Shutts & Bowen LLP, which has quickly built a full-service practice along Florida’s west coast since opening its Tampa office in March 2006, has expanded its real estate capabilities in the region with the addition of attorney E. Zachary Rans as a partner in the Tampa Real Estate Department. Prior to joining Shutts & Bowen, Rans was a shareholder in the Tampa and Southwest Florida offices of Tampa-based Fowler White Boggs Banker, PA.
“We are thrilled that Zach Rans has joined Shutts & Bowen’s Tampa office,” said Tampa Managing Partner R. Alan Higbee. “Zach is an experienced and exceptionally talented real estate and construction lawyer who has worked extensively with many of us in the past. Zach will contribute greatly to both the depth and breadth of our real estate and construction practices here.”
Rans, 36, who has a statewide commercial and residential real estate and construction practice, has more than 10 years of experience representing developers, landlords, tenants, lenders and investors in the acquisition, disposition and financing of all types of real estate, including retail, office and industrial properties. He also negotiates leases and drafts construction contracts for individual and institutional clients.
Rans has counseled local developers in their efforts to attract major commercial and retail businesses to the west coast region. “This is an exciting time to be practicing real estate law on the west coast of Florida, which has tremendous growth potential,” Rans said. “In recent years, for example, the region has attracted the attention of preeminent national hotels, retail chains and restaurants. Lately, the current hot spots are south Lee and north Collier counties.
“From my perspective, Shutts & Bowen offers a fabulous platform and resources for capitalizing on that growth with its sophisticated regional and statewide real estate practice. I also look forward to working again with Alan Higbee, a colleague I knew well at Fowler White.”
Rans, who maintains residences in Tampa as well as Estero in south Lee County, has built a strong practice spanning an eight-county region along Florida’s west coast that includes Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, and Collier counties.
Rans received his law degree in 1996 from the Indiana University School of Law in Bloomington, Indiana and his bachelors degree in 1994 from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.
The Tampa office of Shutts & Bowen, which is headed by prominent corporate and securities lawyer R. Alan Higbee, has grown from a four-lawyer office in March 2006 to a 21-attorney full-service office in less than 18 months. The Tampa office represents clients in corporate, securities, merger and acquisition, government contract, intellectual property, commercial litigation, real estate, construction, banking, tax, estate planning, bankruptcy, health care, and employment law matters.