MESSAGE 15: JOSHUA T. HIGGINS

Joshua T. Higgins

Partner & Business Unit Leader, Kelley Kronenberg

Question:  As a leader, what is your message to Americans who are frightened about the future due to the Coronavirus?

Message: It’s okay to be afraid, as this is an unprecedented event that has altered almost every aspect of daily life.  However, approach this as an opportunity for growth, not an impediment to success.  Treat each day as an opportunity to learn and better yourself, and in so doing, you can come out of this incredibly difficult time as a progressed, better version of yourself, rather than a regressed, worse version.

My father often told my brother Justin and I that “effort is controllable,” a mantra which he and I have bound ourselves to during childhood and into adulthood, to the present day.  While situations and circumstances cannot always be controlled—such as COVID-19—your attitude and the effort you put in to maximizing your potential is always controllable.

With maximizing effort on a daily basis, and approaching this situation as an opportunity for growth, you can succeed on both a micro and macro level and emerge from this momentous event as a better version of yourself.

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Joshua T. Higgins is a Partner and Business Unit Leader in Kelley Kronenberg’s Fort Lauderdale, Florida office. Kelley Kronenberg is a full-service law firm comprised of 11 offices in Florida and Illinois with more than 150 attorneys. Joshua manages a workers’ compensation defense unit of 11 people, and has additional experience in police professional litigation, correctional healthcare claims, and OSHA.

Prior to joining the firm, Joshua worked as an Assistant State Attorney at the State Attorney’s Office, 17th Judicial Circuit, in both the felony trial unit and county court division.  While there, Joshua tried more than 30 bench trials and 22 jury trials, with one trial featured on the local Fox News.

During law school at Nova Southeastern University - Shepard Broad College of Law, Joshua served as the Chairperson of Administration for the Moot Court Honor Society, a Staff Member for the Inter-American Center for Human Rights, and the Secretary for the National Security and Law Society.  He received a perfect score from the Chief Justice in the first round of the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition, and placed in the top eight out of more than 125 students in the Feinrider Moot Court Competition.  Joshua was one of 40 law students selected nationwide as a summer fellow for the Florida Bar Foundation, which resulted in him working at Coast to Coast Legal Aid of South Florida doing foreclosure defense for indigent elderly citizens.

Prior to entering law school, Joshua obtained his undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo, graduating magna cum laude, where he was selected for induction into the Phi Beta Kappa Society and was listed in Who’s Who Among American College Students.  Additionally, Joshua was chosen as a Renaissance Scholar, an award bestowed on less than 4% of graduates that year, for those exhibiting scholarly excellence in at least two widely disparate areas of study.

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Photo: Courtesy Joshua T. Higgins

MESSAGE 2: PATRICK KRECHOWSKI

Patrick Krechowski

Partner, Balch & Bingham LLP

Question:  As a leader, what is your message to Americans who are frightened about the future due to the Coronavirus?

Message: Without getting too metaphysical and philosophical, my approach – and the approach I’ve been trying to relay to both my personal family and my work family in this strange and disruptive time – is to focus on the Now.  None of us live in the future.  We cannot control the future or really influence it in any meaningful way.  We can only live in the present moment.  Or, we can “worry” about the future – which is seldom productive.  We can either surrender to certain life situations or do our best to take action to change them.  At home, that means being the most patient and caring parent and husband I can be – while also learning how to be a school teacher.  It means reaching out to friends all over the world to check in on them, to ask them how they are coping and adjusting.  At work, that means staying in contact with my clients and colleagues.  Talking with them about what they are encountering or what they need to gain comfort and confidence in their path forward.  In the past few days, I’ve found that most people just want to talk and interact – even if it has nothing to do with COVID-19 and the curve-ball it has thrown us.  Together we can handle this moment.  And then the next and the next after that.

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Patrick W. Krechowski has over 20 years of experience in real estate, land use, environmental, governmental, administrative litigation, appeals and title insurance law. Patrick is Board Certified by The Florida Bar in City, County and Local Government Law. His practice focuses on all aspects of zoning and land use law, real estate due diligence, environmental permitting (including sovereign submerged lands and riparian rights), environmental remediation, water use permitting and planning, beach nourishment projects, coastal construction and due diligence before local governments and federal/state agencies, including associated administrative and civil litigation.

Patrick has represented various state agency boards and local governments, including serving as the City Attorney for Neptune Beach, Florida. This experience not only allows him to assist local governments with virtually any aspect of their operations, it also gives Patrick a unique insight into how best to navigate challenges that his private clients often encounter in seeking local and state approvals for their real estate projects.

Patrick has extensive public speaking and teaching experience and is a published contributing author to a book focused on international climate change.

Patrick is a member of the Florida Bar. He holds a B.S. from Florida State University; and, a J.D. from Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law Center.

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Photo: Courtesy Patrick W. Krechowski