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If you've ever endured through a city council or county commission meeting, you might wonder why anyone would want to be a municipal-government counsel and sit through such tedium.

James Humphrey says his friends in the law business have asked him that question many times. “I've always enjoyed government practice,” Humphrey chuckles. “I also liked the idea of being counsel for a public body.”

In fact, Humphrey liked it so much he became the mayor of Fort Myers from 2000 to 2009, steering the city during the boom years by shepherding downtown development and annexing suburbs east of Interstate 75.