Blake Dowling: An update from Jason Gonzalez of Lawson Huck Gonzalez

When 2023 began, I interviewed all the partners at Lawson Huck Gonzalez as they launched their brand-new firm in downtown Tallahassee.

That firm is not brand-new anymore and has doubled in size since its opening. By the numbers, LHG is on target to surpass its first-year goals by leaps and bounds.

I had told one of their founders, Jason Gonzalez, we would pick up the conversation later in the year to see how things were going.

Right on schedule, I sat down with Jason this week to catch up.

On our podcast, Jason brought us up to date on the impressive progress of the firm. Then he discussed his entire career as an attorney, from the front lines of huge legal discussions in our state in the past, like the events portrayed in the film “Deepwater Horizon,” which told the story of the BP oil spill.

Jason shared that Hollywood got it 100% right with the story of Mike Williams (played by Mark Wahlberg), having personally met the man and heard his story.

When I asked Jason what was one of the more exciting/entertaining cases he worked on over the years, the story of Tampa strip club owner Joe Redner came up.

Redner was suing to grow his own marijuana, and Jason was part of the team defending the Department of Health. You can hear the whole story on the show.

We also discussed current cases and what they are doing at the firm.

“We are not in county court every day arguing over $5,000 bank collection claims,” Jason said.

Everywhere you look in Florida headlines, LHG is doing high-profile work. Those range from the classroom to the courtroom and the amusement park.

In his spare time, Jason is a pilot and has a plane called the Federalist Express, giving a nod to his membership in the Federalist Society. Founded in 1982, the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies is a group of conservatives and libertarians dedicated to reforming the current legal order. You can check them out online and on social platforms for more information.

When not in the courtroom or flying around the state, Jason is credited with “reshaping the Florida Supreme Court.” He was the chief adviser to the Governor on the appointment of four Florida Supreme Court Justices. Going back to 2007, Jason was also appointed by the Governor to the Judicial Nominating Commission for the Florida Supreme Court. On top of that, he served terms as Chair of the Judicial Nominating Commission for the 1st District Court of Appeal of Florida and the Chair of the Judicial Nominating Commission for the Second Judicial Circuit of Florida.

I found a listing of that activity on Jason’s Wikipedia page.

For some great history, Jason used to DJ and played in a band, too.

I have been Googling for pictures, but sadly, I can’t find any of Leon High School’s finest, Carousel. Their sound was somewhere between Modern English and a blender on full blast with a rusty hubcap.

An acquired taste (for sure), but they were undoubtedly better than any band I ever played in.

Although, I could do a scorching version of “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” by Poison.

Jason makes some fascinating points on elections about halfway through the show. He discussed the margins of victory of our recent Governors.

With each one, Bush, Crist, Scott and DeSantis, the margins of victory kept shrinking until Gov. Ron DeSantis was re-elected, and that trend shifted.

Thank you for that perspective, Jason.

The specific numbers for DeSantis were 19 percentage points in the most recent race, which was the largest since 1982 when Gov. Bob Graham was re-elected by 29 points.

Here’s how Florida has voted for Governors in the past decade.

Most columns I write are about technology, and occasionally it is nice to write about the people we meet along the way in our journey in Florida — from politics to law to technology to wherever the road leads.

This week that journey includes Jason Gonzalez, whom I have known for 30 + years. I would predict that by this time next year, his firm will have doubled in size again as they are off like the 1996 Florida Gators (as I said in the podcast).

Look for Jason and the Federalist Express headed your way soon.

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Blake Dowling is CEO of Aegis Business Technologies, He can be reached at [email protected].

This column is dedicated to the memory of Quinn Toulon, one of the best people I have ever known.