Legal Briefs (Tampa edition)

Legal Briefs (Tampa edition)

legalBriefs

Marcia Cohen scales back

law practice; bound for Paris

St. Petersburg civil rights lawyer Marcia Cohen is Paris-bound. She recently purchased a home there with plans to work and write part-time.

Cohen has advised co-counsels, opposing counsels and the courts of her intent to scale back her practice. The solo practitioner now staffs only one legal assistant. She did not respond to a GCBR request for comment.

As a lawyer, Cohen has represented clients such as Peggy McGarrity, a former assistant Pinellas Park city manager, in her job discrimination complaint against the city; and John Nicely, a former Tarpon Springs High School principal, in a wrongful termination complaint against the Pinellas County School District.

Over the years, Cohen also gained a reputation as a staunch equal rights advocate. She is the registered agent for the Equal Rights Alliance Inc., the state nonprofit group that advocates for a federal Equal Rights Amendment, and serves on the alliance's advisory board.

Admitted to practice law in 1984, Cohen earned a bachelor's degree from Roosevelt University and a law degree from Stetson University.

Partners at Newman Levine

& Metzler dissolve practice

After about four years together the partners at Tampa's Newman Levine & Metzler PA have called it quits.

The decision came as Mitch Newman left the practice of law for a business opportunity in the insurance industry.

Newman says he now works for UsNow, a Dallas-based marketing agency that helps employers develop cost-affordable group health insurance programs. His job is to open up new distribution opportunities.

On Newman's announcement, Robert A. Levine and Debra Metzler decided to separate.

Metzler describes the dissolution as amicable. She now practices workers' compensation and health care law at Tampa's Allen Dell PA.

Levine practices law in the office the former partnership leased at 400 N. Tampa St., Suite 2900.

Judge admonishes attorneys

over failure to file by e-mail

Tampa law partner Chris Hoyer is among the latest group of lawyers threatened with removal as attorneys of record from federal lawsuits unless petitions and pleadings are filed via the Internet.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew gave Hoyer, a shareholder at Tampa's James Hoyer Newcomer & Smiljanich PA, until March 10 to take the required training to file electronically and then register an e-mail address with the Middle District of Florida.

The Tampa division judge ordered the action in Hoyer's representation of Anna Beaulialice in a Truth in Lending Act lawsuit against the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.

Besides Hoyer, the judge also recently admonished Arthur J. Volkle Jr., general counsel at Tampa-based Maritrans Inc., and Tampa solo practitioner Bart Meacham.

Volkle represents Maritrans in a patent infringement action against Penn Maritime Inc. Meacham represents Michael A. Orlando against a Justice Department claim for $39,700 in fees assessed in a 1987 marijuana distribution conviction.

Bob Walker invests

in pet store venture

Clearwater attorney Bob Walker Jr. and his wife, Kris, have opened a pet boutique retail store at 1447 S. Fort Harrison Ave.

Fluffy Puppies: A Place for Dogs operates from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.

The couple markets the venture as no ordinary pet shop. It sells animal art and high fashion for pets in addition to the standard lot of carriers, toys, foods, snacks and other items.

Holland & Knight reinforces

private wealth services practice

Holland & Knight LLP has bolstered its Tampa Bay area private wealth services practice with the addition of two new senior counsels.

Robert J. Klein will work out of the Tampa office in the estate planning and administration practice group, while Tina Dunsford will work in St. Petersburg with the family businesses and tax-exempt organizations practice group. Each reports to Bill Lane Jr., team leader of the firm's private wealth services section.

Klein, who practiced law from 1987-94 at the firm, had worked as a managing director and senior trust officer at Northern Trust Co. and as a trust coordinator and financial consultant for Smith Barney. A graduate of Michigan State University, he earned a law degree in 1986 from the Thomas M. Cooley School of Law and a master's of laws degree in taxation from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Dunsford had worked in the Tampa office of Akerman Senterfitt & Eidson PA. A graduate of Kennesaw State University, she earned a law degree in 1994 and a master's of laws degree in 1995 from the Emory University School of Law.

Carlton Fields wins award

at marketing conference

Carlton Fields PA recently won a first place award from the Southeastern Legal Marketing Association at its recent annual conference in Nashville.

The Tampa law firm won in the category of firm image/presentation collateral. Judges evaluated the firm's marketing materials, branding and strategic objectives.