The Largest Law Firms in Tampa: A Comprehensive Guide

An Insight into Tampa’s Legal Scene

Tampa is a city that has witnessed significant economic growth in recent years, with many new businesses setting up shop in the area. Consequently, this has led to an increase in the number of law firms and lawyers specializing in various practice areas in order to meet the growing demand for legal services in the region. Aesthetically pleasing and cosmopolitan, Tampa’s thriving business sector has made it a hub for law firms across various practice areas.
The legal landscape in Tampa is diverse, with practicing attorneys specializing in several fields of law. Among the most common types of law practices among Tampa’s lawyers are personal injury, corporate, real estate, and family law. The legal services provided by leading law firms in Tampa are comprehensive and encompass a wide range of sectors including real estate, construction, education, health care, retailing, manufacturing, and communications among many others.
With a growing number of business owners and companies setting up in Tampa Bay, there is a relative uptick in the demand for law firms specializing in corporate and commercial law . Many of these law firms offer in-depth expertise on administrative and regulatory compliance, entity formation, securities, purchase and sale agreements, leases, human resources, and government contracts among others. Another field of law that has seen steady growth in Tampa is litigation. Florida’s liability climate has produced a significant number of practitioners that specialize in civil litigation. At the heart of Tampa’s litigation scene are law firms that practice in a variety of fields including business and commercial litigation, class action or complex litigation, employment litigation, and general liability litigation.
The continued influx of businesses and companies in Tampa leads to the gradual growth of these law firms as they incorporate more specialized practice areas to their roster in response to their clients’ needs. Accordingly, one can expect that the largest law firms in Tampa will continue to provide comprehensive legal assistance to its vast pool of clients.

Leading Law Firms in the Tampa Market

The practice of law in Tampa means operating in a competitive, fast-paced market. With recently released reports shining a spotlight on the largest and most successful firms in the Tampa region, the law offices that dominate the field have become a top focus for many who are looking to the future of their legal careers.
This guide is designed to get you up to speed on the top law firms in and around Tampa.
Shutts & Bowen LLP
Major Practice Areas: Business Law, Employment Law, Health Law, Litigation, Real Estate
History: Shutts & Bowen was founded in Tampa in 1910 by Albert H. Dozier and William A. McPhearson.
Statistics: Shutts & Bowen is the largest law firm in the Tampa region, with 128 attorneys and total staff of 230. The firm focuses on litigation, business law, immigration law, senior housing, banking and finance, environmental law, family law, health law, insurance and reinsurance, intellectual property, international law, real estate and land use/economic development. Shutts & Bowen is a member of the World Services Group, a B2B marketing company. With member firms in 143 countries, the organization provides referrals to assist the firm when working with international clients.
Carlton Fields, P.A.
Major Practice Areas: Data Privacy & Security, Labor & Employment, Litigation, Insurance & Reinsurance, Product Liability & Toxic Tort Litigation, Real Estate & Development
History: Carlton Fields was founded in 1901.
Statistics: Carlton Fields is a regional law firm with offices in Tampa and Orlando, Miami, Tallahassee, and Atlanta, Georgia. In 2016, the firm had approximately 500 attorneys and 650 staff members. The firm has more than 120 attorneys in Tampa and Orlando; its new 72,000 sf building is located in the Westshore district. The firm primarily represents Fortune 500 companies. In April of 2015, Carlton Fields expanded its presence in Atlanta by opening an office in Cobb Galleria, a business district in Atlanta that sits along I-285. The firm is well-known for providing counsel to clients engaged in the insurance and reinsurance sectors. In June of 2017, the firm announced that it would offer paid parental leave to all lawyers and staff members.
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Major Practice Areas: Bankruptcy, Financial Restructuring & Creditors’ Rights, Intellectual Property, Offshore Investment, Privacy & Security, Technology
History: Founded in 1956 as Davis Wright Ratliff, the firm added Mark W. Tremaine as a partner in 1967 to become Davis Wright Tremaine.
Statistics: Davis Wright Tremaine has an office in Tampa, but its main office is located in Seattle. The firm also has offices in Portland, Washington, D.C., New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Beijing. The firm’s Tampa office opened in 2003. Firmwide, the firm has 547 attorneys and 872 staff members. The firm focuses on commercial, intellectual property, and regulatory law. Its clients include businesses, nonprofit organizations, and entrepreneurs. The firm is known for its work with companies in the media, telecommunications, and technology industries.
Holland & Knight LLP
Major Practice Areas: Banking & Finance, Corporate M&A & Securities, Education, Energy, Environment, Fund Finance, Government & Public Policy, Health, Intellectual Property, Labor & Employment, Land Use & Environmental, Lean Six Sigma, Litigation, Nonprofit Organizations & Charitable Giving & Exempt Organizations, Real Estate, Tax
History: Holland & Knight was founded in 1889.
Statistics: Holland & Knight has two offices in Tampa, one inside a Bank of America office building in Westshore and another on West Kennedy Boulevard approximating a mile away. The firm also has offices in Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Tallahassee, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. The firm is well-known for representing a variety of clients. Its clients include large and small businesses, non-profit organizations, and government entities. In 2014, the firm had 1,124 attorneys and 2,014 staff members.
Cozen O’Connor
Major Practice Areas: Bankruptcy & Creditor’s Rights, Corporate, Business and Transactional, Mass Tort, Products Liability & Toxic Tort, Litigation, Public & Project Finance
History: The firm opened its Tampa office in 2010.
Statistics: Cozen O’Connor opened its Tampa office in 2010. In 2015, the firm had approximately 650 attorneys and 900 staff members. The firm’s Tampa office focuses primarily on litigation and coverage in the property and casualty insurance sectors. The firm has offices in Chicago, Dallas, London, Philadelphia, and Toronto. The firm opened an office in London in 1997 and in Toronto in 2012. In 2008, the firm opened an office in Vancouver. In additional to its recent expansion to Toronto, the firm opened locations in Dallas, TX and Seattle, WA earlier.

