HAL KANTOR

SHAREHOLDER, LOWNDES, ORLANDO

Established in 1969, Lowndes has clients ranging from individuals and small businesses to multibillion-dollar companies, locally, nationally and internationally. With offices in Orlando, Melbourne and Mount Dora, the firm employs more than 180 people. During his more than 50 years with Lowndes, Kantor has earned a reputation as the “attorney of last resort” from clients thanks to his frequent success with difficult and complex land use and real estate issues. He has served as board chair for WMFE/90.7 Public Broadcasting, the Orlando Museum of Art and United Arts and served on many civic boards for various local governments.

EDUCATION: Tulane University (BBA), University of California at Berkeley (MBA), University of Florida Levin College of Law (JD)

FIRST JOB: Digging ditches for foundations for my family’s homebuilding business in Clarksdale, Miss. My second job was teaching assistant at the University of Florida graduate school of business where I taught the Uniform Commercial Code.

DREAM ALTERNATE CAREER: Rock musician

MENTEE IMPACT: I tell young lawyers to heed the advice in the book A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy — “Don’t Panic”! Prepare for the unexpected and think through next steps carefully and calmly. Particularly in land use, I encourage the Kobayashi Maru strategy: If the law is against you, change the law. One of my mentees called recently to say that he employed these strategies in securing a stadium deal for a sports team.