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Extensive Media Enterprises Good Monday morning. The invitation is cream and flag-motif and entirely unremarkable, which is the remarkable part. Friends of James Uthmeier would like you to join Florida's 39th Attorney General for a family weekend at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Oct. 23-25. Requested contribution: $25,000 per person or business entity. Details provided upon RSVP. 
James Uthmeier makes Disney World the unlikely backdrop for a $25,000-per-person family fundraiser. Four years ago, this invite would not have been designed. Not because anyone would have blocked it. Because the words "Walt Disney World" on a Republican fundraiser would have read as a surrender document. You know the war. Ron DeSantis signed the Reedy Creek dissolution in April 2022. Disney sued over First Amendment retaliation in 2023, lost, appealed, and then settled in March 2024. A June development agreement committed the company to an investment of up to $17 billion in Florida. The district built to punish Disney now permits Disney, mostly by consent agenda. Uthmeier was DeSantis' Chief of Staff for the whole fight. But with DeSantis term-limited and losing the proxy war over his own succession, Disney has decided Uthmeier is not an enemy. Uthmeier clearly recognizes that Disney is the largest private employer in Central Florida. To paraphrase a scene from "The Wire," Uthmeier was with DeSantis when he was with him, but now he's writing his own story. And he picked the setting himself. 
___ Two longtime Gulf Coast law firms are joining forces to create a new practice with roots stretching from St. Petersburg to Naples and a statewide reach. The Diamond Law Firm of St. Petersburg and the Laird A. Lile firm of Naples have merged to form Diamond & Lile, combining two established practices focused on trusts, estates, estate planning and fiduciary litigation. The merger brings together attorneys who have spent years navigating some of the most personal — and often complicated — legal decisions facing Florida families. 
Sandra Diamond, Laird Lile, Ben Diamond, Rachel Barlow, Langdon Lile and Marguerite Mills join legal forces. Sandra Diamond and Laird Lile will remain in leadership roles at the combined firm. They will work alongside former state Rep. Ben Diamond, Rachel Barlow, Langdon Lile and Marguerite Mills. “This merger brings together attorneys who share exceptionally high standards of legal counsel and a deep commitment to client service,” Lile said, adding that the combination allows both practices to expand while maintaining the personal attention clients expect. Both names bring significant standing within Florida’s legal community. Lile served nine consecutive terms on The Florida Bar Board of Governors and previously chaired its Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section. Diamond also serves on The Florida Bar Board of Governors and previously chaired the same section. She is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. “Laird has earned an exceptional reputation as both an attorney and a leader in Florida’s trusts and estates community,” Diamond said. The combination gives Diamond & Lile a larger platform for handling increasingly complex trust and estate matters while preserving the Gulf Coast relationships on which both firms built their practices. ___ Please consider reading my latest post for FloridAI — "Mark Zuckerberg backed up his AI optimism with a free model, and Florida can use it today." 
Mark Zuckerberg bets optimism and open AI can share the same server rack. |