St. Louis law firm opens 2nd Florida office, raising total firmwide to 8

Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard PC opened its second Florida office.

On Monday, the St. Louis law firm officially announced the opening of a Tampa office. Bhavik Patel, CEO of the firm, said in a statement last month that this office was newly opened.

Quinn Murphy, a shareholder in the firm, is also responsible for running its Tampa office. It has an associate. Murphy is a specialist in commercial and construction litigation. He represents contractors, subcontractors, and developers throughout the United States.

Patel explained that Murphy moved from St. Louis, Missouri to Tampa in order to be nearer to his family and that several of the firm's clients are located in Florida.

He said, 'We think the marriage of those two things has given us this opportunity that we weren't really planning. It worked out really well.'

Sandberg Phoenix opened its first office outside of the Midwest in Gainesville last year. Richard Maltby was hired last year by the firm to join its business litigation group. He lives in Gainesville.

Patel said that the firm has a Florida presence for a variety of practical reasons. He said that one of the firm's areas of expertise was in trusts and Estates. Many of his St. Louis clients had purchased second homes in Florida where they would eventually retire.

Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard PC announced last month that it had signed a lease for a long-term move to the Peabody Plaza Building at 701 Market St. and would be bidding farewell to the One City Center Building on Washington Avenue in mid-2024. The reason given was the perception of its employees, who believe Washington Avenue to be less safe than other parts of downtown.

After closing an office in Carbondale (Illinois) last year, the firm has about 180 attorneys and eight offices, including Clayton, St. Charles and Edwardsville, O'Fallon and O'Fallon in Illinois.

Sandberg Phoenix is the fifth largest law firm in St. Louis, with 140 licensed local attorneys.