January 30, 2024 – After practicing law for 48 years, Jacksonville attorney Wayne E. Flowers has retired from Lewis, Longman & Walker (LLW). LLW formed in 1994 with offices in Tallahassee and West Palm Beach. In 1996, LLW hired Flowers to open an office in Jacksonville to be strategically located near the St. Johns River Water Management District where Flowers had served as General Counsel from 1988 to 1996.

“Wayne’s meticulous understanding of environmental law stands alone in Florida,” said Michelle Diffenderfer, President and Shareholder of LLW. “His devotion to clients and doing the right thing have played a critical role in Florida’s growth while protecting the natural resources that make our State so special. His work will benefit generations to come.”

Over the span of his career, Flowers represented private landowners, developers, and governmental entities in the areas of environmental land use and governmental law on a myriad of matters including wetland permitting, storm water permitting, sovereign submerged lands authorizations, water supply permits, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.

We sat down with Mr. Flowers to reflect on his incredible career:

What made you want to become a lawyer/go to law school?

I decided I wanted to be a lawyer when I was in junior high school. I liked public speaking and was interested in politics so becoming a lawyer seemed like the most logical career choice to do those things.

What are some of your favorite memories from your career?

I have enjoyed and appreciated having the opportunity to represent a variety of governmental entities, from state agencies to counties to cities to special districts, in significant litigation.

I particularly enjoyed representing a private sector client in 2007 in federal court litigation concerning the validity of a Clean Water Act/Sec. 404 permit. We negotiated on behalf of our client with the Corps of Engineers for a first of its kind Regional General Permit to enable our client to develop thousand acres of property in the Panhandle. The permit was challenged by a national environment group. We successfully defended the permit in the U.S. District Court and in the appeal to the U.S. District Court for the 11th Circuit.

I also received great satisfaction representing several small, special-purpose districts, one of which was created to dredge canals in a 500-home development next to the Intracoastal Waterway.

I assisted in forming the District and shepherding them through the process of putting an assessment in place to finance a dredging project, permitting the project, creating bid documents for contractors to bid on the project, writing the contracts for the selected dredger, monitoring performance issues, and then seeing completion of the project—a journey that stretched more than 12 years.

In the end it was a $3 million project—not large by any means, but it makes a huge difference for the residents of the community. Unlike a lot of environmental permitting projects or litigation where we work on one aspect (albeit an important one) of a project, it was rewarding to be involved in something like this from cradle to grave.

In what ways has your industry changed the most over your career?

On the litigation side, not unlike our society at large, attorneys are less civil to one another than they were when I started out 48 years ago. Also, the ability to trust  an opposing attorney’s word is not what it used to be.

What are you looking forward to most in retirement?

I hope to find and pursue things that are intellectually stimulating and satisfying and can in some way help other people.

What is your advice for the next generation of lawyers?

Strive to find an area of practice that you enjoy and can see yourself doing for an entire career. Be aware of and attuned to opportunities for practice niches in which you can excel. Don’t fear course corrections if you find yourself in a practice area that does not provide some level of satisfaction and reward. I know too many lawyers who hate what they do.