FLORIDA – October 23, 2017 – GrayRobinson, P.A., announced that Law360 has again recognized the Firm as one of five Florida Powerhouses in the publication’s Florida Powerhouse series. In addition to being one of Florida’s fastest-growing law firms, GrayRobinson was selected for its significant achievements in representing "local businesses that need help with legal matters or lobbying in government and for national and international firms looking for local partners with Florida-specific knowledge" by Law360.
"We take tremendous pride in being recognized as a Florida Powerhouse by Law360 in its third consecutive edition," said GrayRobinson president and managing director Mayanne Downs. "GrayRobinson’s continued growth and ties to its community show the strength we have developed in and outside of the courtroom."
GrayRobinson understands the importance of being connected to clients, the communities they service and to the legal profession. Finding ways to benefit clients through these connections has been the Firm’s focus for the last four decades. Established in Orlando, Florida, in 1970, GrayRobinson is a statewide powerhouse with 300 attorneys and consultants working out of offices in 13 Florida cities.
Among examples of these connections, the Firm’s powerhouse nomination cited:
- GrayRobinson’s successful representation of WellDyne, Inc. as co-counsel with Skadden Arps in the sale of WellDyneRx and several of its subsidiaries involved in the pharmacy benefit management business to The Carlyle Group. WellDyneRx is an innovative, full-service prescription benefit manager, servicing its health plan members through a retail network of over 65,000 pharmacies nationwide. Its full-service mail order facilities utilize advanced robotics to accurately fill more than 1 million prescriptions per year. It is considered one of the largest M&A deals in Florida with a Florida-based business.
- GrayRobinson is currently lead counsel in a class action asserting the largest known data breach in U.S. history. GrayRobinson’s clients, Dr. James and Mrs. Linda McAleer, allege that their personal data points were assembled with that of almost 200 million registered voters in the United States and uploaded by Deep Roots Analytics, a contractor to the Republican National Party, to a completely unprotected Amazon hosted cloud server. The data leak was exposed by Chris Vickery, a cybersecurity analyst for UpGuard, a leading provider of Internet based solutions to Internet based data storage facilities. The lawsuit represents the largest data breach ever identified in the United States, and seeks damages and injunctive relief on behalf of millions of Americans whose personal, confidential information was exposed to any persons with improper motive searching the Internet for access to confidential data points of information about individuals.
- Chair Emeritus of GrayRobinson, Charlie Gray, was instrumental in the development of the "BRIDG" high-tech manufacturing research consortium leading to the $170 million funding and organization of the BRIDG building, the first structure in the Neo City high-tech industrial park east of Kissimmee on U.S. Highway 192 near the Osceola Heritage Park. Backed with local, state, and private grants and tax incentives, real estate, in-kind and other contributions, its a space designed for high-tech manufacturing of nano-circuitry so small it’s dubbed "molecular manufacturing," starting with smart-sensor technologies and is aimed at developing new advanced semiconductor designs for microelectronics, nano-electronics, sensors, fiber optics and photonics. The organization is expected to generate thousands of high-paying jobs in the region. The construction of the project alone, at more than $170 million, has been considered one of the most-ambitious construction projects in recent Central Florida history.
- The onePULSE Foundation, Inc. was founded by Pulse Nightclub owner Barbara Poma. Earl M. Crittenden, Jr., of counsel at GrayRobinson and a third generation Orlando resident, was recently appointed as chair of the board of trustees. In addition to Crittenden’s work for the Foundation, his GrayRobinson colleagues Mayanne Downs, William A. Boyles, Christopher L. Carmody, Jr. and Jason A. Zimmerman were instrumental in laying the legal groundwork to form the OneOrlando fund in the wake of the tragedy. The GrayRobinson team navigated non-profit regulations, established the corporate framework for the Fund and met with victims groups around the country, including advocates representing the OneBoston Fund, to ensure successful Board development. This was all done at no cost to the Fund. The OneOrlando Fund was used to assist both the families of the victims who were killed and survivors who were physically injured in the Pulse Nightclub Attack and raised approximately $33 million in total. GrayRobinson is proud to support the communities in which we live and work and are proud to announce our employees raised $25,000 to contribute to the fund.?
- The professionals of GrayRobinson’s Medical Marijuana/Regulated Products Group were at the forefront of medical marijuana expansion in Florida. The firm’s professionals assisted existing and aspiring licensees with legal counsel and advice regarding the lawful production, processing, distribution and dispensing of the low potency strain of medical marijuana known as "Charlotte’s Web" under Florida’s Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act of 2014, as well as more potent forms of cannabis made available to terminally ill patients under the expanded "Right to Try Act" legislated in 2015. Most recently, GrayRobinson represented a variety of existing and new cannabis industry members regarding legislation, regulations and licensing related to Florida’s passage of Amendment 2 last November, which expanded the scope of Florida’s current medical marijuana law and led to a significant increase in the number of permitted licensees. GrayRobinson’s efforts included lobbying and advocacy before the Florida Legislature, the Office of the Governor and the Florida Department of Health, as well as in front of municipalities across Florida considering local ordinances that sought to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries in their communities.