Legal Review
HOLLAND & KNIGHT CHAIR JUMPS TO BOUTIQUE FIRM; Chance to litigate leads attorney to Podhurst Orseck; ON THE MOVE
by John Pacenti jpacenti@alm.com
886 words
4 February 2010
Broward Daily Business Review
A3
English
Copyright 2010 ALM Properties, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Miami attorney Peter Prieto is a big fish in a big pond, rising to the upper echelon at Holland & Knight as chairman of its national litigation section, the largest practice group at the law firm.
But as of Feb. 16, he will jump across town to the boutique litigation firm Podhurst Orseck as a partner. Holland & Knight has 1,100-plus attorneys and does primarily defense work.
Podhurst Orseck is a premier plaintiff firm. Prieto becomes the 13th attorney at the firm and its first lateral partner hire in 28 years.
"I think we just got ourselves a clean-up hitter," founding partner Aaron Podhurst said. "He is a tremendous addition to our litigation team."
Prieto said he has been treated wonderfully in his 16 years at Holland & Knight and was not pursuing a change when Podhurst approached him four months ago.
But the opportunity was too enticing to pass up, he said.
"Working in a litigation boutique is considered by many to be the gold standard," Prieto said. "To handle complex and challenging cases with great lawyers who also happen to be my friends was incredibly appealing."
Holland & Knight managing partner Steven Sonberg said Prieto leaves on good terms.
"Podhurst Orseck is a unique opportunity to practice in a different venue than Holland & Knight," Sonberg said. "He obviously sought a small-firm environment where he can do different work. He wants to do plaintiff trial work. That's not our typical fair."
Prieto joins a firm with such well-respected litigators as Podhurst, Robert Josefsberg, Victor Diaz and Steven C. Marks.
Podhurst said as some key partners edge closer to retirement, hiring Prieto sets up the firm for the future.
"We are setting ourselves up in the 21st century with a very fine lawyer who is going to blend well with the firm for the next decades to come," Podhurst said. "He is going to be a tremendous help in handling ... complex commercial litigation."
But he cautioned not to handicap the succession plan.
"We haven't gone there," Podhurst said. "Victor Diaz is great. Steve Marks is great. And Peter Prieto falls into that category. They are all great guys. Don't shoot me yet. I'm not done. There is no order of succession."
Marks noted Prieto's hiring is unusual for the firm.
"We have one other lateral in our firm's history, which is Bob Josefsberg, and we fully expect this decision will be as good as that decision was. Bob joined the firm in 1982," he said. "With Aaron and Bob being the guiding light for so many years, the next generation is only strengthened by the addition of Peter Prieto."
Prieto said he will work on class actions as well as multi-district litigation. He said Sonberg is right: One of the reasons he is making a change is to get back into the courtroom.
"I really want to focus exclusively on working and trying cases," he said.
Prieto started in the courtroom as an assistant U.S. attorney in Miami. He then went to Washington, where he served as associate deputy independent counsel for the Office of Independent Counsel investigating Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. He had gone to work for Holland & Knight out of law school in 1985 before joining the U.S. attorney's office. He returned to the firm in 1996.
Roberto Martinez, a partner at Colson Hicks Eidson in Coral Gables, said Prieto is a perfect fit for his new firm. Martinez was the Miami U.S. attorney part of the time that Prieto worked as a prosecutor.
"They are both lucky," Martinez said. "He is going to do a lot of everything. He is going to get into the courtroom. I think dealing with the bureaucracy of the big firm won't be an issue there."
Marty Steinberg, managing partner of the Miami office of Hunton & Williams, agreed, saying a stellar lawyer is going to a stellar firm.
"It's one of the prominent plaintiffs firms, not only in town but in the country," Steinberg said.
"They have a tremendous practice." Prieto and Steinberg worked together at Holland & Knight.
Podhurst wouldn't discuss what kind of compensation he offered Prieto to lure him from Holland & Knight."We just wanted to have him," he said. "Those things haven't even been discussed. He wants to come, and we want him. We are going to treat him right."
PETER PRIETO
Prominent Miami attorney Peter Prieto is moving from a management position at Holland & Knight to the boutique firm of Podhurst Orseck where he will do more litigation. His experience:
• Chair of Holland and Knight's national litigation section
• Represented cargo carrier Fine Air in a criminal investigation into falsified maintenance records
• Conducted internal investigation at Coral Gables-based information technology firm eLandia International for possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
• Successfully defeated class certification in a civil suit alleging Tenet Healthcare inflated its prices to obtain additional Medicare funds
• Former federal prosecutor
John Pacenti can be reached at jpacenti@alm.com or at (305) 347-6638.
