2017 GOLDEN ROTUNDA AWARDS
LOBBYING FIRM OF THE
YEAR
GrayRobinson “Since our founding, we’ve successfully operated at the intersection of law and politics to help achieve our clients’ goals.” — Jason Unger, GrayRobinson
From alcohol to torts, health care to transportation, the GrayRobinson juggernaut rolls on. “We’re honored to represent a group of truly outstanding clients,” said Jason Unger, managing shareholder of GrayRobinson’s Tallahassee office. “Since our founding, we’ve successfully operated at the intersection of law and politics to help achieve our clients’ goals.” Unger in particular had a strong 2017 Session. He successfully championed bills which eased regulations on craft distilleries and broadened the statutory definition of wine to include sake. The “whiskey and Wheaties” bill, for which he represented Target, passed the Legislature but was ultimately vetoed by Gov. Rick Scott. It would have repealed the decades-old requirement that Florida retailers sell spirits in a separate store. Philip McDaniel, CEO of St. Augustine Distillery, said “interacting with them is extraordinarily professional.” The Florida Distillers Guild has worked with GrayRobinson since 2012. “In a legally and politically complex regulated industry, they always provided good counsel and were able to effect change in a challenging regulatory and political environment,” McDaniel said. In the appropriations arena, GrayRobinson had a hand in securing funding for over $277 million in fiscal items, including individual appropriations projects to infrastructure investments as well as securing millions in additional, recurring funding for higher education, tax credit programs like the Brownfield Voluntary Cleanup Tax Credit Program, and services to the blind and visually impaired. Earlier this summer, the firm hired Kim McDougal, Scott’s former chief of staff. She is senior director of Government Affairs in the Tallahassee office, and is advising and lobbying for clients “in all sectors on both policy and appropriations issues, while she continues her passion by also focusing on education-related issues.” McDougal bolsters the firm’s formidable education practice, and adds additional horsepower on both policy and appropriations matters. “GrayRobinson is an Orlando-based law firm that has played a meaningful role in the growth of the entire state,” said President Mayanne Downs. “You see in each of our 13 offices, the reflection of our communities. Making Florida stronger is part of our DNA.” GrayRobinson has politically connected lawyers and consultants in each of its offices, which bolsters its
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local connection to legislative districts. In addition to the 16 legislative professionals in GrayRobinson’s Tallahassee office, Robert Stuart and Chris Carmody represent the firm in Orlando; Joseph Salzverg in Miami; and former state Sen. Burt Saunders (now a member of the Collier County Commission) in Naples. The firm includes former Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon (2010-12) and his team. Cannon is a GrayRobinson alum who started his legal career with the firm and was an active attorney and shareholder from 1995 to 2007. Cannon brought his rapidly growing Capitol Insight lobbying practice to GrayRobinson in 2016, adding six members to the lobbying team. Cannon, a licensed pilot, has taken on the role of statewide chair of Government Affairs and flies around the state tirelessly working with clients and legislative leaders. The combination made “GrayRobinson’s government relations and lobbying practice the largest such practice in any law firm in Florida,” Cannon said. In addition, it cemented the firm’s status as the “go-to” for well-heeled, A-list clients needing representation before the Legislature and state agencies. GrayRobinson not only has a high-powered lobbying team, it also has incredible depth of technical knowledge and legal expertise from its 300-plus attorneys and consultants. An example of this intersection of legal expertise and lobbying/political prowess was the firm’s successful lobbying for changes to Florida’s Statute of Repose law on behalf of Associated Builders and Contractors to better define the term “completion of the contract” following a District Court of Appeal ruling that highlighted the lack of clarity in the existing law. “I don’t look at things as us ‘being at the top,’” Unger said. “I look at it from the standpoint of how can we have the best group of lawyers and lobbyists to represent our clients, whether they’re Florida clients, national clients, or international clients.” The firm represents a diverse client base, ranging from local governments like the City of Orlando, Monroe County, and West Palm Beach; to private sector powerhouses like JPMorgan Chase, The Villages, PepsiCo, the Orlando Magic, Deloitte, Disney, and Lockheed Martin, among others. “As long as we stick with our core mission of exceeding our clients’ needs, whether it’s on the lobbying side or lawyering side, we’ll be moving in the right direction,” Unger said.