New Horizons

“WHEN THE WINDS of change blow,” an old Chinese proverb notes, “some people build walls and others build windmills.”

It’s fair to say that Mike Eidson and Dean C. Colson are master constructors of both—in the best sense possible.

On one hand, the pair are, respectively, Senior Partner and Managing Partner of the venerable Coral Gables law firm Colson Hicks Eidson, which has established itself in Miami and around the globe over the last half century-plus as the gold standard litigation law boutique. Along with partner and former U.S. Attorney Roberto Martinez, they manage the firm, which handles cases ranging from simple accidents to the most complicated automobile and tire defect cases, medical malpractice cases and complex commercial and white-collar cases. Eidson himself has tried more than 200 cases to a jury, and the firm has recovered billions of dollars for clients in individual, class actions, and mass tort cases.

On the other hand, Eidson and the firm have played an integral role in the revival of Coral Gables as a cultural hub: from purchasing, renovating, and bringing Books & Books into a historic property that would help spark the Aragon Avenue renaissance, to establishing the wholly unique world-class performance center Sanctuary of the Arts around the corner.

And that dual legacy of the pursuit of justice and historic preservation is now set to reach toward a new horizon with the firm’s recent move into the penthouse of the elegant South Tower of the Douglas Entrance Office Parc—a spot in which chic, modern professional amenities and technology intertwine within the inspiring atmosphere of a classical Mediterranean oasis.

The Parc Towers, after all, not only encompass the sole business parc in the bustling Gables, but also the Phineas Paist-designed Douglas Entrance (aka La Puerta del Sol), which includes a stone and stucco 90-foot belfry and 40-foot curved arch. The Douglas Entrance was completed in 1924—incidentally, the same year Colson’s father, legendary local attorney, and firm co-founder, Bill Colson, was born in Miami, incidentally—and added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

“When I was a child growing up here, this area was one of the centers of the whole community,” Colson tells AQUA Pinecrest. And he knows of which he speaks: his Gables roots run deep. He attended Coral Gables High. Learned to swim at Venetian Pool. Played tennis at Salvador Park. Carved out a career and life here. “It’s very exciting to us to have the opportunity not only to continue our work as a firm in this incredible new space but also to participate in the revival of one of the most beautiful sections of Coral Gables.”

“It’s going to be one of the most vibrant little villages in Coral Gables,” Eidson adds. “And we’re coming in on the ground floor.”

CITIZEN LAWYERS

Eidson may not have been born in Miami, but he’s an honorary native at this point. He arrived in Miami from Atlanta, Georgia in 1972. “It felt like I’d taken a plane to a completely different world,” Eidson says. “I loved it.” He was working with a lawyer named Bill Hicks and Colson’s dad—“a real pioneer in both in the legal profession and in what he did for the community,” he says. Dean Colson was then just finishing law school, but after working in a prominent large law firm and clerking at the Fifth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court, he joined the firm. The pair bonded over a dedication to clients and a kind of creative restlessness that would soon reveal itself—a partnership that remains vital and fruitful more than 40 years on.

“Mike and I are very different…” Colson explains on a recent tour of the new offices to show off not only the stunning views but also selections from the stunningly diverse collection of art that he and Eidson have both been privately acquiring for decades. “…Yet very compatible,” Eidson finishes.

“We respect each other,” Colson continues, “and let each other do our own thing outside of the firm.”

The results are undeniable.

In the years since, Colson Hicks Eidson has handled a breathtaking array of cases: The firm represented the families of 51 of the 70 passengers killed in the 1996 crash of Aeroperú Flight 603. They tried a dozen claims from families of those killed in the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks. (And in his role as an officer with the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Eidson worked with the U.S. Congress to underwrite a fund to fairly compensate the families as well as organized pro bono representation for over 3,000 of the families before a claims examiner who would place a fair value on the cases. Thanks to his efforts, almost all claims were resolved within a year—a virtually unheard of pace.) The firm also represented the families of kids murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and victims of the Surfside condominium collapse.

There is an emotional price to spending so much of one’s professional life delving into small and large-scale tragedies, but the work is important.

