractors, helping them negotiate contracts, plan projects and make decisions. While Handfinger also litigates for clients, much of his practice is focused on "not waiting for them to have a problem."

The attorney has therefore become somewhat of an extension of his client's companies and has even been recruited as an adjunct professor at Nova Southeastern University's Huizenga College of Business, where he'll teach a course on the fundamentals of construction management at the Terry Stiles School of Real Estate Development this spring.

"At first I thought it was just a construction-law class, which I could obviously teach easily, but then I realized, 'Wait a minute, this is a master's program for real estate developers,' " he said.

The teaching stint demonstrates how Handfinger's experience has made him an authority beyond the law.

" I don't think the industry looks at us as outsiders, waiting for them to have a problem to litigate a case, and just churn and make money," Handfinger said. "We feel like we're a part of the industry."

To this end, Handfinger has already arranged visits to construction sites and ordered hard hats for students to decorate with stickers from each company.

"It's going to be a very hands-on class," he said.

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The Altman case

One of Handfinger's cases, Altman Contractors Inc. v. Crum & Forster Specialty Insurance Co., has become a known name in the construction law space—commonly referred to as "the Altman case"—because it changed the way post-completion defect claims work.

"When I see (the plaintiff), I'm like, you do realize you have relative fame now in the construction community?' " Handfinger said. " And he's like, 'I don't know that that's the kind of fame I want, but thanks."

Handfinger represented a contractor who faced defect claims after completing a Fort Lauderdale beachfront condominium. No lawsuit was filed, thanks to a Chapter 558 notice, a claims process that allows contractors advance warning to fix problems.

But once everything had been dealt with, the contractor's insurer refused to cover legal fees and expert fees because no lawsuit had actually been filed.

"If there was a lawsuit filed, or an arbitration, it was clear that the carrier had to do that, but when you were in the 558 process, and there hadn't been a lawsuit filed yet, it wasn't as clear," Handfinger said.

After losing at trial court and winning at the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Eleventh Circuit, the case went all the way to the Florida Supreme Court, where Handfinger gave oral arguments.

"It was such a cool experience because I never would have thought that I'd be in this traditional lawyers' role," he said. "I'm normally in jeans."

The state court ruled that, under certain circumstances, insurance carriers do have to defend their contractors in a 558 process, and the case settled.

Related story: Chapter 558 Ruled a 'Suit' Under Standard Commercial General Liability Insurance Policies

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'It's not the coffee'

Eric Neuman of Neuman Law in Boca Raton introduced Handfinger to his wife, CrossFit instructor Rachel Handfinger, and officiated their wedding in January. Handfinger has three children and two stepchildren with his wife.

Adam Handfinger of Peckar Abramson in Miami getting married in January, with his children. Adam Handfinger with his wife and his children at their January wedding. Courtesy photo.

Neuman said he's baffled at how Handfinger is able to bring drive and "gusto" to everything he does.

"I used to think it was because he drank a pot of coffee every morning by himself, but I see now it's not the coffee, it's just the way he's designed. He has this incredible enthusiasm and that really comes across in what a powerful force he is," Neuman said. "It makes him great at whatever he sets his mind to. At the same time, it drives everybody around him crazy trying to keep up with him."

Recruited by Handfinger about 15 years ago, Neuman said he immediately noticed the young associate was sharing his cellphone number with every client, and talking to them day and night, having put on their problems like a jacket.

"Adam brings a level of intellect to the practice that I usually only see in lawyers who are a generation above us," Neuman said. "It's almost never that I'm sitting in a conference room watching a presentation by a contemporary, and I'm completely wowed."

Handfinger also helped establish a "rising star education program" at his firm after realizing that holding meetings with high-level executives at construction companies was doing more for Peckar & Abramson than its clients.

"For our benefit, it's great to get the executives in the room, the decision-makers, and let them see and remember who we are," he said. "But the real value added to the client is to train the up-and-comers."

Handfinger will start teaching at Nova in two weeks.

Adam P. Handfinger

Born: October 1974, Philadelphia

Spouse: Rachel Handfinger

Children: Zoey, Blake and Sofie Handfinger, Jayden and Jaxson Adib

Education: Emory University, M.B.A. and J.D., 2000; University of Florida, B.S., 1996

Experience: Adjunct professor, Nova Southeastern University, 2020; Co-owner, CrossFit Immersion Fitness, 2018-present; Co-managing partner, Peckar & Abramson, 2001-present; Associate, Griffin Cochrane & Marshall, 1999-2001.

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