Peter Bernhardt, West Palm Beach Managing Partner, McDonald Hopkins

Invest: spoke with Peter Bernhardt, West Palm Beach managing partner at McDonald Hopkins, about the challenges facing law firms, the growing demand for cybersecurity services, and the firm’s proactive approach to data breach counseling. He also shared insights on the West Palm Beach market, and how the firm is adapting to client needs amid economic uncertainties.

What is your view on the legal landscape in Florida?
We are in the midst of generational differences in how attorneys interact with their clients, peers, and mentors. While the “times” and the technology have changed, there is still something to be said about the relationships that attorneys build in-person or the peer-to-peer rapport that can come with being in an office.
Mentoring younger attorneys on the importance of personal interactions in today’s digital age can be a challenge – along with finding the right balance between a flexible, hybrid schedule and bringing people into the office, which is so important in terms of culture, camaraderie, and collaboration.

Which of the firm’s services are seeing the highest demand, and what fundamentals are driving that demand?
Our data privacy and cybersecurity team is working 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition to incidence response services and pre-breach services, we are seeing an uptick in requests for assistance by victims in wire fraud cases. McDonald Hopkins has an attorney in West Palm Beach, Robert Cohen, who specializes in efforts to recover funds that are wired pursuant to a fraudster’s instructions. When a client calls and reports that a wire was misfired as part of a scam, most lawyers think the money has disappeared. Bob has developed a methodology on how to track the money and actually recover some of it.
There is also a lot of commercial and probate/trust litigation that is keeping us very busy. The M&A cycle looks like it’s getting ready to take off again. The restructuring cycle is coming back too. Unfortunately, I think you’re going to see a lot of restructuring work in the next 18 months. Lastly, it appears that the volume of significant real estate transactions is also increasing.

How does the West Palm Beach market differ from other regions, and what unique opportunities and challenges does it present for you and your clients?
There was an expression widely known within the West Palm Beach business community, coined 18 years ago by the executive director of the Honda Classic for Palm Beach County: “The best of everything.” That has really come true. When you look at the influx of people moving to the area, the cranes that are up, the office buildings going up, it’s evident that talented professionals and thriving businesses are moving to the West Palm Beach area. I wouldn’t call it Wall Street South, as the Palm Beach Post coined it, but this market definitely presents a lot of opportunities for the best of everything to thrive.
The people who are going to be the most successful are those who identify and get to know the people involved in these new opportunities, and then facilitate connections with their existing partners. If I have a really good client and I meet somebody new, and the two clients appear to have the potential to create synergies together, then it is incumbent upon me to introduce them to each other.

In the context of economic uncertainties, how are clients’ legal and strategic needs evolving, and how is the firm positioning itself to address potential challenges?
In times of economic uncertainty, we recognize that our clients’ legal and strategic needs are becoming more nuanced and regionalized. When you run your business, you have to focus on your customers’ needs– and our customers are, generally, based in Florida. To meet those needs, we’ve built a team in West Palm that understands the local business climate and can deliver high-level legal counsel with a Florida-first mindset. While we collaborate regularly with our colleagues in Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, and Maryland, often assisting each other with work based on specialized capabilities, our focus remains on delivering exceptional service to our Florida clients. Our litigation team in West Palm is a standout example. We have highly experienced, deeply committed attorneys fully capable of handling the most complex disputes.

What regulatory challenges do you foresee for industries such as healthcare, real estate, or construction in the Florida market?
Regulatory challenges are hard to predict, with a new administration. For any business, staffing and bringing people back together in the office, while balancing the need to offer flexibility, is going to continue to be a challenge. It all comes back to getting back to normal and what that looks like in today’s post-pandemic workplace.

What are your top priorities for the firm in the West Palm Beach region over the next couple of years?
We will always have a focus on growing and expanding the talented team of attorneys and professionals here in West Palm Beach. Our firm culture is important to me and that extends to the culture and camaraderie within our West Palm office.