Shumaker Expands Fla. Footprint With St. Petersburg Shop

By Madison Arnold

The new office is part of an ongoing effort by Shumaker to better serve clients in the area, the firm said in an announcement Thursday. In conjunction with the opening, the firm hired David Delrahim as partner and tapped Shumaker attorney Mindi Richter to serve as managing partner.

“While Tampa and St. Pete both make up Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg, just like Tampa, is its own city, and it has its own unique qualities, its own needs, its own unique growth points,” Richter said Friday in an interview with Law360 Pulse. “We see that, and we want to be there to help them and to recognize that.”

Shumaker was founded in 1925 and has grown to employ more than 300 attorneys and advisers.

The firm already has a strong presence on the west coast of Florida, with offices in Tampa and Sarasota as well as locations in Tallahassee and Dade City.

The new office will be in the Northern Trust building, at 100 Second Avenue South, with an expected opening date in June.

Delrahim joined the firm as an attorney handling business, real estate and bankruptcy litigation. He represents clients across several industries and serves

as general counsel for organizations in construction, manufacturing, medical services, real estate development and hospitality, according to his profile on the firm’s website.

Delrahim appears on behalf of clients in federal, state and bankruptcy courts, where he handles complex business litigation and collection actions, real estate and title disputes, partnership, shareholder and member disputes, and wrongful conduct of business, according to his profile.

Richter said: “We were also looking for the right talent to help us in opening the office. The timing of David worked out well, and he was a really good fit, already being integrated in St. Pete and having practiced in St. Pete for a number of years. Everything just kind of all came together at the right time.”

Richter has been with Shumaker for more than 16 years, according to her LinkedIn profile. She is an intellectual property litigator and handles claims such as trademark, patent and copyright infringement, trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition and domain name disputes.

Additionally, Richter frequently handles trademark cases in front of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to her profile on the firm’s website.

“I’ve lived in St. Pete now for the last few years, and so on a personal level, I’ve seen the city growing from a business perspective, from a residential perspective, from a tourism perspective. That has excited me for some time, and with all that growth, I’ve seen an increased need to have an actual physical presence over there,” Richter said, adding, “To be able to play a central role in launching this office, not only for the growth of the firm, but for the growth of St. Pete and its economy, is just a really exciting challenge that was a great opportunity for me to take on and accept.”

Shumaker colleagues joining Richter in the new office include Shumaker’s executive vice president and principal of the U.S. Cities practice, Rick Kriseman, who was St. Petersburg’s mayor from 2014 to 2022.

Also joining the new office is partner Robert R. Warchola, who is on the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and is a general counsel for the Greater St. Petersburg Area Economic Development Corporation.

Lastly, paralegal Diedre N. Turner will also work at the St. Petersburg location. “The collective experience and deep-rooted involvement of all four attorneys in the St. Petersburg’s community, coupled with their combined knowledge and commitment to the local landscape, positions them as invaluable assets in our mission to serve the legal needs of the St. Pete area,” Jaime Austrich, vice chair of Shumaker’s management committee, said in a statement.

–Editing by Drashti Mehta.