Determining Law Firm Size: Key Benchmarks

Measuring the size of a law firm is a relatively simple task – one would simply count the number of attorneys. However, size can be an elusive concept, and some clients are rightfully cautious as to why the size of a law firm is considered relevant to their selection of needed legal services. Size matters in several key areas of the legal marketplace, among them: the number of attorneys in a firm, the overall revenues and profitability of a law firm, the number of offices that a firm has and its geographic footprint, and perhaps the most amorphous yet widely considered factor, a specific law firm’s reputation for being "big" or "small" – its perceived brand as it relates to other firms of different sizes. With regard to the use of attorneys as a proxy for size, the more attorneys a firm employs, the more work the firm can take on and the more diverse the firm can be in its resources and counsel on legal matters. In addition to the number of attorneys, most legal markets calculate a law firm’s revenue on a per attorney basis. Understanding the levels of revenue per attorney is important when firms are scrutinized for their economic performance. Revenue productivity is most often expressed in several ways, such as revenue per attorney (RPA), revenue per partner (RPP), or revenue per equity or full equity partner (RPP and RPEPP are more common in larger law firms). RPA is calculated by dividing the total revenue of a firm by the total number of attorneys employed in a 12-month period. RPP is calculated by dividing the total revenue of a firm by the number of partners employed. RPP is calculated by dividing the total revenue of a firm by the number of equity or full equity partners employed. RPP is a reflection of the contribution the average partner makes to a firm’s bottom line. RPEPP is essentially the same calculation expressed as revenues per equity or full equity partner.

The Influence of Size on Legal Practice

When it comes to legal services, the question of size becomes a crucial topic. Larger firms often tout their ability to provide a wide range of high-quality legal services under one roof. They can offer multiple specialties and areas of expertise, and usually, they have the resources to back up all these promises. But is bigger always better? What does that mean for the average person seeking legal representation? Is one size truly going to fit all your legal needs?
The advantages of hiring a larger law firm are clear to many. Lawyers in these firms tend to have more expertise in their field than a smaller firm, which has fewer people and resources to dedicate to the practice area in question. A larger firm can also offer more practical experience and training, since they practice in higher volume than smaller firms generally do. Large firms may be better positioned to offer a more experienced team that has extensive legal knowledge in multiple types of law. In addition, larger firms tend to have more connections with outside lawyers, insurance people, and other professionals.
The downside to larger firms lies in their sheer size. With so many cases going on at once, the personal touch a client receives often takes a back seat to the speed and efficiency with which the lawyers work. A direct client-lawyer relationship can be hard to maintain when clients work primarily with paralegals and assistants instead of the attorney. The reality is that sometimes the largest firms can leave clients feeling like just another cog in the wheel of the case, rather than a priority for the attorneys. The close relationships that many smaller firms allow with their clients aren’t always easy to create with a large firm. Additionally, the sheer specialization in some larger firms means that they may not be best suited to help with an issue outside their core area.
Of course, having many specialties does have its benefits. A larger law firm can offer more opportunities to one firm because of their expertise, rather than sending the clients to another location. In more ambiguous legal matters, it may be best to start your case here, rather than heading to a specialized firm that may not understand your questions. Larger firms may be able to provide a range of services without needing to send clients to different providers.
In this way, the size of a firm can have a major impact on how your case unfolds. However, it’s not an absolute. A larger firm may have close ties and connections with a smaller firm or specialists within the company, so there’s still the chance to get the same personal touch as a smaller firm offers. Your choice of legal representation should be based on the needs of your case.

