TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

Jim McCollum Has Added 2 Attorneys To Firm

Kathy Waters/Highlands Today

From left: Meri Littlefield, Mia Mancinelli and J.L. "Garci" Perez recently joined Jim McCollum in his law firm in downtown Sebring.

ADVERTISEMENT

By Bill Rogers | Highlands Today

Published: February 10, 2008

SEBRING – Sebring attorney Jim McCollum said people who don't think about the future will be stuck in the past.

McCollum, who has been practicing law in Sebring for 35 years, thought ahead by bringing in two attorneys. Mia Mancinelli and J.L. Perez joined the firm last year. The firm will be known as McCollum, Mancinelli and Perez P.L.

Mancinelli and Perez are considered members, which McCollum described as the "functional equivalent" of a partner.

"I realized what a great job these guys had done and thought it was appropriate to put their names on the door," McCollum said.

In August 2007 McCollum was diagnosed with cancer. He said he is doing much better now and is in remission.

"These guys just stepped up to the plate and took care of stuff," he said. "There were times when I was getting chemo, I was pretty much out of it."

Besides having Mancinelli and Perez there when he really needed them, McCollum said there are other reasons to have multiple attorneys in an office.

"I think it is terribly inefficient to have a sole proprietor," he said. "There are a lot of things that we buy that are more efficient if they are shared. It is also extremely helpful to brainstorm with one another or if somebody is in court and you need some research, call over and say 'I need a case right away.'"

A native of Pinellas County, Mancinelli, 26, is a graduate of Largo High School. She then went to Florida State and double-majored in political science and interdisciplinary social sciences. Mancinelli graduated from Stetson Law School.

She became a law clerk at the Pinellas County Attorney's Office.

"I was really interested in land use, " she said. "I actually was a resident of Indian Rocks Beach, and I was on the planning and zoning board over there."

Mancinelli said she applied at several places in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties as well as Sebring.

"Jim offered the kind of law that I wanted to do," she said. "Mostly I do a lot of property, land use and corporations – a lot of it is more in the litigation area.

"I really like the trial aspect, the courtroom," she added. "When Jim did get sick a lot of the community lawyers and the judges were extremely supportive. It was an eye-opener, but everybody was very helpful and understanding."

Besides the opportunity to work for McCollum, Mancinelli had another reason for wanting to come to Sebring. She said her college sweetheart, Chris Cloud, who is also an attorney, was born and raised in Sebring

"I never would have probably gotten the kind of experience I have here as I would have at a bigger firm in Tampa." she said. "He has given me a big opportunity to get hands-on, do things myself."

Mancinelli is the associate general counsel for McCollum's title company, American Service Title and Escrow Inc., and is the vice president of the Highlands County Bar Association.

The 37-year-old Perez grew up in the Central Florida community of St. Cloud. After graduating from St. Cloud High School, he started off at the University of Central Florida, where he earned an AA degree. He earned a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary social sciences from FSU and a law degree from the University of Florida.

Right out of law school, Perez was a legal research assistant for a committee of the Florida House of Representatives in Tallahassee. He then became one of the program attorneys for the Guardian ad Litem program in Osceola County.

Perez then came to Sebring and was a trial court staff attorney for Highlands County for 4 1/2 years.

Perez does a lot of work for the firm's collections department and handles some of the appeals. McCollum noted that research is also one of Perez's other responsibilities.

"Garci (Perez) is the guy that I call from court and say 'I need a case like now,' and he finds it," McCollum said. "He is really good at searching out stuff like that."

"It's my thing," Perez said of research. "When I get into research, I'm in the zone."

Perez said he met his wife, Paula, and was married in Sebring.

In another change at the firm, Meri Littlefield is the administrator. She replaces Lenora Hooten, who retired after serving as the office manager for 17 years.

A 1986 graduate of Sebring High School and then South Florida Community College, Littlefield handles all the billing, payroll, personnel issues and budget for the firm, which has 24 employees.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT