Michael Gay replaces Baxa as F&L managing partner

01/03/07

Michael Gay replaces Baxa as F&L managing partner
A trial lawyer of acclaim, Michael Gay will fill Ed Baxa’s shoes to serve as the new Managing Partner of Foley & Lardner’s Orlando office. Baxa will hand over the reins to Gay on March 1, after which he will move on to head the firm's National Pro Bono Legal Services Committee. Gay plans to strengthen the firm’s client base in Orlando, and also expand its reach towards Miami.

Gay, though confident, was apprehensive of the massive responsibility handed over to him. Gay confided to the Orlando Business Journal that he intends to live up to Baxa’s ideals and build on the impetus that he created within the firm. Baxa was the main architect behind Foley & Lardner’s successful team of lawyers in its Orlando office. He is credited with having inculcated an abiding sense of commitment for service to the community through pro bono services into his team of lawyers, an accomplishment that fetched them numerous recognitions.

An electrical engineer armed with a degree in Law from Duke University, Gay joined Foley & Lardner's Orlando office in 1995. Expressing his confidence in Gay’s capabilities, Baxa said that Gay embodies the firm’s core values and ethics and has deep-rooted ties within the community.

Buckingham Doolittle swallows Kaufmann & Kaufmann
In a move to add muscle to its Trusts & Estates practice, Akron law firm Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs LLP has announced its merger with the small local firm of Kaufmann & Kaufmann by inducting its three attorneys to its Akron office. Philip S. Kaufmann, Loma L. Swett, and Steven P. Mutersbaugh, who specialize in disabled and elder law, will join Buckingham Doolittle's Trusts & Estates Practice Group.

Philip S. Kaufmann, former managing partner of the erstwhile firm, joins Buckingham as a shareholder and will specialize in estate planning, probate, guardianship, Medicaid planning, corporate law and disability trusts. Loma L. Swett joined Buckingham as a partner and will focus her practice on estate planning and trusts, estate administration, guardianships, estate planning for the disabled, and elder law. Steven P. Mutersbaugh, joining Buckingham as an associate, will practice on estate planning, probate, estate planning for the disabled, elder law, and corporate law. Joining Buckingham, renowned trusts and estates firm in the state of Ohio, the three new attorneys are happy that their practice will now reach new clients. They hope to collaborate with the firm’s other attorneys in building up the firm’s authority in the practice area.

In addition, two paralegals, a law clerk, and an administrative assistant also join the firm. Established in 1913, Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs has 167 attorneys who provide the firm’s clients full range of legal services from its offices in Akron, Cleveland, Canton, Columbus, Boca Raton, and West Palm Beach.