Attorney Greg Snell spoke to the Ormond Chamber of Commerce Leadership Program class on taxes and the economy from the perspective of a business attorney. Mr. Snell used the example of former President Calvin Coolidge to express the fundamentals of his thinking on the subject. President Coolidge, known as "Silent Cal", was the 30th President. He was Vice President to Warren G. Harding and succeeded him upon Harding's untimely death in 1923.
Harding had been elected on the theme of "normalcy" following the big spending, big government, wartime presidency of the progressive, Woodrow Wilson. Harding had a winter home in Daytona Beach, on Magnolia Avenue near U.S. 1, which still stands and houses The Cellar restaurant. Harding also stayed at the Ormond Hotel.
Harding was fiscally responsible but Coolidge took it to another level. He was easily elected in 1924 and likely would have been re-elected in 1928 but he famously chose not to run. He reduced taxes significantly, raised revenues, cut the budget (not just the size of built-in increases) and ran a surplus every year of his presidency.
There is a new book out on Coolidge, aptly titled "Coolidge" by Amity Shlaes. Mr. Snell gave away a copy at his talk. To read an article adapted from a speech by Amity Shlaes on Coolidge, made at Hillsdale College, and printed in the February issue of their publication Imprimis.
Mr. Snell also recently spoke at a seminar on Attorney's Fees in Florida to a large group of attorneys and former judges from East Central Florida. He spoke on how to have the opposing party pay the fees of a client in litigated matters. Ordinarily fees may only be recovered against an opposing party in litigation when the suit is based on a contract which provides for it, or there is statute on which the suit is based which allows for the same. However, there are techniques which can be used to establish fee claims against opposing parties even when the original claims brought in the suit don't allow. Mr. Snell considers it a fiduciary duty to attempt to recover fees spent by a client from the opposing party if reasonably possible. Sometimes even when the fees aren't recovered the claims made create leverage by which a favorable outcome can nonetheless be obtained for a client.