MICHAEL G. TANNER: PRESIDENT OF THE FLORIDA BAR.

• Author: Ash, Jim

Michael G. Tanner was a young Midwestern boy, riding in the back of an unairconditioned Chevy, when he first saw Florida. The year was 1960. Tanner's family was moving from Flint, Michigan, and scouting locations for his father's dental practice.

At the dawn of the Space Age, Florida--population 5 million--was a place blessed with broad beaches, living reefs, and miles of fragrant citrus groves, and to the Tanners, a welcome change from the snow of Michigan. Tanner's first impression remains vivid.

"Florida then was a very different place from what it is today; it was pristine, sparsely populated," he said. "I remember there was open land between Miami and Coral Gables."

Sixty years later, it's the impression that Tanner has made on Florida that has propelled the 67-year-old Jacksonville civil trial lawyer and Gunster shareholder to the presidency of the 109,000-member Bar.

"I think if you ask a random selection of trial lawyers around North Florida who they would call about a question on ethics and professionalism, Mike would be at the top of that list," says Tom Bishop, a close friend and former law partner.

Colleagues say Tanner is every inch the formidable litigator his resume suggests.

Board certified in both civil trial and business litigation, and "AV-Preeminent"-rated by Martindale-Hubbell, Tanner has served as president of the Jacksonville chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, and in 2012, was inducted into the invitation-only American College of Trial Lawyers.

In addition to co-founding Tanner Bishop, a litigation boutique, Tanner has worked for two nationally preeminent firms, Gunster and Holland & Knight.

"Mike Tanner is one of the most well-respected, accomplished lawyers in the state of Florida; he truly is, there's no question about it," says Tampa lawyer William "Bill" Schifino, who served as Bar president in 2016.

Tanner's quiet, friendly demeanor also masks an adventurous side.

Several times in the 1990s and 2000s, he served as a Christian missionary in former Soviet bloc countries.

Second District Court of Appeal Chief Judge Nelly Khouzam served with Tanner on the Advanced Trial Advocacy Program faculty, a Trial Lawyers Section showcase at which Tanner taught for many years. She says the Bar is fortunate that he is willing to serve.

"I was so grateful when I heard hat he was running," she said. "The best way to describe Mike is that he is a lawyer's lawyer, a true gentleman. When we talk about professionalism, Mike exemplifies what a true professional is."

Those who know him best say service dominates Tanner's DNA. In late 2019, in the midst of a statewide Bar campaign, Tanner couldn't turn down a request by Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan, of the Middle Disrict of Florida, to take on a chore to assist the court.

Chief Judge Corrigan needed a special master to help untangle a series of discovery disputes in a large case, a process over several months that tested Tanner's significant legal and diplomatic skills.

"He jumped in with both feet, even though he had a lot going on with his Bar activities at the time," Judge Corrigan said. "That required somebody who had the respect of both sides, and who they knew they were going to get a straight shot from, and who was also skilled at navigating the shoals of complex commercial litigation, and Mike did a, pardon the pun, masterful job."

A New Start in Jacksonville

The Tanner family search for a new home ended in Jacksonville, where a maternal uncle had already established himself as an oral surgeon.

Tanner's parents met as undergraduates at the University of Michigan and married shortly after their graduation. After graduating dental school, his father moved the family to Flint to pursue a job opportunity.

They moved South several years later to escape Michigan's harsh winters.

"My mother had some health issues, and her doctors told her that a warmer climate would help her," Tanner said.

The family thrived in Jacksonville, Tanner said. One of his younger brothers grew up to become a real estate broker, the other, a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service.

The Tanner family tree is laden with professionals, including one grandfather who worked as a chemist and another as an engineer for General Motors, but, "I'm the only lawyer in the family until my generation, as far as I know," Tanner said. "My niece Mallory Thomas, my youngest brother's daughter, and her husband Ben Thomas, are outstanding young lawyers; Mallory with Phelps Dunbar in Tampa and Ben with Martinez Denbo in St. Pete."

Tanner fondly recalls a Jacksonville childhood spent playing with neighbors, joining the Boy Scouts, and living within walking distance from Venetia Elementary School, where he befriended a classmate who would also pursue a legal career, Fourth Circuit Judge Waddell "Del" Wallace III.

Judge Wallace remembers serving with Tanner on the school patrol.

"He was always friendly, engaging with people, a good friend, popular, knew everybody, and showed leadership qualities from the very beginning, if you think about it," Judge Wallace said.

The two lost touch when Tanner went to a parochial high school that the Episcopal Diocese had just opened. They reunited in...