Frazier & Deeter’s Business Beat: Joe Menello and Jon Silverman, Wicker Smith
Wicker Smith Managing Partner Joe Menello and Partner Jon Silverman joined Frazier & Deeter’s Roger Lusby and Courtney Mishoe to discuss the growth of their new Atlanta office. Joe and Jon talked about attracting legal talent to their office, their path to the legal profession, how the courts have changed in recent years, the liability defense work they do, and much more.
Business Beat is presented by Alpharetta CPA firm Frazier & Deeter and is produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®
Wicker Smith
Idus Q. Wicker and James A. Smith formed a partnership in Miami, Florida in 1952 with the goal of providing legal services of exceptional quality and creativity to their clients.
Throughout the years the firm has changed in size and scope, but the goal of providing exceptional legal representation has remained the same.
Today, Wicker Smith is a full-service trial firm deeply experienced in handling significant and complex litigation for a broad variety of clients, ranging from multinational corporations to individuals. With over 260 attorneys, Wicker Smith services its clients through a network of 16 locations in Atlanta, Brunswick, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Key Largo, Melbourne, Miami, Naples, Nashville, Orlando, Palmetto Bay, Pensacola, Phoenix, Sarasota, Tampa and West Palm Beach.
Wicker Smith offers legal services in over 30 different practice areas and has a wealth of experience handling complex litigation for a broad variety of clients, ranging from multinational corporations to individuals.
The true strength of Wicker Smith resides in their ability to recruit and tenure a talented group of attorneys and staff professionals. Recognition from their peers serves as the benchmark for their success.
Joseph (Joe) P. Menello, Managing Partner, Wicker Smith
Joseph P. Menello is a partner in Wicker Smith’s Atlanta office. Mr. Menello’s civil trial practice has focused primarily on the defense of professional and corporate institutions, as well as individuals. He has defended cases involving medical malpractice, premises liability, automobile liability, general civil litigation and professional negligence, covering a wide range of complex legal and medical issues. Mr. Menello is an active member of both the Georgia and Florida Bar Associations.
Mr. Menello earned his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in 1994 from Florida State University and continued on to receive his Juris Doctor with honors in 1998. He was admitted to practice in the State of Georgia in 2021 and the State of Florida in 1998. He is also admitted in the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Northern District of Florida and Northern District of Georgia. Mr. Menello has earned a Martindale Hubbell’s highest AV Preeminent rating from his peers. He is also an active member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), Georgia Defense Lawyers Association and Claims and Litigation Management (CLM).
Jonathan Silverman, Partner, Wicker Smith
Jonathan Silverman is a Partner in Wicker Smith’s Atlanta office, where he focuses his practice on civil litigation related to general negligence, premises liability, negligent security, medical malpractice, automobile negligence, and wrongful death defense.
Before returning to Wicker Smith in 2021, Mr. Silverman was a partner at a national defense firm in Atlanta, where he focused his practice on civil litigation and insurance defense. Prior to that, he worked in Wicker Smith’s Naples, Florida office and focused his practice on civil litigation and insurance defense. He began his legal career as an Assistant Public Defender at the Office of the Public Defender, 20th Judicial Circuit, in Fort Myers, Florida, where he handled a high volume of cases ranging from simple misdemeanors to punishable by life felonies, gaining invaluable jury trial experience along the way.
Mr. Silverman earned his Juris Doctor from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 2011. Prior to that, he attended the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science in 2006 and a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies in 2007. While in law school, he was a member of the Moot Court Society and Nova Trial Association, and he also completed two internships for the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office.
Mr. Silverman is admitted to practice in Georgia and Florida.
Frazier & Deeter
The Alpharetta office of Frazier & Deeter is home to a thriving CPA tax practice, a growing advisory practice and an Employee Benefit Plan Services group. CPAs and advisors in the Frazier & Deeter Alpharetta office serve clients across North Georgia and around the country with services such as personal tax planning, estate planning, business tax planning, business tax compliance, state and local tax planning, financial statement reviews, financial statement audits, employee benefit plan audits, internal audit outsourcing, cyber security, data privacy, SOX and other regulatory compliance, mergers, and acquisitions and more. Alpharetta CPAs serve clients ranging from business owners and executives to large corporations.
Roger Lusby, host of Frazier & Deeter’s Business Beat, is an Alpharetta CPA and Alpharetta Office Managing Partner for Frazier & Deeter. He is also a member of the Tax Department in charge of coordinating tax and accounting services for our clientele. His responsibilities include a review of a variety of tax returns with an emphasis in the individual, estate, and corporate areas. Client assistance is also provided in the areas of financial planning, executive compensation and stock option planning, estate and succession planning, international planning (FBAR, SFOP), health care, real estate, manufacturing, technology, and service companies.
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