Page 25 - Miami Vol 8 No 1

My friend and former partner from Green- berg days, John Metzger, heads our West Palm Beach o ce, and he was a big factor in my joining. McDonald Hopkins reminded me in many ways of Greenberg Traurig, when I joined in 1985. I liked its scale and entrepre- neurial spirit. I saw these qualities in McDon- ald Hopkins as well, with 130 lawyers and six o ces.
AALM: us far in your career, what are you most proud of accomplishing?
Rodriguez: My proudest accomplishment is my contribution to the state’s life sciences sector. It started in 2003 when Governor Bush recruited e Scripps Research Institute to Florida. I conceived the structure for funding the Scripps project with $350 million in state incentives – balancing Scripps’ need for cer- tainty while protecting tax dollars. A er state government, I represented the foremost re- search institute in the world, the Max Planck Society, in securing over $180 million in state and local incentives to establish its only re- search institute outside Europe – the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience. Scripps Florida and Max Planck Florida pro- pelled Palm Beach County into a hub for sci- enti c research. ey’ve attracted Nobel Prize winning scientists and led to discoveries that have launched new companies and will cure diseases. Governor Bush had a vision that bio- tech would transform Florida’s economy the way air conditioning had decades before. It’s become my life’s mission to make that vision reality.
AALM: How would you describe the culture of the rm?
Rodriguez: McDonald Hopkins is very entrepreneurial and collegial, with minimal bureaucracy. A rm-wide P&L encourages cross-selling and referring work across o ces. Our culture emphasizes quality of life, under- standing that lawyers are multidimensional people who have lives outside the practice of law. We also encourage lawyers to innovate and develop new practice areas. I have free- dom to develop my practice without being pigeon-holed in any one area. e rm trusts me to gure out what resources I need. is way, I maintain a great practice mix of busi- ness litigation, government relations, election law and business counseling.
AALM: Tell us about your fellow attorneys at your rm. How do you work together?
Rodriguez: We are a full-service business advisory and advocacy law rm. Most of us are laterals, from rms of every size including some of the largest and most prestigious rms in the world. We think like clients – achieving goals and solving problems. Lawyers will get on a plane or jump on a call to help pitch a client or solve an issue, without concern for
origination credit. Working across o ces is seamless to the client. Intangibles play a role in compensation. Lawyers think about the bigger picture, not just how much revenue they can generate for themselves. Our open compensation system eliminates the wasted energy in trying to gure out who got paid what and why. Every member has information on every nancial aspect of our rm.
AALM: What case most de ned or rede- ned your practice?
Rodriguez: e 2000 Presidential Election Litigation. You may not have seen my name in the press, but I was there from the rst mo- ments that led to the litigation, as Florida Co- Chair of Lawyers for Bush-Cheney. I le the elections o ce around 4 AM and was back the next morning before 8AM, when it seemed the whole world had descended. I was one of the three lead lawyers representing the GOP/ Bush campaign in the Miami-Dade portion of the recount.
Becoming Governor Bush’s general counsel completely transformed my practice. I worked on everything from judicial appointments to negotiating the largest economic development deal in state history at the time (Scripps Flori- da) to trying to save Terri Schiavo’s life.
AALM: What is the one piece of advice you would give to a student or young attorney who would like to follow in your footsteps?
Rodriguez: Never take “no” for an answer. is means not just refusing to accept “no” from others but also not telling yourself “no” in terms of what you can accomplish. If my career has taught me anything it’s that every- thing and anything is possible if you work hard and persevere. e law prepares you to do virtually everything, because it teaches you how to think and stand up for what you believe. It also means there’s no “one way” to practice law. ere are so many aspects to be- ing a lawyer as well as using a law degree for many other endeavors. Take advantage of ev- ery opportunity. Use every experience to build for the next one. Give yourself permission to follow your passions or develop new ones. When I started, I had no idea that I’d end up in Tallahassee or representing presidential cam- paigns or life science companies. But I knew I wanted to build a “life that matters” (with a nod to the late Charles Krauthammer). I did not know exactly what path to take, so I just started out being the best lawyer and person I could be and the opportunities started coming my way.
MCDONALD HOPKINS LLC
200 South Biscayne Blvd., Suite 2600 Miami, FL 33131
(305) 704-3990 mcdonaldhopkins.com
The law prepares you to do virtually everything, because
it teaches you how to think and stand upfor what you believe.”
AttorneyAtLawMagazine.com
25