News
Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed, Celebrates 40 Years
10.01.2009
The recession-hit economy of the past year was not without its glimmers of hope. Many businesses have been weathering the economic storm - albeit some better than others. Some have even celebrated their survival. One such business is Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed, P.A.,Central Florida's largest law firm according to the most recent Orlando Business Journal Book of Lists - and a firm that has long been committed to its clients, its employees and the community as a whole for 40 years. To what do the firm leaders attribute its longevity and success?
John Lowndes, who founded the firm this month 40 years ago, attributes much of the firm's success to its attorneys and staff, many of whom have been with the firm their entire career. In fact, the firm recently placed 8th on the Orlando Sentinel's Annual Top 100 Companies for Working Families - landing in the Top 10 in the Large Company category (250 or more employees) for the third consecutive year. Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed, awarded a top position in the Annual Top 100 since its inception, was the only law firm to rank in the Top 25 in the Large Company category.
The list of clients who have been with the firm since its inception is also long. "Our clients are our proverbial partners," says Lowndes. "We've nurtured many of them from their beginnings, and we're delighted to have been able to grow with them." Lowndes started the firm with three partners, primarily providing legal counsel for budding contracting and construction companies that have since become some of Central Florida's largest entities.
The firm quickly developed a reputation as "dirt lawyers" and continues to be recognized for its large real estate practice, which is often at the forefront of complex commercial and residential real estate issues. Today, though, the firm also represents clients in over 50 other practice areas across a myriad of industries, from capital raising to copyright and trademark advice, corporate governance to employment law, entity formation and representing those entities as they expand locally, nationally and internationally. The firm's attorneys advise clients on estate and wealth management issues, litigate on behalf of organizations and individuals in high-stakes, high profile disputes, and are busy in the current economy with one of the largest bankruptcy practices in the area as well.
John Lowndes also set the standard for the firm's commitment to the community as well as to its clients early on. The firm has been long known as a strong corporate citizen with dedicated civic and charitable support and involvement. In 2000, the home of the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival in Loch Haven Park was given tremendous financial backing by the firm's founder and was renamed the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center. For the second consecutive year, the firm's employees contributed an aggregate of more than $100,000 to the United Way Campaign, just one of many organizations the firm and its employees support. The hallmarks of the firm's commitment to the community go well beyond financial commitments. Many firm members have leadership roles in over 100 not-for-profit, educational and charitable organizations, and provide hours of volunteer time to community events.
The leadership of the firm has changed only three times in 40 years -- John Lowndes handed the reins to Nick Pope in 1998, and Bill Dymond became the Managing Partner in 2008 but the overriding philosophy of the firm has not. "As we look to the future," says Dymond, "our focus will remain on continually strengthening relationships with customers, employees and the community, and on providing the highest caliber of legal services to the firm’s clients for the next 40 years and beyond." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9-YxdOlZs4