AALM: What attracted you to the practice of law? And to your practice in particular?
ST: As a kid, it was very important to me that everyone follow the rules — even in games my friends and I made up on the spot, I made sure we had a clear set of rules. My dad was a lawyer my entire life, and I loved watching him work. Then, when I was in high school, my mom, who was a career CPA, started law school at Florida Coastal. Watching her go through it — and seeing how her classes changed the way she analyzed the world around her — drew me in. I was particularly attracted to the structure of the law: an entire system built on working within an established set of rules. After graduating college with an accounting degree, I considered a career as a CPE, but my mom’s experience and guidance ultimately pushed me toward the law.
AALM: Has your career followed the trajectory you originally planned in law school?
ST: I went to law school thinking I would pursue a career in tax law, and I earned an LL.M. in taxation at the University of Miami with that goal in mind. When I began practicing, however, things took a different turn. I started as an associate doing corporate and securities work, and after a few years I gradually moved my practice toward where it is today — representing private investment fund managers in fund formation matters. It turned out to be the ideal fit: the work is a blend of business and corporate law, but it is almost entirely tax-driven, so my background in accounting and tax comes into play every day.
AALM: Tell us about your early career and what drew you to Holland & Knight.
ST: I grew up in Jacksonville, and from the very beginning of law school I knew I wanted to start my career back home. That made Holland & Knight a natural fit. The firm has deep roots in Jacksonville and a long-standing presence in the market, which meant I could build a practice in the city I knew best without sacrificing the kind of platform that would let me work on sophisticated, national-caliber matters.
Beyond the geography, what really drew me to HK was its reputation. It is a nationally recognized firm with a culture that genuinely emphasizes excellent client service — not as a tagline, but as the way the lawyers here actually approach their work. As a young attorney trying to figure out how to practice, being surrounded by partners who treated client service as the central organizing principle of the practice shaped the way I think about my own clients to this day.
The other thing that stood out, and that has proven true throughout my career, is HK’s commitment to training, mentoring, and retaining its attorneys. A lot of firms talk about associate development, but HK actually invests in it. From my earliest days as an associate, I had partners who took the time to teach me, to put me in front of clients, and to give me real responsibility on meaningful matters. That kind of investment in people is, in my experience, genuinely different from what you find at many of our competitors — and it is a big part of why I have spent my entire career here, and why I now try to provide that same support to the associates coming up behind me.
AALM: As a partner, how do you seek to mentor younger attorneys both within and outside the firm?
ST: I genuinely enjoy training and mentoring junior attorneys, and I try to be a resource for every young lawyer in our corporate group at HK. I firmly believe that while associates are hired to do the work in front of them, each one is a professional who must take ownership of the direction of their own career. If an associate is staffed on asset finance work but really wants to do real estate, that person has both the right and the responsibility to drive the direction of their practice. I have mentored a number of associates through that kind of decision — whether it ultimately meant changing practice groups, moving firms, going in-house, or staying right where they were. I had the benefit of several key mentors and sponsors in my own career, and I feel a duty to pay that forward.
AALM: Looking ahead, what are your goals or plans for your practice.
ST: My number one goal is building a strong team of attorneys and professionals to serve our current clients and continue growing the practice. For me, this work has never been about personal success — it is about our clients and theirs. The true measure of success is whether the team we are building is advancing our clients’ businesses and giving them confidence in the advice they are getting. Looking ahead, I want to keep deepening the bench, broadening our capabilities in private fund formation, and making sure the next generation of lawyers in our group is positioned to lead.
For more information, visit hklaw.com.
