Tampa, Fla. — In a landmark occasion, Tampa attorney Julio C. Esquivel has been named managing partner of the firm’s Tampa office. Born in Mexico City, Esquivel becomes the office’s first Hispanic managing partner.
Esquivel first came to the United States as an infant, then settled in Miami at age 10. Growing up speaking both Spanish and English, he earned a bachelor degree in finance from the University of Florida and then a Juris Doctor from the Boalt School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. While in school, he became fascinated with investment banking and worked for the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C., before joining a Miami firm.
After moving to Tampa 18 years ago, Esquivel joined Shumaker at the urging of attorney Gregory C. Yadley, whom Esquivel considers a friend and mentor at the firm. In his first year with Shumaker, the Tampa office managed three initial public offerings, more than any other Tampa firm “I felt like I had found my home,” Esquivel remembers. “I was doing exactly the work I wanted to be doing. I’m fascinated by capital markets, which allow this country to remain so economically vibrant. Companies can tap into investors all over the world, and it's a hugely important part to the success of this country’s economy.”
Another area of expertise for Esquivel is mergers and acquisitions. “I take great pride in our mergers and acquisitions practice,” Esquivel says. “We have an very deep bench and vast expertise. Personally I take great satisfaction in representing business owners both here in the United States and internationally who have started a business, worked at it for years and now feel it’s time to exit. It’s very personal for them.”
Over the years, while developing a strong client base and earning greater management responsibilities at Shumaker, Esquivel has also played a leadership role in the Hispanic community. He was one of the founding members of the Tampa Hispanic Bar Association and has mentored younger Hispanic attorneys who have expressed an interest in corporate law. ..“I have tried my whole life to lead by example,” Esquivel says. “I do hope that other attorneys in my firm and those outside the firm see me becoming managing partner as a barrier being broken. That’s very important to me.”
Diversity is a major priority at Shumaker. The firm offers domestic partnership benefits to all its employees and has launched a Women’s Leadership Initiative as well as a variety of other programs.
Esquivel is also passionate about the arts, and serves on a number of boards and committees with arts organizations around Tampa: Lights on Tampa, the Gasparilla Music Festival, the Tampa Theatre and the Tampa Museum of Art. He sees the arts as a vital way to make downtown Tampa vibrant once again. “We are on the verge of true transformation,” Esquivel says. “A lively arts scene and an exciting urban core attract young people and business and can become an engine for economic redevelopment.”
Esquivel hopes to bring this energy and growth to Shumaker, as well. During his three-year tenure as managing partner, he plans to focus on expanding the services Shumaker provides to its clients – he has already recruited new experts in areas like international law and immigration law.
“We’re now the second largest law firm in the Tampa Bay area, with an extensive resume of community involvement by our attorneys and staff, and I want to continue that growth,” Esquivel says. “I see international business and immigration as potentially large growth sectors, along with health care and manufacturing. I want to work with our incredibly talented group of lawyers to expand our capabilities and reach both in our practice and our community. Also, I’m going to work hard to find new efficiencies. What can we do better, faster and leaner? We’re going to come up with some novel approaches not previously seen in law firms like ours. That is the challenge I’ve placed on myself.”
About Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP
Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP is a full-service business law firm with more than 240 lawyers, 60 paralegals and 495 employees in five offices: Toledo and Columbus, Ohio; Tampa and Sarasota, Florida; and Charlotte, North Carolina. In each of its markets, Shumaker is the premier provider of quality legal services to individuals, small businesses, health care providers, nonprofits and Fortune 500 and international corporations.