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Law firm picks up Tampa defectorsBy SCOTT BARANCIK © St. Petersburg Times, published February 1, 2001 TAMPA -- A giant law firm with offices in Tampa just got bigger. Foley & Lardner, a 900-attorney firm based in Milwaukee, will acquire seven attorneys from the Tampa office of Annis, Mitchell, Cockey, Edwards & Roehn. Included among the new recruits: Fred Ridley, who specializes in developing golf courses, and Michael Annis, who founded Annis Mitchell in 1982 along with the firm's other named partners. Jim Landis, partner-in-charge at Foley's Tampa office, said the new hires will form the basis of a new real estate practice, as well as bolster Foley's existing corporate work. All seven will remain partners. "I'd read about their courtship with (Miami-based) Greenberg Traurig last year, and I saw that that didn't work out, and thought that was an opportunity for both of us," said Landis, who practiced with Annis at Carlton Fields in the late 1970s. The defection to Foley & Lardner is yet another example of growing consolidation within the field of law. Today, for example, Foley will complete separate mergers with law firms in Chicago and Washington, D.C., adding a combined 120 lawyers to their roster. Landis said some attorneys switch from small firms to large ones to get access to bigger corporate clients. "I think that's what this group sees as a possibility here," he said. The seven attorneys -- Olin G. Shivers, Randolph J. Wolfe, Thomas M. Little, Robert D. McLean, W. Keith Fendrick, Ridley and Annis -- are scheduled to join Foley on March 1. A phone call to Joseph Edwards, Annis Mitchell's managing partner, was not immediately returned. - Contact Scott Barancik at barancik@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3404.
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From the Times Business report
From the AP
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