Founded in 1924 by Earl D. Farr
Earl D. Farr
Farr Law Firm P.A. is the oldest and largest law firm in Charlotte County. With 15 attorneys and 38 legal support personnel, the firm maintains a general practice of law serving the needs of individuals, families, businesses, non-profits, and governmental entities not only in Southwest Florida, but throughout the state.
Earl Farr served as the elected city attorney for Punta Gorda and as counsel for the Florida Fish and Game Commission. He represented the owner of the properties sold to General Development Corporation that became Port Charlotte and in that capacity cleared the titles for thousands of acres of land which form the basis for all title examinations ever since. He was one of the first members of Attorneys’ Title Insurance Fund and a founder of First Federal Savings & Loan Association of Charlotte County, the largest residential lender in the area for many decades.
Earl Farr’s son and firm co-founder Drayton Farr always said that “great clients make great lawyers.” Among those who knew him best, Drayton was respected as a natural counselor-at-law, one who listened intently to his clients’ needs before navigating a solution to their problems. Though a formidable courtroom presence in his time, Drayton was best known as being in the middle of some of the largest real estate projects in our area. He served on the board of directors and was general counsel to Punta Gorda Isles, Inc., the developer of one of the largest waterfront communities in all Florida. As officer and general counsel to Sunset Realty Corp. he was instrumental in the development of Gasparilla Island and Boca Grande, a hidden jewel of coastal Florida. Perhaps his crowning achievement, though, was creating and managing the team that over many years patiently and tenderly nursed the sale of the 92,000-acre Babcock Ranch to the State of Florida and Kitson & Company which closed in 2006. The relationship with the Babcock Family which started with Earl Farr in 1943 came full circle with Drayton Farr being instrumental in achieving one of the largest private land sales in modern Florida history.
Babcock Ranch
This focus on the needs of the client instilled by the Farr Law Firm’s founders motivates those attorneys who have followed in their footsteps. As the community grew and expanded its interests, the firm responded in kind to meet the needs of its friends and neighbors. Starting with the traditional legal pillars of real estate and business, estate planning and probate, and litigation, as Florida became a more complex society with interests spreading around the world, the firm’s attorneys who focused their practices to meet that complexity and growth.
The need for real estate-related services has continued over the course of the firm’s history from the simplest of lot deals to the most complex transactions in the area including the representation of Sunseeker Resort Charlotte Harbor. Upon opening, Sunseeker became the first completely new-build resort of its size to open in Southwest Florida in over 13 years, complete with 22 acres of endless waterfront views on Charlotte Harbor, Florida’s second largest estuary. The firm maintains its long relationship with Attorneys’ Title Insurance Fund and its successors started by Earl Farr and annually has been one of its top title insurance writers for as long as those statistics have been kept. Many of the same attorneys who provide real estate services also represent the business community with all its complexities.
All the attorneys who have passed through the doors of the Farr Law Firm over the last 100 years including those who comprise the firm today, owe much of their success to the strong roots established by Earl and Drayton Farr in being client-focused, community-centered and dedicated to excellence in the practice of law. It is with that in mind that the firm today satisfies the legal needs of thousands of clients not only in southwest Florida but indeed around the world.