Dean, Mead & Bovay, a Florida-based corporate law firm that will soon have five offices around the state, has added two longtime Gainesville residents to its business litigation practice: Robert Griscti and Jennifer Lester will serve as Of Counsel, mutually overseeing the business litigation practice.
Griscti specializes in appellate law, professional licensing, government investigations, civil litigation, criminal litigation and regulatory compliance. Lester’s practice involves commercial litigation, personal injury, wrongful death and fiduciary proceedings, or issues dealing with trustees.
This makes them ideal for the firm, said Jack Bovay, managing shareholder of Dean Mead’s Gainesville office.
“We’re the only firm in North Central Florida—specifically the Gainesville area—that can truly offer full service to corporate clients,” said Bovay, who said that hiring local attorneys is in line with the firm’s plan for growth within Gainesville and Alachua County. “Adapting to the local business community’s needs, including the exciting Innovation Gainesville effort, is Dean Mead’s primary goal.”
“We’re convinced iG is a winner,” Bovay said. “Those businesses are going to need someone to cover the legal aspect of their business and we’re here to help them, whether it’s establishing an LLC, signing partnership agreements, dealing with tax issues, complying with government regulation or just putting together contracts.”
“There really is a need [for a corporate law firm] in Gainesville,” Lester said. “Twenty years ago, maybe not. But as UF markets its technology to businesses, it’s going to create a need for different kinds of lawyers, and a lot of that technology is medical and very regulated, so that’s where Rob can help.”
Griscti and Lester are both graduates of the University of Florida Levin College of Law and have a combined 50-plus years of legal experience. Lester is a board-certified civil trial lawyer–part of the one percent of Florida’s 95,000 lawyers to receive such certification. Griscti previously served as the president and national delegate of the Federal Bar Association’s North Central Florida Chapter and chair of the Florida Bar’s statewide Federal Practice Committee.
“I’ve spent 20 years in Gainesville,” Lester said, “and I’ve worked with Jack and some of his clients in the past. It just seemed like the perfect fit.”
“We are truly honored to join Jack Bovay and Richard Withers, longtime residents and highly regarded tax and business lawyers, in their dedication to serving this community at Dean Mead,” Griscti said in a press release.
Dean Mead is a full-service, statewide, corporate law firm with 47 attorneys across multiple areas of expertise including tax, estate planning, business law and appellate law. Local expertise across the state allows each of the offices to call on the others for advice.
What Lester and Griscti bring to the table, Bovay said, besides expertise in white-collar law and top-rate litigation experience in trust and personal injury law is their local experience.
“We’re four people who have spent their careers here,” Bovay said, “But we’re going to be backed by a bigger resource pool that we can contribute to. We’re pleased to be a part of that group.”
