Englander Fischer has built client relationships over a quarter of a century with a reputation as a knowledgeable force to be reckoned with.
It seemed to be a long shot in May 2013, when news broke that several smaller, privately owned Treasure Island hotels had sued the City of Treasure Island and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection over what they said were too many cars and too much disruption on the beach. The Thunderbird, Windjammer and Page Terrace hotels hired local St. Petersburg law firm Englander Fischer to represent them in this case. It wasn’t long before settlement offers were circulating.
Founding partner and the head of the firm’s business litigation department, Leonard S. ‘Lenny’ Englander says, “I believe in mediating early and often, and I have settled more complaints over a coffee or lunch than in any courtroom. That is a philosophy I share with new professionals on our staff. New attorneys can get blinded by the procedures needed to start a case, and seldom look ahead to ask what the greatest desired outcome would be for the client … which is not to spend time in other lawyers’ offices or courtrooms.”
But Englander Fischer has earned a reputation of aggressively pursuing client goals even when negotiations fail. After numerous settlement discussions and mediations with the City of Treasure Island became unavailing, the firm pressed the legal action and ultimately secured an injunction against the City from the Circuit Court.
I remembered the Englander Fischer firm name from their involvement in the ownership consolidation of the Tierra Verde Resort, known in better times as Guy Lombardo’s Port O’Call Resort. The ensuing suit for ownership control of the property became one of Pinellas County’s largest cases, with well over 3,000 defendants spread throughout more than 40 countries. Each unit in the resort had as many as 50 owners, each owning a week of time or more in the resort. “It was like a step back into my past,” said Lenny, who had drafted the condo documents for the hotel to time-share conversion as a young attorney over 30 years earlier. “This was a challenging case due to the quantity and the geographic distribution of the ownership.” In the end, however, the tedious work paid off.
Englander Fischer has been successfully representing a wide variety of closely held, corporate, non-profit and institutional clients over the past quarter of a century. The firms’ attorneys abide by a philosophy that stays focused on the client’s business goals, while never failing to practice what they’ve termed “Courageous Professionalism.” For the last 15 years the firm has worked out of an historic building at 721 First Ave. N., in downtown St. Petersburg and has developed a true appreciation and admiration for the communitys’ businesses and people. Their firm offers a broad expanse of experienced attorneys that can handle virtually any type of business law or litigation problem.
Englander Fischer is regularly involved in corporate shareholder and partnership disputes, covenant not to compete and trade secret matters, breaches of real estate and business contracts, as well as just about every other type of commercial dispute, in mediation, arbitration, state or federal trial courts, and even on appeals.
The firm’s focus has always remained on business rather than personal issues, although it is willing to aid litigants or their counsel in complicated divorce matters when they involve the division or break up of a business or its assets.
Because business disputes are financially draining, the firm works toward resolution whenever possible. “We believe favorable resolutions are achieved by remaining trial-focused and our attorneys keep their eyes on that goal from beginning to end,” Lenny said.
Throughout decades of experience, Englander Fischer attorneys have witnessed the benefits of looking at the end result early, then working backward to achieve the client’s goals. Through this approach, more than 90 percent of their cases are settled before trial.
And with the costs in time and money that often come with a court battle – the reasons Lenny calls litigation the “sport of kings” – Englander Fischer’s goal-oriented strategies prove advantageous for local commercial property and business owners. Still, when it does become necessary, the firm’s attorneys are fully prepared to aggressively represent their clients in a courtroom, as they remain trial-focused from their first day handling a case.
“The best advice I have for prospective clients looking to hire counsel is to find representation with the most experience in the practice area you need,” Lenny said. “The marketing success of the big personal injury firms has left many personal injury attorneys scrambling to take on business cases that are out of their area of experience. That can put more experienced adversaries in a stronger position. Many areas of business and real estate law have steep learning curves and the client shouldn’t have to pay for that education.”
When I asked him what keeps him going after 40 years practicing law, Lenny says the appreciation of a well-served client is always a strong motivator for everyone in the practice. He shared with me a note recently received from a client, along with a thoughtful gift. The note read: “We want to thank you for all your efforts and dedication resolving our case. Thank you for staying with us through all of this. It certainly would not have had the outcome it did without you, your knowledge and determination. You are “true to your word.” We appreciate everything you have done for us.
More about Englander Fischer: Founded in September 1990, Englander Fischer is an aggressive, goal-oriented boutique litigation law firm that applies a common sense, practical approach to its clients’ business and economic realities. Its aim is to embrace client transaction and litigation needs using creative and dynamic legal solutions to achieve its clients’ objectives. The firm holds an AV-rating, the highest available by the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory and has been listed as one of Florida’s Top Ranked Law Firms by Lexis Nexis. The firm offers services in the areas of business litigation, corporate, probate, construction, real estate and insurance fields. Englander Fischer services clients throughout Florida.
For more information, please visit: www.eflegal.com, or call 727-898-7210.
Story by Peter A. Roos • Photos by Bob Schlesinger (not inc. postcard)