Noteworthy Large Law Firms

Zuckerman Spaeder LLP, with 50 lawyers and offices in Tampa, Washington D.C. and Miami, has developed a strong commercial litigation, white-collar defense and health care defense practice in Florida. The firm has a highly specialized and long-standing trial practice group that is well-known for its success in the federal courts of Florida. The firm has earned a very respectable place among its large law peers. The firm was recognized by "Florida Trend" magazine as one of the three firms with the most listed lawyers in Miami and Tampa (Mr. Zuckerman also was listed in New York). The firm was named a "Best Law Firm" by "US News & World Report" (top tier in healthcare and criminal defense – both of which are not everyday "Florida Trend" categories). The firm’s lawyers have been recognized among Florida as among the top lawyers in their fields year after year by "Chambers & Partners USA", "Best Lawyers In America", "Florida Trend", and "Law & Politics".
Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer has 48 attorneys working in offices in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Miami and Fort Lauderdale. The firm was founded in 1998 by a group of first-rate trial lawyers , all of whom are highly regarded in their field. Their focus includes complex commercial, tort, product liability, consumer litigation, insurance coverage and liability, personal injury and premises liability. QPWB has incorporated systems to increase litigation efficiency, including the use of "e-discovery" to reduce the amount of time and effort devoted to discovery and electronically stored information. QPWB also boasts high billing rates and low associate-to-partner ratio—generally one 1:1—and, thus, minimized overhead. Clients appreciate being billed only for work performed by experienced attorneys.
Phelps Dunbar is a Houston-based firm that came to Tampa by way of its 1999 merger with two well-established firms: McFarlane, Faulkner & McDonald and Smith & Smith. Today Phelps Dunbar has long been known as a superb regional law firm with a reputation for excellence in service and efficiency. It has many areas of practice, including labor and employment, tort liability and insurance coverage, captive insurance, transportation and maritime litigation, real estate and healthcare law.

Selecting a Law Firm that Fits

The choice of law firm is a critical decision that affects not only the outcome of a specific case but also poses issues about attorney and staff availability and the ultimate cost of representing clients.
Selecting the right size law firm for the client’s needs is a critical factor in that final decision. Large law firms, particularly those with more than 50 attorneys, tend to have more resources and more experience, but they are usually considerably more expensive than their smaller counterparts. For sophisticated and experienced businesses, a greater depth and breadth of resources may be called for, but small and medium-sized businesses are often better served by law firms that can offer the same experience, but without the costly overhead.
Solo practitioners and small law firms provide even more flexibility in legal fees and costs. Rates for solo practitioners are significantly lower than those charged for mid-size and large firms. Furthermore, eligibility for insurance company panels to handle insurance defense cases usually requires years of experience and expertise, something that is more prevalent is larger law firms than solo practitioners.
There are attorneys who have significant experiences with insurance panels in smaller law firms, but ultimately the business case for hiring a large firm to handle insurance panel work is better than hiring a small firm or solo practitioner.
Tampa Bay is unusual among major cities in Florida in the number of large law firms here. The combined population of Tampa and St. Petersburg is just under a million people, which means this represents only 5 percent of Florida’s population and only a fraction of the population in the Miami area, which has more than two million people.
Because of factors like a relatively small local population, one of the hallmarks of Tampa Bay law firms is their white-collar representation of clients. This sidesteps many of the socioeconomic issues that other Florida cities face, such as domestic relations, criminal defense, and bankruptcy.
The average population of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Hillsborough County is less than 15,000 condos and single-family homes. Tampa Bay area law firms have an opportunity to represent residents within this higher-income demographic.
Because of its proximity to the federal courts in the Middle District of Florida, which includes most of Florida’s Gulf Coast, prospective clients should consider the specialized practices offered by some law firms who have experience litigating and trying federal cases.
Several Tampa Bay law firms have litigation practices in the Gulf Coast counties between Pasco County and Sarasota County. Together these counties average 1.7 million people and cover more than 3,000 square miles. Those law firms with cases in the better known counties like Pinellas and Sarasota have excellent track records using highly experienced trial attorneys and litigators.
Those law firms with ties to the local community and knowledge of the surrounding culture may have a leg up in their discipline and therefore have more to offer for their clients.

The Future of Law Firms Across Tampa

As the legal landscape continues to evolve, Tampa’s largest law firms are not immune to the dramatic change. Tech-savvy lawyers and unique specialization have proven to define the most successful firms in the area. The increased use of legal technology is having a more profound impact in areas like Tampa Bay where the pace of business is fast and the competition is fierce. Legal research platforms, e-discovery software, and case management systems have become standard tools for most firms. Client portals that give clients access to their cases have been found to carry a litany of advantages for firms in areas like Tampa. Specialization has also become a dominant trend. In a world where competitors are only a mouse click away, law firms are increasingly forced to carve out unique niches in order to remain competitive. A generalist may be able to build a book of business in the early stages of their career, but as you become experienced , expertise is key. Tampa Bay’s growing population and diversifying economy have been conducive for defining specialties that influence the direction of the region. In a local economy that is reliant on healthcare and tourism, having a niche in these sectors makes a lot of sense. Experts in healthcare, intellectual property, family law, and business litigation have all been able to find solid footing in the city. The world has become a much smaller place. As the economy continues to become more global, so too do law firms. Having operations in multiple countries is becoming more important, especially for large law firms. Large firms that lack an international reach are missing out on valuable business opportunities. Tampa is a particularly beneficial location for large law firms looking to expand overseas. Located a short distance from Latin America, Tampa is uniquely positioned to provide services to Spanish-speaking clients.