LAW FIRM OF THE MONTH ALEXANDER DEGANCE BARNETT 10th ANNIVERSARYAttorney at Law Magazine is published by: Target Market Media Publications Inc. Ken Minniti PRESIDENT & CEO Howard LaGraffe VICE PRESIDENT Caitlin Keniston EDITOR Thomas Brady FIRST COAST PUBLISHER Susan Cushing Veronica Jauregui ASSISTANT EDITOR Nancy Kinnally LOCAL EDITOR Kate Quealy LOCAL ADMINISTRATOR Jaqueline Dávila GRAPHIC DESIGN Adam B. Edgecombe James Mitchell Josh Shilts CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Susan Cushing Paige Harriss Nancy Kinnally CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dan Harris PHOTOGRAPHY Copyright ©2020, Target Market Media all rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is strictly prohibited. Advertising rates on request. Bulk third class (standard) mail. Although every precaution is taken to ensure accuracy of published materials, Attorney at Law Magazine & Target Market Media cannot be held responsible for opinions expressed or facts supplied by authors. Corporate Office : 5828 North 7th Street, Suite 200 Phoenix, AZ 85014 Phone (480) 219-9716 www.tmmpublications.com • info@tmmpublications.com Northern Alabama | Atlanta | Chicago | Dallas | Ft. Lauderdale Jacksonville | Los Angeles | Miami | Minnesota North Carolina Triangle | Ohio | Philadelphia | Phoenix | San Antonio Salt Lake City | Middle Tennessee | Washington D.C. ATTORNEY AT LAW MAGAZINE WOULD LIKE TO CONGRATULATE THE FOLLOWING FIRST COAST ATTORNEYS FOR BECOMING BOARD CERTIFIED LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT LAW Ronald Angerer M A R I T A L A N D F A M I LY L A W Christie Guerrero TAX LAW Kyle Johnson C O N D O M I N I M U M LC O N D O M I N I M U M L A W James Roche TAX LAW D. Kent Sausaman CIVIL TRIAL Christopher Shakib WWW.FLORIDABAR.ORGTABLE OF Contents 12 FROM THE Publisher Welcome to our August issue of Attorney at Law Maga- zine First Coast. We are very pleased celebrate the 10th anni- versary of Alexander DeGance Bar- nett, P.A., our Law Firm of the Month and cover story. We are also proud to spotlight Du- val County Judge, the Honorable Erin Perry and feature the new President- Elect of the Florida Bar Association, Jacksonville’s Michael G. Tanner. Also in this issue you’ll find great articles by Adam Edgecombe, Josh Shilts, James Mitchell and our spot- light on mediation consultant, Robert Walker. Stay safe and happy reading, THOMAS BRADY PUBLISHER 904-398-2234 TBRADY@ATTORNEYATLAWMAGAZINE.COM 19 16 8 Jacksonville’s Mike Tanner Becomes President-Elect of The Florida Bar By Nancy Kinnally 11 The Statutory Demand for Insurance: A Widely Used, But Little-Understood Tool for All Attorneys By Adam B. Edgecombe 12 Alexander DeGance Barnett PA Law Firm of the Month 16 Robert Walker Mediator Spotlight 19 Judge Erin Perry Dedicated Public Servant By Paige Harriss 21 Small Business Bankruptcy Process: Alternatives for Small Businesses By Josh Shilts 22 Remote Online Notarizations: A New Concept We’re Getting Familiar With By James Mitchell AttorneyAtLawMagazine.com 7Florida Bar President-Elect and Gunster share- holder Mike Tanner is a high-profile business liti- gator with a long list of professional accolades and nearly a decade of service on the Bar’s board of governors, but to hundreds of Jacksonville’s homeless, he’s been one of the cooks at the Sulzbacher Center for the last 10 years. “I’m part of a group. We go down there and cook lunch the first Saturday of every month,” Tanner said. Tanner’s professional and community service are a nat- ural outgrowth of the ideals that motivated him, as a high school student with a keen interest in history, to become the first in his family to set his sights on a legal career. “I was intrigued by the number of lawyers who were in- volved in founding the country,” Tanner said. “They were very public-service minded.” Tanner sees the legal profession as “a bulwark of repre- sentative government” and his service to The Florida Bar as the proudest aspect of his career, even having founded a successful law practice with partner Tom Bishop and practiced at two of the state and nation’s preeminent law firms, Gunster and Holland & Knight. “I’m not in Bar leadership because I wanted another line item in my resume,” Tanner said. “I thought we have some interesting and challenging times coming up, and I felt I could contribute to that. I look at it as a way to pay back a profession that has been good to me and good to society.” Tanner will serve as president of The Florida Bar begin- ning in June 2021 following Dori Foster-Morales of Mi- ami, who was installed as president at The Florida Bar’s virtual convention in June. Jacksonville’s MIKE TANNER Becomes President-Elect of The Florida Bar BY NANCY KINNALLY MIKE TANNER AT THE BLUE BEAR FARM & CATTLE CO ATTORNEY AT LAW MAGAZINE · FIRST COAST · VOL. 5 NO. 4 8Foster-Morales and Tanner will lead The Florida Bar through some of the toughest times in living memory, as lawyers navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallout. Among other challenges, the legal profession and the judiciary will have to work together to figure out how to have jury trials in the midst of a pandemic “in a way that is not unreasonable health-wise to people,” Tanner said. And as civil legal needs continue to grow, the age-old problem of how to ensure access to justice remains as vex- ing as ever. “There’s a huge percentage of our population in Florida and the country who have unmet legal needs.” Tanner said. “They can’t afford a lawyer, or they don’t know law- yers and are just outside the legal system. That’s a chal- lenge for the profession, because over time that will erode the profession. If more people believe the legal profession is not available to them, they’ll look for other means to resolve their issues. The challenge for the profession is to address that.” One population that often has unmet civil legal needs is foster youth. Tanner has also been deeply involved in sup- porting them through Jacksonville’s Youth Crisis Center, previously chairing its board. “They have a shelter and an assisted-living-type facility,” Tanner said. “They help young adults transitioning out of foster care become self-sufficient.” Serving food to the homeless and working with foster youth “makes you realize how fortunate you are,” Tanner said. As if his legal practice, Bar work and volunteerism were not enough, Tanner and his wife, Dawna Bicknell Tan- ner, are also ranchers. Their Blue Bear Farm & Cattle Co. in Cairo, Georgia, just north of Tallahassee, sells grass- fed beef, which Tanner said has the dual benefit of being healthful and humane. “We’ve got our herd to a size that we’re actually selling beef,” Tanner said. At 66, Tanner could easily sit back on the porch and en- joy the life of a gentleman farmer, but instead he will be digging in to help solve some thorny issues facing his fel- low Bar members. “It would be easy to throttle back at this point in my career, but I’m looking at two years of very vigorous work,” he said. If more people believe the legal profession is not available to them, they’ll look for other means to resolve their issues. The challenge for the profession is to address that.” AttorneyAtLawMagazine.com 9Next >