Miami’s mayor leaving Greenspoon Marder to join another firm. It’s new to Miami
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is leaving his position at Greenspoon Marder to join Los Angeles-based Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, a national litigation firm that is launching a Miami office.
Suarez will be of counsel with Quinn Emanuel, which announced the hire of 10 attorneys from Greenspoon and Hogan Lovells on Monday to staff its Miami operation.
The mayor, a real estate attorney, is changing firms for the fourth time in five years.
When he was running for mayor in 2017, Suarez left his position at GrayRobinson to work for Carlton Fields. A conflict of interest later arose when a Carlton Fields attorney represented a company suing City Hall, a conflict the mayor downplayed at the time. In June 2018, he joined Greenspoon Marder’s corporate and business practice group.
Recently, Suarez was questioned about Greenspoon’s cryptocurrency practice after the mayor quietly pushed for the Florida Legislature to pass new financial regulations that would make it easier to conduct business using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Suarez and Greenspoon’s local leadership said the mayor had no involvement in that area of the firm’s practice. The bill died in committee.
Suarez’s move to Quinn Emanuel, which focuses on litigation, is expected to minimize the potential for conflicts because the firm focuses on litigation and does not represent clients in real estate transactions or land use matters that require City Hall approvals. Citing confidentiality rules, Suarez has declined to identify his clients or disclose the work he’s done for them.
In a statement, the mayor said the firm’s expansion to Miami comes at an opportune time as he works to attract tech companies and investors to the region.
“Quinn Emanuel’s reputation as the greatest litigation firm in the world makes it a perfect fit for Miami,” Suarez said. “It’s no secret that I have made it a top priority to attract the top companies and investors here; given Miami’s staggering growth, it is the perfect setting for a world-class litigation firm like Quinn Emanuel.”
Quinn Emanuel founder and principal John Quinn said the firm’s initial foray into Miami was simply to recruit legal talent. The added benefit of having a bevy of new clients to choose from amid a wave of tech and finance moves to the market is an “opportunistic” benefit, he said.
“Miami seems to be doing a lot of things right,” Quinn said.
Quinn Emanuel was recently ranked as the most “feared” litigation firm in the country; last year, it took out an ad in the Financial Times stating, “What would you like people to have in mind when they face you in litigation? May we suggest dread. Quinn Emanuel is the law firm big businesses fear most.”
In 2019, Quinn Emanuel posted the fifth-highest profit per partner in the nation, at $4.7 million, according to American Lawyer Magazine.
The firm has not yet settled on a location.
This story was originally published May 10, 2021 at 4:07 PM.
