The end of Kluger Peretz

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Kluger Peretz Kaplan & Berlin is no more. According the a Daily Business Review report, out of the pieces of the 50+ attorney firm comes two new boutique firms and one named partner joining Berger Singerman.

Alan Kluger and Abbey Kaplan will remain and the new firm will be a 24-attorney litigation boutique of Kluger Kaplan. Per Kaplan, “We figure specialization is the key” to success as a smaller firm.

Steven Peretz, along with Michael Chesal, Leora Herrmann and associate Paul Kobak, are leaving to launch their own intellectual property firm. Accoring to the article, the split is amicable and they will even remain in the same workspace. “We view IP law as a standalone specialty,” Peretz said. “We can signal to the market our specialization better by being a boutique firm.”

Bankruptcy partner Howard Berlin has joined Berger Singerman’s Miami office along with bankruptcy attorney Deborah Talenfeld.

Per capita income slows in Florida

Business - MiamiHerald.com: "sandron@MiamiHerald.com

Per capita income rose slower than inflation in Florida last year, meaning the average person was effectively earning less, according to federal statistics released Tuesday.

The Sunshine State ranked 45th among the 50 states for growth in per-person income, according to the numbers from the Commerce Department.

Per capita income is the total earned by all people, from all sources, in a geographic area, divided by the number of people who live there.

In Florida, the figure for last year was $39,070, up 1.7 percent from $38,417 the previous year."

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Google Reader (1000+)

Google Reader (1000+): "you do not as a manager need to have them working 2,000 hours (though you would like that!). You get 1600 hours at $500 collected from a service partner and she puts $800,000 into the kitty. Salary and benefits at $400k, overhead allocation $150k, net to the firm $250k. Bonus structures encourage more work and there is often generous sharing for it. But it is not required because there are all these other reasons not to force them out if you are making a quarter million a year from their efforts and they carry all these other burdens that would have to be borne by your equity partners otherwise.

Contrast that with an associate doing 1900 hours at $300 per hour, but a fairly typical post billing write down of 6% on hours...or 120. Net collected 1780. All in salary and benefits is $200k, less the overhead allocation of $150k and you net $114k. But, there is great variability in associate productivity. Many will work 2,000 hours or more, but the pre-billing write-offs can amount to 15% for the first two years. Frankly, if you can collect 1600 solid hours off an associate in each of the first two years, you are not doing all that badly. And that alas means that you are about at zero net contribution. Maybe.

Additional partner time is spent reviewing wo"

Cap rates are rising

Cap rates could reach late-1990s levels - The Real Deal South Florida Real Estate News: "'Certain fundamentals were not really looked at over the past few years -- especially in places like Miami that don't have a lot of land. People just expected that property to increase,' said Richard Schuchts, senior vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle who has 12 years experience in the South Florida market. 'Now we're getting back to fundamentals.'

With investors unable to leverage the property the way they would have in 2005, the return on "cash investment" plummets, Schuchts said. Making the deal riskier, buyers also face the prospect of tenants not renewing leases or going bankrupt.

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