In an age when it's possible to patent everything from a human gene to a method of doing business, it seems everybody needs a patent lawyer. Virtually every big corporate law firm in the state would like to have more of them. So would many of the startup technology companies. Florida's law schools have pitched in to help, adding intellectual property programs to the menu of specialized degrees and certificates available to law students. This month, the University of Florida's Fredric G. Levin College of Law will launch an eight-credit intellectual property certificate program that students can earn alongside their law degrees. Director Tom Cotter expects the program's graduates to have no trouble finding jobs. "I think they will be very employable," Cotter says.
It takes a long time to grow a patent lawyer, however. Those who specialize in researching and filing patent applications typically have undergraduate engineering or science degrees. Saliwanchik has degrees in both environmental engineering and chemistry. His firm is among only a handful in the state that specialize in patent applications. His associates are the frequent target of recruiting lures, though so far he's managed to keep them. In West Palm Beach, an eight-lawyer intellectual property practice of Milwaukee-based Quarles & Brady is in constant recruitment mode, according to partner Greg Nelson. Nelson says the firm is offering intellectual property lawyers salaries about 10% higher than similarly experienced lawyers in other practice areas. At the same time, the lawyers it already has are being bombarded with offers. "I think most IP lawyers, from associates on up to partner level, are getting calls on a regular basis," Nelson says. "I think everybody's looking."
That makes it hard to keep intellectual property lawyers, even when you can find them. Fort Lauderdale-based legal recruiter Joe Ankus says he recently found a patent lawyer for one Florida boutique practice, but within six months the lawyer was lured back to California at more than double his $95,000 salary.
"If you have good talent that is underpaid, you cannot keep them," Ankus says. Like his colleagues at other big law firms, Tampa-based Carlton Fields' CEO Tom Snow would also love to find a few more intellectual property lawyers to keep up with the demand from the firm's growing list of dot.com and telecommunications clients. But he knows it's a seller's market for such lawyers. "You've got to think that it's going to be a long time before the supply of these lawyers meets the demand," Snow says.
Lobbying: New Leader
West Palm Beach personal injury lawyer Lance Block, a partner in the 19-lawyer firm of Searcy, Denney, Scarola Barhnhart & Shipley, has taken over leadership of the powerful Florida Academy of Trial Lawyers. Block is the third lawyer in his firm to serve as the academy's president. Partners Chris Searcy and Greg Barnhart held the job in 1986 and 1993, respectively.
Like all academy presidents, Block moves into the job from the group's executive board, where he has been a member since 1994 -- a tenure he describes as "seven years of war" with the business lobby over tort reform. But his ascension to the top comes at a particularly frantic time for the 3,600-member organization. In addition to ongoing efforts in the courts to overturn the raft of tort reform provisions passed by the 1999 Legislature, the academy also faces an enormous political task. Like that of every other special interest group this year, the academy's clout in Tallahassee is riding on an extraordinary number of contests. Term limits have left 70 open seats in the Florida Legislature, including half in the 120-member House. Then there are the other 60 seats in the House and 10 seats in the Senate where incumbents face re-election.
A typical year would have the academy dealing with perhaps 20 political races, Block says. That means the academy's always formidable fund-raising efforts are particularly intense this year to reach a target Block will only describe as "well into the seven figures." But candidates who get the academy's blessing will get more than a campaign contribution this time around. Block is promising to put trial lawyers and their employees to work at grass-roots campaigning tasks, from working the phones to distributing literature.
Among the items on the academy's wish list for 2001: mandatory personal injury liability insurance for all drivers, mandatory malpractice liability insurance for all doctors and a defeat of legislation designed to make it harder to sue nursing homes.
Update: Insurer Settles
St. Petersburg-based Bankers Insurance Co. has agreed to pay an insurance regulator $2.55 million to settle allegations that it hired an investigator to dig up details of the regulator's private life in an effort to coerce him into making favorable decisions.
The company's 1995 investigation of Kevin McCarty, which a Bankers' spokesman says was not intended to go beyond legal surveillance and records checks, resulted in the wiretapping of McCarty's home telephone and the public disclosure of his homosexuality.
McCarty, now a deputy director with the department, says he reluctantly agreed to the settlement to spare his friends and family the ordeal of a trial. He says the fact that Bankers will still have to defend its actions in an administrative hearing scheduled for this month was also a factor. The company faces sanctions ranging from fines to the loss of its license to do business in Florida.