Finally -- A Banker I Can Believe In!

So I hope you all were at Uncle Miltie's judicial fundraiser last night. I thought it was a good showing for a good guy who will make a more than good judge.

To be honest, I was getting a little sick of continually posting pics of Milton Drysdale or Mr. Mooney every time some bank goes under or turns out be involved in some massive fraud.

That's why I was thrilled to read this DBR story by Alana Roberts on how some Florida firms are weathering the depression and in fact faring better than some national counterparts.

No, not because it contained partially good news for some South Florida lawyers, but mostly because it featured SunTrust's law firm private banker Laura Kaplan:

But the regional, mid-market firms such as Florida’s legal industry leaders are faring better than firms with headquarters in cities like New York, which relied more heavily on structured finance and other declining practice groups, said Laura Kaplan, Coral Gables-based managing director and head of SunTrust Banks’ private wealth management legal specialty group.

“In this type of economic environment, you see the firms that are faring best are the ones that have diversified practice groups,” she said. “Because they’re less dependent on the large multinationals, they have a more diversified middle-market client base, and they have a much more diversified revenue stream not only in the type of work they do but also the type of clients they have in their portfolio. Their ability to diversify downstream with smaller clients is helping them fare better.”

Note to Scott Dimond -- review Laura's photo carefully, this is how you are supposed to get ready for a DBR photoshoot.