Fort Lauderdale’s Oldest Law Firm Celebrates It’s 90th Anniversary

By Don Crinklaw, Forum Publishing

This month, the law firm of Rogers, Morris & Ziegler LLP will turn 90 years old. Not a bad feat considering Broward County is100 and Fort Lauderdale just turned104 this year.

"My gig is always to try to align myself and our firm with the good things in our community," said Romney Rogers, a current Fort Lauderdale commissioner and one of the firm's partners. "And 90 years is testimony that we're doing something right."

The firm was co-founded by his grandfather in 1925, while Rogers himself came on board in1978. His son, Romney Rogers Jr., nicknamed Cam, joined the firm in 2012.

His grandfather, Dwight Rogers, and Mercer University classmate John Morris flipped a coin to see whose name would come first in the firm name, he said.

The two founders had sons who also joined the firm, which had such an abundance of relatives by the late 1940s there wasn't even room for the current Rogers' two uncles. "They had to go up to West Palm Beach," he said.

But after 90 years, they're not confronting the same legal world as their fathers or grandfathers.

"The biggest issue is the technology," Rogers said. "First the computer, now the hand-held computer. You can be connected 24/7 if you want, and that can put a little stress on you."

"The firm's longtime specialty, real estate, has become more complicated due to the growth of the industry and the complications of financing," he said. "People want to be here -- you can't manufacture sunshine in your backyard -- and Broward County is unique with its peaks and valleys. When real estate and the economy are down, litigation is up."

Rogers was elected to the City Commission in 2009. He most recently took on a final term when he ran unopposed in January. But his status on the commission means the firm "can't take any case that has anything to do with the City of Fort Lauderdale.

Rogers, Morris & Ziegler held a cocktail reception at the Stranahan House on Friday, November 13, 2015, to celebrate it’s 90th anniversary. At the event, City Commission Robert McKinzie read a proclamation from the City of Fort Lauderdale declaring November 13, 2015 at Rogers, Morris & Ziegler LLP 90th Anniversary Day.

Rogers, Morris & Ziegler was honored to accept a Proclamation from the City of Fort Lauderdale celebrating its 90 years of service to Broward County.