In another positive development for the Tampa office of the statewide law firm Shutts & Bowen LLP, Tampa Managing Partner Alan Higbee announced that Matthew Blackshear joined the Tampa office as a partner on February 27, 2012.
“A first-rate real estate lawyer with a substantial transaction and litigation practice, Matt Blackshear is certainly well on his way to the top of the area’s real estate attorneys,” said Lee Nelson, Real Estate Practice Group leader for the Firm’s Tampa Office. “Matt brings terrific experience handling complex transactions and litigation cases on a whole matter basis, including matters for substantial developers, lenders, landlords and investors. His skills have carried Matt around the state and given him invaluable exposure that will continue to pay dividends.”
Higbee noted that Blackshear is the thirty-fifth attorney to join Shutts & Bowen’s expanding Tampa office, which recently moved to 34,000 square feet of brand new space at Corporate Center IV -- or “the Shutts & Bowen Building” as it is becoming known in the Westshore Business District as a result of the Firm’s name affixed prominently atop the building.
Within the Shutts Tampa office, practice groups include corporate and securities, mergers and acquisitions, trusts & estates, intellectual property, commercial litigation, banking, tax, immigration and international business, bankruptcy, real estate, health care and employment law matters. “Tampa Bay has an expanding economic base of Fortune 500 and local entrepreneurial companies that require increasingly sophisticated representation,” Higbee noted. “Shutts & Bowen is well positioned to provide creative, institutionally-oriented legal services to a growing number of those businesses in Tampa and throughout West-Central Florida.”
“We are particularly delighted to have Matt Blackshear join the firm,” said Shutts & Bowen Executive Committee member J. Donald Wasil. “Matt has proven himself to be very capable in matters for major, sophisticated clients that are quite discriminating.”
Blackshear described himself as a “full-service real estate lawyer with a passion for satisfying clients’ multifaceted litigation and transaction matters.” He added “Shutts & Bowen’s Tampa office impressed me from the outset. They share my dedication to client service and teamwork necessary to satisfy clients with multiple cases and accomplish their goals every day. The opportunity is unique and allows me to add my skills and practice to an already dynamic group while providing a terrific long-term platform for expanding my state-wide practice and helping the Firm extend its footprint.”
Nelson added “Whether negotiating a complex debt restructuring for a site on the east coast, the disposition of a large golf complex in central Florida or an office lease in Tampa, Blackshear’s poise, intelligence and overall capabilities shine through, in addition to his fantastic legal skills. He’s a lawyer that really gets it and clients respect that.”
“From my perspective, I can see why Shutts & Bowen is celebrating its 103rd year and I am ready to continue its legacy of leadership and exceptional legal services” Blackshear explained.