Holland & Knight handle convention

Tampa-based Holland & Knight, which has strong political ties through attorneys past and present, has been chosen to represent the host committee for the 2012 Republican National Convention to be held at the St. Pete Times Forum during the last month of August that year.

The firm's selection was formally announced last week, even though it has already handled legal issues leading up to the selection of the Tampa Bay area as the GOP's convention site in March. It negotiated the weeklong lease of the Forum and the nearby Tampa Convention Center, where media covering the convention will be based, and is now advising the 2012 Tampa Bay Host Committee Inc. on its efforts to secure 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.

“Going forward, there will be an interesting mix of issues that will come up,” Bob Grammig, a partner at Holland & Knight and lead counsel on convention-related matters, tells Coffee Talk. One glaring example of this will be where to allow inevitable protests to be staged near the Forum in downtown Tampa.