Henderson Franklin

In the Roaring 20s, little in Southwest Florida roared. Population was thin, Fort Myers had no way across the Caloosahatchee River, Collier County was nonexistent, and paved roads were rare.

But two young visionary Jacksonville lawyers -- Robert Henderson and James Franklin -- saw more. They saw an agricultural port city, the winter homes of internationally prominent people and an embryonic potential for development. They saw what pioneers throughout history have sought: the opportunity to help create a thriving community.

“We have been very active here from the beginnings of civilized history,” reports Ronald Smalley, managing lawyer of Henderson, Franklin, Starnes & Holt, P.A., the law firm grown by those two men. Henderson Franklin is celebrating its 75th anniversary.

Both Henderson and Franklin became enmeshed in the rise of Southwest Florida from the moment they arrived. The firm helped organize the Caloosahatchee Bridge Company to build that first critical span across the river, just east of then downtown Fort Myers. It also counted Barron Collier among its clients during the carving out of Collier County, completed just five years after the men’s arrival.

The firm has continued to thrive with the region, growing to its present strength of 160 employees including 48 attorneys.

“We have had people in our firm as president of the Florida Bar Association, and many times as president of the Lee County Bar,” Smalley says.

It has been involved in some of the most significant and precedent setting legal actions of the region’s history, from successfully defending a 1960’s Lee County sheriff in an impeachment trial before the Florida senate to the establishment of the arcane legal concept of comparative negligence. “It is a very significant landmark case,” explains Smalley.

Henderson Franklin is celebrating its anniversary with activities typical of the concern for its community that is part of its culture. The firm has donated a total of $75,000 to Big Brothers/ Sisters and Habitat For Humanity.

“With Habitat For Humanity, we decided to contribute enough money to build a home,” Smalley says, “and in addition, we are supplying the volunteers to construct that home.”

Henderson Franklin’s anniversary gift to these groups in no way replaces its on-going community efforts. The firm is a United Way Pacesetter, the sponsor of Celebration of The Performing Arts at Edison Community College, the benefactor of the Henderson Franklin Scholarship at Florida Gulf Coast University, and lists more than two dozen charitable organizations in which its attorneys participate as officers or board members.

Civic-mindedness is designed into Henderson Franklin’s corporate culture as part of each firm member’s annual evaluation. “We talk about contributing to our firm not just in dollar production’” Smalley says, “because we expect our people to do things outside our firm.”

Henderson Franklin is the largest law firm between Tampa and Miami, but has only one office, in downtown Fort Myers. Although the practice is active throughout the five-county Southwest Florida area, it has resisted the trend to open many small offices. “We’ve looked at it on many occasions, but always close the door,” explains Smalley. “Our clients are so good to us, we have had enough business here.”

Henderson Franklin is also not prone to splashy advertisements or touchy-feely commercials. “You won’t find us on the backs of buses,” Smalley says with an understated grin.

But you will find the firm working quietly in small business meetings and executive suites. And, if history is any predictor, you’ll find it there for at least another 75 years.

Rick Compton is a freelance business writer and humor columnist.