Member Spotlight: Perez & Morris LLC
Perez & Morris LLC: Columbus, Ohio and New York City
Perez and Morris LLC is a business law firm with offices in Columbus, Ohio and the New York City metropolitan area, with attorneys also licensed to practice in Florida. The firm’s goal is to exceed its clients’ expectations with superior service with unique fee arrangements and without the bureaucratic inefficiencies of a larger firm.
1. When was the firm founded?
Founded in 1997 by Juan Jose (“John”) Perez, with Troy Morris joining in 1999, Perez & Morris has always aimed to put its clients’ needs first and to acquire talented attorneys who represent a diverse body of ideas, experience, and cultures. The majority of the firm’s practice is devoted to representing business clients with their various legal needs. The firm’s client roster includes several fortune 500 companies, as well as mid-sized and smaller companies in the retail, restaurant, commercial real estate, manufacturing, insurance and banking industries.
2. Who are the founding shareholders?
John Perez came to the firm, a former federal law clerk, partner at a large law firm and former General Counsel and Vice President of Administration for a publicly traded $150 million company. He brought this wealth of experience to his practice, which currently focuses on large scale commercial transactions and commercial litigation, including large loss property recoveries. John and his wife have three sons and four granddaughters and are active in the Columbus community and their church.
Before joining John to found Perez & Morris, Troy Morris was a partner in the litigation and construction groups at a large Columbus-based law firm. Troy’s practice is focused in the commercial and construction litigation arena where he has achieved many verdicts and arbitration/mediation results in excess of a million dollars for his clients. Troy and his wife have five children, and he has also served as a faculty member for the National Business Institute and other organizations.
3. What is unique about the firm culture at Perez & Morris?
The firm’s culture is focused, creative and collaborative. Perez & Morris has been recognized by the Ohio Women’s Bar Association for its family-friendly, progressive culture, which has, in turn, helped attract and retain top legal talent and has fostered an atmosphere where attorneys and staff love what they do. This love of the legal profession translates seamlessly into passionate, committed representation of clients.
4. What are the firm’s significant areas of practice?
Perez & Morris is a full service business law firm focusing in the areas of commercial litigation, business transactions, real estate, employment, premises liability, property loss recovery and workers’ compensation.
5. How did your firm become involved in NAMWOLF? Why did you join?
NAMWOLF involvement was an easy sell for Perez & Morris. The synergies between the organization’s mission and the firm are numerous. P&M is minority owned and nearly 40% of the firm’s attorneys are women. Troy Morris, as father of four girls, and John Perez now having four granddaughters, each care deeply about empowering and encouraging women at all levels of business and in the legal profession specifically. In addition, John Perez was raised a migrant worker and is the first in his family to have graduated high school, college and graduate school. Perhaps most importantly, NAMWOLF is about bringing together and showcasing premier law firms across the country, who happen to be minority and women-owned. It is a privilege for Perez & Morris to be one of those law firms.
6. Why is diversity important to your firm?
Perez & Morris is the largest Hispanic-owned law firm in Central Ohio, and having a diverse perspective is important to its founders, as the firm is committed to ensuring that its attorneys represent its diverse clients and communities. More than half the firm’s employees are women, half are minorities, and 40% of the firm’s attorneys are Spanish-speaking. As further evidence of the firm’s commitment to diversity, P&M is active in the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA), the Ohio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Women for Economic and Leadership Development (WELD).
7. What has been your involvement with NAMWOLF? For how long?
The firm joined NAMWOLF in 2009. Since joining, firm members have attended business meetings and annual meetings in Washington DC, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Miami, Philadelphia and San Antonio and will also attend the annual meeting in Hollywood. Equally important, because the firm is cognizant of NAMWOLF’s significant work, the firm has become a strong financial supporter of the organization.
This article was written by Keely Herrick, Parks IP Law, Atlanta, Georgia. Keely focuses her intellectual property practice on trademark and copyright law, including domestic and global prosecution, enforcement, trademark infringement, licensing, and domain name matters.