Harrington Law Associates to Harrington Legal Alliance
The founder, Jeff Harrington, came to West Palm Beach, Florida in 2008 and established the firm Harrington Law Associates, PLLC.
Having studied international business law in Spain, France and Argentina, Jeff immediately set up the practice to focus on business law, with particular emphasis on cross-border ventures.
Since the very beginning, the firm has maintained a balance of litigation and transactional work. As Jeff says:
I don’t favor the traditional divide between litigators and transactional attorneys. I think clients get better service from a trial lawyer who understands agreements, as only someone who drafts them can, and a contract attorney who knows from experience the issues that come up in a dispute.
The economy being what it was in 2008, the practice took an unexpected turn. Before coming to West Palm Beach, Jeff worked in-house at a real estate investment company. Naturally, the company did not survive the collapse of the real estate market but, before it closed, Jeff got plenty of experience dealing with distressed property issues. That experience was something very few attorneys had at the time.
So, when Jeff arrived in Palm Beach County, he was one of the few attorneys in town that could provide solutions to homeowners in distress. HLA quickly became a central player in developing foreclosure defenses and strategies for property owners, receiving considerable attention from the media and legal publications. As a result, the firm grew very quickly in the first couple of years, expanding to a 5-attorney practice with multiple offices.
Back to Business . . . and Real Estate
Nowadays, with the real estate crisis behind us, the the Firm has gotten back to its original mission: business and real estate, with emphasis on international clients.
As part of this transition, the firm has gone away from the associate model — hence, the change in name to Harrington Legal Alliance.
Today, the firm’s real estate practice includes title services (i.e. real estate closings) and representing buyers and sellers in real estate transactions and disputes.
In particular, the Firm caters to foreign investors looking to purchase property or do business in the US.
Related Services
When asked what kind of work HLA does, the best answer is: “We represent business owners and investors.” The reason that is the best answer is that we provide the kind of services those particular clients need. For example . . .
Obviously, we do lots of contracts, dispute resolution and corporate counsel. And, of course, we represent real estate investors and help them set up their portfolios strategically, which gets into asset protection. We are not, strictly speaking, an asset protection law firm, but we do have expertise in the type of liability protection techniques our particular clients need.
The same is true for immigration. We are not a full-blown immigration firm. However, our business and investor clients are already making investments in the US, so they might as well take advantage and get a work or investor visa while they are at it. So, HLA does L-1 visa, E-2 visas, as well as a few other types of visas that are relevant to these clients.
The same could be said for estate planning and tax counsel. Those are each separate, comprehensive areas of law that we do not pretend to fully dominate.
However, we are experts with trusts, so we are well-suited to assist our clients with estate planning as it relates to their businesses and properties. And, we know enough about taxation — in particular, international taxation — to identify the key issues and point our clients in the right direction.
So, if you want to know the scope of our practice, think about the legal needs of business owners and real estate investors. Those are the services we provide.