Hall Booth Smith has opened a Miami office, its fifth in Florida, with a three-lawyer defense litigation team. The office is led by partner John Goran, who arrived from Mintzer Sarowitz Zeris Ledva & Meyers. 

Hall Booth's managing partner, Alex Booth, said the office will focus on defense litigation, particularly medical malpractice and other health care cases. That fits the Atlanta-based general practice firm's overall practice mix in Florida, Booth said, which includes transportation and general liability litigation. 

With the Miami outpost, Hall Booth now has about 230 lawyers in 19 offices. The firm's other Florida offices are located in North Palm Beach, Jacksonville, Tallahassee and St. Petersburg. 

The firm has secured Miami office space, but it is still on remote status due to the coronavirus pandemic. Planning for the office evolved over several months, Booth said, adding that some of Hall Booth's insurer and excess carrier clients have been asking for it to handle cases in South Florida similar to those its lawyers have tried for them elsewhere. "I think they're trying to get some consistency in their approaches to certain cases," he said.

Hall Booth hired Goran, who mostly handles medical malpractice and pharmaceutical litigation along with some general liability cases, after some of the firm's Florida lawyers recommended him, Booth said. Goran, who joined in January, had been working out of the firm's Palm Beach office.

After Hall Booth decided to open a separate Miami office, it subsequently hired Goran's brother, Bill Goran, as of counsel last month. Bill Goran had a solo practice handling mostly workers' compensation cases for the construction and hospitality industries. "We liked John, and so we met Bill and asked him to come too," Booth said.

The third Miami office member is associate Jordan Rosales, who had been working out of Hall Booth's Palm Beach office since he joined from Wicker Smith last fall. 

Hall Booth has leased space at 9130 South Dadeland Blvd. in Miami, and Booth said there is room to hire more lawyers. "We want to expand the office. As long as the clients keep sending us work, we'll keep doing it," Booth said.