Early last month, Clark Partington announced that shareholder Bruce Partington planned to leave the firm to join the New Orleans-based Jones Walker effective March 1. We now know that Partington will establish Jones Walker’s 20th office in Pensacola, enhancing the local legal market.
He is an accomplished Board-Certified Construction Law attorney and the only attorney north of Orlando to have received the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Florida Bar’s Construction Law Institute. Bruce has been a resource for this newspaper on construction law issues for years.
We received a copy of his letter to the firm last week:
To the people who are Clark Partington —
I have worked full-time at the firm for nearly 35 years and 10 months, and in one form or another, off and on, for the firm’s full existence of nearly 50 years. I have loved my time here, and I have loved the people. It is, in fact, the people who are this firm — not only those who are lawyers but all who contribute in many valuable and important ways. The firm is found in the faces and spirits of the hundreds of people who have worked at Clark Partington over the last 50 years. Those faces reflect a spirit of generosity, candor, unselfishness, kindness, understanding, and excellence. I hope that I have done my part to encourage and support that culture within the firm.
I am writing to offer a personal goodbye to each of you as my time with Clark Partington comes to an end. This was a decision made after a great deal of soul-searching, and with decidedly mixed emotions. I believe I have made the best decision for my career and my family as I look positively toward the future. My confidence in embracing this change has resulted from several heart-to-heart conversations with my father Don Partington and Bob Hart, as well as with some of my early mentors who helped build the firm. I have received their unqualified support and blessings to anchor an office of Jones Walker in Pensacola.
I hope to remain friends with many here as our relationship evolves from colleagues in the same firm to colleagues in the greater legal community. We maintain a significant shared history that will always be a substantial part of who each of us is. I will always treasure that history together and plan to continue our connection as much as possible; my proverbial door remains always open.
Please feel free to reach out.
I wish each of you the best–as the saying goes, I wish you all fair winds and following seas.
Farewell.
Bruce Partington
Jones Walker LLP
The firm was founded in May 1937 by Joseph Merrick Jones Sr., William B. Dreux, and A.J. Waechter, all Tulane Law graduates. It has grown over eight decades into one of the roughly 140–145 largest law firms in the United States, serving local, national, and international business clients.
Jones Walker has grown from its New Orleans roots into a major regional player with attorneys located in Alabama, Arizona, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, and Texas.
The firm represents a diverse client base ranging from Fortune 500 companies and major multinational corporations to money center banks, worldwide insurers, and family-owned businesses. Jones Walker’s attorneys are licensed to practice across the United States and have international experience spanning multiple continents.
