Kirk-Pinkerton shareholder leaves to focus on BP claims

SARASOTA — Prominent local real estate and land-use attorney Casey Colburn has left the firm where he worked for the past five years, Kirk-Pinkerton.

Colburn, one of four equity shareholders with Sarasota-based Kirk-Pinkerton, has joined another firm, Winter Park-based Economic Recovery Group, which was set up solely to navigate BP oil spill settlement claims for clients. Kirk-Pinkerton also has multiple clients who seek compensation from BP for the 2010 spill.

Colburn's work with the Economic Recovery Group, which will focus on Sarasota-Bradenton area clients, is temporary to some extent in that the deadline for filing claims is April 2014. Colburn, though, says he hopes there will be other opportunities to work with the firm after the BP settlement program. In an interview with the Business Observer, Colburn says he will also still practice real estate and land-use law, either on his own or with another firm. “I've got a lot of great opportunities,” Colburn says.

Colburn is involved in several high-profile Sarasota business community organizations. He's a founding director of the Young Professionals Group, and he's the vice chairman of the Suncoast Community Capital Corp., which helps entrepreneurs find loans. He's also on the government affairs committee of the Gulf Coast Builders Exchange.

This story has been updated to correct the year of the BP oil spill.