Firm History

In 1979, four entrepreneurial attorneys, each with incredibly diverse backgrounds and talents came together to form the law firm of Hopping, Boyd, Green & Sams. 

In the fledgling area of environmental and land use law, these four lawyers set out to become leaders in an arena that others had yet to realize existed.  With a former Supreme Court Justice, a PhD, and several significant legal honors to their credit, they set out to be different. 

From its inception, the founders decided that the practice would be different in a number of ways.  Not only would they keep their focus on practice areas related to growth, land use and environmental law; they would structure their new firm in a way that fostered ingenuity and teamwork.   While many larger firms were expanding into broad cross and multi-discipline areas of law, this firm would not.  They also shunned a model that put billable hours and hyper-competitive practices over quality and cooperation.  Instead of an obsession with client development and business growth, they emphasized tangible client-centered results and quality lawyering.

Has it worked?

As a tribute to their shared vision, the firm still exists in largely the same structure as it did nearly three decades ago.  To this day, three of the four founding members are still together and the firm has grown to its current size of more than 40 lawyers with an extraordinarily large and diverse client portfolio.  With a developing legacy of landmark rulings and a string of notable awards, one could easily conclude that the original vision was a good one. Consider this sample of recent awards and notations:

•    Multiple lawyers repeatedly listed in Best Lawyers in America across a variety of practice areas.

•    Consistently earning the highest rating from Martindale-Hubbell

•    Listings in Chambers USA, America’s Leading Business Lawyers

•    Multiple listings as “Florida Super Lawyers” for Environmental Law

•    Multiple listings in Florida Trend’s “Legal Elite”

When looking to the future, it is vital to look through the past.  How many law firms have grown and adapted to an ever-changing landscape yet still have the same corps leadership team and the same guiding philosophy?  How many can say they have worked in virtually every jurisdiction in their state?  How many can say they have represented virtually every major client in their area of practice?  How many have significant victories in the smallest agency conference rooms as well as the highest courts in the land?

We can.

As Florida continues to grow, the challenge of managing that growth will remain an important and developing area of law. With a deep respect for the land, the law and the process, we believe that Hopping Green & Sams is poised to remain a leader in the areas of environmental, governmental and land use law.  

Our stability is our foundation and our foundation is our path to the future.