Akerman Senterfitt beefs up Tallahassee operation with Bruce Culpepper

21 Mar 1997
Tampa Bay Business Journal

Akerman Senterfitt & Eidson has a new partner in its Tallahassee office.

Bruce Culpepper, who spent more than a decade as a partner in the Tallahassee firm of Pennington Culpepper Moore Wilkinson Dunbar & Dunlap, said he made the move to take advantage of Akerman's statewide practice.

"Nobody was mad," Culpepper said of his decision to switch firms. "It was just that I felt that a full-service firm needs a statewide practice. And that's what Akerman offers.... My move was a move of the head, not the heart.... I felt this was the way law was going. And now I've simply joined some other friends."

Culpepper, who will spend much of his time doing lobbying work for Akerman, specializes in commercial litigation and administrative law. Culpepper joins four other attorneys in the firm's Tallahassee office.

Culpepper isn't the only lawyer or would-be lawyer in his family. His son James, is a lawyer in the Air Force's JAG Corps and is planning to join Akerman in May; another son, Brad, is a student at University of Florida's law school and a defensive tackle for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; and there's daughter Blair, a student at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport.

Asked whether any other family members plan to join Akerman, Culpepper quipped, "I don't think they could stand that much nepotism."

Meanwhile, Florida bankruptcy guru Jules Cohen may also soon join Akerman.

Cohen, who serves on the board of directors of the Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute, would oversee Akerman's statewide bankruptcy practice, according to sources close to the deal.

Akerman is based in Orlando and has offices in Tampa, West Palm Beach, Miami and Tavares.

Culpepper Ancestry: Philip Bruce Culpepper is the brother of Florida banker John Blair Culpepper, and the son of former University of Florida Chancellor John Broward Culpepper. His son, Brad, is now a defensive tackle with the Chicago Bears and is studying law. His son James has now joined Akerman, and his daughter Blair practices law with Macfarlane Ferguson & McMullen in Tallahassee.

Note also that Bruce and son Brad were both captains of their University of Florida football teams (Bruce '62, Brad '91) and both were inducted into their alma mater's Athletic Hall of Fame. They are the only such father-son duo in Florida history.