GARY S. LESSER President of The Florida Bar.

• Author: Bitar, Rawan

During the 1920s Florida land boom, Americans came from all over the country to seek opportunity in the Sunshine State, and one of them was legal pioneer Joe Lesser--the attorney grandfather of new Bar President Gary S. Lesser, managing partner of Lesser, Lesser, Landy & Smith in West Palm Beach.

Joe Lesser went to work in the historic Citizens Building 95 years ago, and his son, Shepard Lesser, joined the firm in 1960. Thirty years ago, Gary Lesser fulfilled his lifelong dream and joined his father's solo practice, which now has branch offices in Stuart, Boca Raton, and Wellington.

Lesser, a history-loving father of three, who maintains a friendly sense of humor and keeps a regular eye on what's happening at the Florida Capitol, grew the firm into what it is today.

There are answers to what makes him an outstanding professional success, but one important part of his life story includes his dedication to service beyond the workplace.

"I've always been a community guy," says the 54-year-old Bar leader, who has kept busy his entire adult life with multiple charitable causes and volunteer activities.

Having grown up in a family that encouraged community service for the greater good, Lesser made sure that the lawyers at Lesser, Lesser, Landy & Smith were on board with the same values.

Twenty-one-year partner Joe Landy and Mickey Smith, an 18-year partner, are determined to maintain those deep connections within the community.

"We all have very similar ideals, and we want to accomplish the same things with our lives," Landy says. "It's contagious. Every lawyer in this firm is out there doing things."

Calling Lesser "the ultimate do-gooder," Smith says the new Bar president has service in his DNA.

Gary is just as involved in the community and has been on multiple boards and good causes.

With Lesser's heartfelt spirit of giving back, his list of causes is long. His service on The Florida Bar Board of Governors for 10 years preceded his term as Bar President-elect and now, President.

"The Florida Bar is a really great intersection of being able to help our lawyers and ultimately the public that we serve," he says.

We've got ethics advice, member benefits, and CLEs, and we're trying to help our lawyers, but we're also trying to help the public that we serve. It was a great opportunity to be involved in those ways, to try to work with some very good lawyer leaders and make a difference.

Former 2018-2020 Senate President Bill Galvano (R-Bradenton) who has maintained close ties with Lesser since week one at the University of Miami School of Law in 1989, noted Lesser as a law student was not only interested in academics, but social and extracurricular activities.

Lesser wasn't in law school long when he became active in the Bar & Gavel Society, part of UM Law's International Law Section, and became the editor-in-chief of the law school periodical, Res Ipsa Loquitur, while Galvano served as the opinions editor.

"He even chaired the Barrister's Ball one year," Galvano added.

"I was not surprised to see him doing things to support his community and the Bar throughout his career," says the lawyer-legislator, who has kept track of Lesser's progress in the Bar and supported his rise to the top. When in Tallahassee, they sometimes would meet up in Galvano's Capitol office and chat about various issues. "I think he's going to bring a brilliant skillset to the presidency," including reinvigorating participation and helping the practice continue to be a profession with respectful discourse between attorneys.

"Gary is honest, respected, dedicated, and friendly," says 2002 Bar President Tod Aronovitz of Aronovitz Law in Miami.

Calling Lesser's accomplishments "truly special," Aronovitz--a former boss, mentor, frequent co-counsel, and very close friend of Lesser--says his success in the law is directly linked to his trustworthiness. Lesser was a law clerk at Aronovitz's firm in 1991, and they have continued to work on cases ever since.

Lesser's 95-year-old firm, which runs on referrals and word-of-mouth only, "was grown based on determination, his personality, and trust," says Aronovitz. From the very beginning of Lesser's career, "clients trusted him, they still trust him, they still refer their family members to him and his partners."

But what precisely is in the secret sauce to maintaining the longevity of a reputable firm?

"You've got to be a good lawyer," says California attorney Bill Lutz, who's known Lesser since their dorm-room days at George Washington University in D.C.

The duo were heavily involved as officers in campus political activities, and Lutz says as editor, Lesser breathed new life into the GW Journal, a quarterly political publication. Lesser also interned for long-time Florida Sen. Lawton Chiles on the Hill. Lutz and Lesser have kept in touch ever since, with both serving as groomsmen in their respective weddings.

You've got to be competent. You have to get good results. You have to have satisfied clients. You have to have peers who recognize your abilities and your accomplishments and your integrity. You've got to have people willing to come work for you--maybe people who have other choices.

Ultimately, Lutz says, you must have a solid practice as a foundation.

And that's where a little bit of history comes in.

Little Bit of History

On many given evenings, the socially active Lesser--who ordinarily keeps a full calendar of community, Bar, or professional events--may be found doing the opposite: sitting quietly with a history book in his hands. Having early in life considered a career as a history teacher, Lesser gave kitchen-table history lessons to his three daughters, Lillian, 25, Josie, 21, and Rebecca, 16, as they grew up. From the late 1400s Spanish Inquisition (Howard Sachar's Farewell Espana being one of his favorites), to the period of the American Revolution, World War II, and general European history, Lesser is fond of learning as much as possible from the best literary sources.

But his own historical background began in small-town Rome, Georgia, with grandfather Joseph Lesser, born the son of a shopkeeper in 1899, who worked as a struggling attorney knocking on law firm doors in nearby Atlanta asking for piecework. Being a solo practitioner in 1920s Rome was tough. Lured to Florida by a sense of adventure and the promise of a land boom that did not...