“Typically, our clients want justice as much as they want compensation,” Colson says. “We do our best to get them both. Nothing can bring a loved one back or reverse a traumatic injury—they know that—but there can be accountability.”

PIONEERING SPIRIT

Once upon a time the firm called 66 West Flagler home. Then they moved to the top office floor of the iconic Southeast Financial Center overlooking Biscayne Bay. “That was a really cool space,” Eidson says. “As we grew, though, it didn’t make as much sense to be there.”

Back in the day, the decision to move the firm to Coral Gables was not an easy one. There was a fear that the Gables did not have the same name cachet as Miami and that the high-profile national and international clients might not realize the two were really one and the same. But the high quality of life called and—no less important—an opportunity had arisen to purchase and restore a piece of historic property on Aragon Avenue in the heart of the Gables’ picturesque downtown. Where others might zig, however, Eidson and Colson chose to zag.

“That space is perfectly suited to a restaurant,” Eidson says. “But restaurants come and go. We wanted something that would have more lasting cultural impact.” At the suggestion of their architect at the time Raul Rodriguez, Miami Beach-native and future co-founder of the Miami Book Fair Mitchell Kaplan was tapped to establish the space as another location of his independent chain Books & Books. It has since come to be recognized—correctly!—as one of the best independent bookstores in the nation. “We could’ve charged considerably more rent to a restaurant,” Colson says. “But rent was not the goal.”

The knock-on effect? That whole block is a cultural hub. The Coral Gables Museum is next door to Books & Books. Across the street you have Coral Gables Art Cinema. “It was good for the city,” Eidson says, “but also very good for our law firm because we got to work out of that amazing space.” Around the

corner there is Sanctuary of the Arts—another of Eidson’s passion projects, which saw three buildings once belonging to the First Church of Christ Scientist converted into world-class performance and training spaces.

Of course, the firm’s community service is not limited to historic preservation and cultural enrichment. Over the last two decades Colson is the only person to have chaired the State University System in Florida, the Board of Trustees of Florida International University, and the Board of Trustees of the University of Miami.

Shortly after the recession hit, the firm sold its stake on Aragon and moved to a property on Alhambra Circle where they were until the Douglas Entrance opportunity arose.

Eidson and Colson spent the better part of a year working with legendary Gables architect Gigi Alvarez to design and build the space out to the firm’s specifications. “Both she and her people are very creative,” Eidson says. “They take the time to look at the space you’re coming from, talk to you about what you want out of a new space, and then puts her own spin on it. In my opinion, Gigi is the Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo of commercial real estate design. She exceeded all expectations.”

The design includes three large state-of-the-art conference rooms in which the firm’s 13 lawyers can conduct depositions, mediations, client meetings, and even mock trials. “There’s a lot of space for the lawyers to really do the things they need to do now,” Eidson says. And the lawyers have a great synergy which only further strengthens the firm’s ability to handle significant litigation.

“Throughout the years and each move, we’ve gotten a better and better understanding of what we want, of what works best,” Eidson says. “So, we refine each time and evolve, which is important, and here we are.”

“This feels like the top right now,” Colson agrees. And soon the top of the building will bear the firm’s name.

A BRIGHT FUTURE

“Colson Hicks Eidson is not changing what we do,” Eidson says. And why would they? The firm—one of the oldest in Miami—has been on a steady, unceasing upward trajectory for over 50 years. It’s stable of lawyers rivals any law firm in the world. And the world knows it. “We have a very, very highly skilled law firm that is not afraid to get on an airplane and take a case anywhere in the world,” Eidson says.

In something of a novelty in a post-COVID world, the lawyers of Colson Hicks Eidson not only love coming to the office, but they aren’t job hopping or using the firm as a steppingstone. Again, why would they? They work out of a breathtaking office, have the privilege of consistently working on exceptional, high-profile case, and they make a real difference.

“We didn’t take the corner offices in this move,” Colson says. “The next generation of lawyers here is so talented, and we want them to know we recognize that.”

“Yep,” Eidson says, “the future, is as bright as it has ever been.”

BY SHAWN MACOMBER