‘City of the Moment:’ Observers Are Confident Miami’s Legal Talent Can Fuel Latest Entrants

As Am Law 100 firms continue to seek new opportunities in Miami, some local market watchers are certain its talent pool is enough to sustain the city’s demands—lawyers and skeptics just need to put on broader lens to understand what talent and excellence looks like in the Magic City.

The tale is similar to those told in recent boom towns for the legal industry: national law firms crowd in, following the businesses and high-net-worth individuals who have been fueling the region’s robust economy, and skeptics question whether there are enough attorneys with the expertise and client base to justify Am Law 100 billing rates to go around.

“What makes us different in Miami in comparison to the New York market is the exposure that we have here to business,” said Aida Rodriguez, a legal recruiter and CEO of Ascension. “Miami is a gateway to Latin America, and I think that alone definitely gives us a fantastic leg up.”

South Florida’s vast community of Hispanic lawyers provides Miami with a “different grind,” approach and hustle, Rodriguez said. Even if a lot of law graduates aren’t from the “lead schools,” it’s the hustle and bustle that makes Miami’s talent pool shine. And our local schools are doing more than a great job, she said.

Luis Salazar, a member and litigator at Cole Schotz, recently launched the firm’s Miami office. Having practiced in New York and New Jersey, the quality, breadth and depth of the talent pool in Miami is on par with the northeast, he said.

Salazar previously worked at Greenberg Traurig as senior partner, eventually opening his own firm and now Am Law Second Hundred firm Cole Schotz’s Miami office for the same reason many people move down for: opportunity.

The city’s talent pool has gone out across the globe and established some of the top firms in the country, and the firm’s serious about opening and lasting in the city do so because they understand Miami’s value.

“Miami is the city of the moment,” Salazar said. “That has really become evident in the last five to seven years.”

Representatives of almost every major law firm at this point has an outpost here or is debating about opening an outpost, Salazar added.

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