Best Lawyers Near You in Pensacola, Florida
Florida is home to more than 23 million people, hundreds of industries and a wide range of legal needs. From individuals navigating personal matters like divorce or estate planning to businesses managing complex contracts or regulatory hurdles, legal guidance plays a critical role in daily life across the state.
Florida’s unique economic drivers—tourism, real estate, agriculture and healthcare—create specific legal demands that often require attorneys with focused regional experience. Whether you're in the Keys, the Panhandle, or Central Florida, understanding the local context can be just as important as understanding the law.
When it’s time to find the right attorney in Florida for your needs, language matters too. In Florida—as in most states—lawyer and attorney are often used interchangeably. But technically, only an attorney is licensed to practice law.
That distinction matters here. Best Lawyers only includes professionals who are fully licensed and actively practicing—legal advocates recognized by their peers for excellence in skill, ethics and service.
Whether you're facing a personal challenge, planning for the future, or trying to protect your business, Best Lawyers connects you with attorneys across Florida who are qualified, trusted and ready to help.
How to Use This Page
Our directory makes it easy to find a Florida attorney who fits your needs. You can search by practice area, city, or name. Whether you’re based in Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Tallahassee, or anywhere in between, the search tools are designed for speed and clarity.
Each attorney profile provides:
- Areas of practice
- Years of experience
- Peer-review distinctions
- Contact information and firm affiliations
This transparency helps you evaluate your options and choose someone with the right background for your specific legal issue. You’re accessing a curated list of professionals with proven reputations in their field.
This is more than a directory—it’s a research tool for making smarter legal decisions. Whether you’re hiring an attorney for the first time or seeking secondary advice on an ongoing matter, the information here helps you avoid guesswork. It’s especially useful for individuals managing high-stakes or emotionally charged issues, like a contested divorce or a business dispute with large financial consequences.
Legal Coverage Throughout Florida
No matter where you live or what kind of legal help you need, chances are we’ve got it covered. Best Lawyers recognizes attorneys in both high-demand and niche areas of practice across all corners of the state. This directory includes lawyers from large metro areas like Miami, Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville, as well as smaller communities like Gainesville, Pensacola and Sarasota, ensuring you can find representation no matter where you're located.
Some of the most commonly searched legal services in Florida include:
- Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice: With Florida’s population growth and busy roadways, personal injury and accident attorneys play a major role in helping people recover and rebuild.
- Family Law and Divorce: Family-related matters—from custody disputes to prenuptial agreements—require attorneys with both skill and sensitivity.
- Real Estate and Land Use: Florida’s hot real estate markets make it essential to have a qualified attorney for closings, zoning, development and litigation.
- Business and Corporate Law: From startups in Miami to legacy businesses in the Panhandle, attorneys guide everything from contracts to mergers.
- Criminal Defense: Experienced defense attorneys help clients navigate Florida’s criminal justice system with insight and integrity.
- Immigration Law: As a diverse and international state, Florida sees high demand for legal representation in immigration and naturalization matters.
- Estate Planning and Elder Law: With many retirees and aging residents, Florida has a strong need for attorneys who specialize in wills, trusts, Medicaid planning and probate.
We also include lawyers practicing in emerging or specialized fields, such as cybersecurity law, cannabis regulation, aviation law and education law. With so many attorneys practicing across Florida, it can be difficult to know who truly stands out. That’s where Best Lawyers adds genuine value by showing you not just every practitioner who’s licensed, but qualified attorneys who have earned the respect of their peers through years of dedicated service and proven results.
A Peer-Review Process You Can Trust
Every attorney listed in our Florida page has earned recognition through Best Lawyers’ rigorous annual peer-review process. This is a comprehensive methodology grounded in the insights of the legal community itself.
Here’s how it works:
- Nomination: Lawyers are nominated by peers or clients who have observed their work firsthand.
- Peer Review: Attorneys in the same practice area assess the nominee’s skill, integrity and results. This is confidential and weighted.
- Eligibility and Verification: Nominees must be in good standing with the bar and actively practicing law. We verify their status through state bar associations and other professional channels.
- Annual Re-evaluation: Because legal landscapes evolve, our recognitions are not static. Each year, the process begins again to ensure continued excellence.
This process helps ensure the integrity of our listings. If you’re selecting an attorney from our directory, you’re choosing someone who didn’t just claim to be the best—they were recognized by other attorneys as among the best in their field.
Start Your Search for an Attorney in Florida by Practice Area or City
Whether you’re dealing with a landlord dispute, a complicated contract, or a life-changing injury, finding the right attorney can make all the difference. Best Lawyers makes that search faster, clearer and more trustworthy.
Explore our Florida pages to find top-rated attorneys by:
- Practice Area: Choose the legal focus that best matches your needs.
- City: Get local insights and representation in your region.
Your legal matter deserves careful consideration—and the right advocate. With Best Lawyers, you’re not just searching. You’re starting from a foundation of credibility, clarity and peer-backed trust. Browse by practice area or location to get started today and feel confident knowing that every name you see here has been vetted by fellow attorneys who know what it takes to provide outstanding legal service in Florida.
Select a practice area from the list below to find the best legal talent for your needs.
Practice Areas
Brian Barr is President and a shareholder at Levin Papantonio. He litigates pharmaceutical, environmental, mass tort and personal injury cases throughout the country. Mr. Barr has been appointed to leadership in many of the largest mass tort cases in the country. Mr. Barr is presently serving as co-liaison counsel and a member of the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in the 3M Combat Arms Earplugs Litigation (MDL 2885) presently pending in the Northern District of Florida before the Honor...
Virginia Buchanan is a shareholder at Levin, Papantonio, Proctor, Buchanan, O’Brian, Barr & Mougey, P.A., having joined the firm in 1989. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Florida in 1985, and received her Juris Doctorate Degree, with honors, from the University of Florida in 1989. She has served as lead/co-lead counsel in more than 50 jury trials, with results exceeding $500 million. She has a national practice and works extensively in her local Pensacola and sur...
Steve Griffin is a partner in Beggs & Lane’s Pensacola office and heads the firm’s Energy and Public Utilities practice group. He represents public utilities, developers, independent power producers, and energy services contractors. Steve is top-ranked by Chambers USA for his expertise in Energy and Natural Resources and has been awarded a Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent® peer review rating for the highest level of professional excellence. He has also been selected b...
Mike has more than 30 years of experience in representing insurance companies, corporations, business entities, and individuals in a wide variety of litigation. Mike believes that the interests and goals of his clients are paramount. He has learned that the best way to achieve those goals is through a proactive approach that involves developing an early case assessment through focused discovery, targeted motion practice, and timely dispute resolution, and if the case can not be resolved favor...
Phillip Howell’s twenty-plus years of litigation and trial experience allow him to provide clients with an accurate early case assessment, always with an eye toward what the verdict form will look like at trial and the critical issues at mediation. He has a firm grasp of the legal issues and knowledge of the venues in Florida and knows what it takes to achieve his clients’ goals. Phillip has represented diverse businesses to resolve their disputes through the most efficient means ...
Mike McLeod was born in 1954 in Andalusia, Alabama. He graduated from Auburn University in 1976 and from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1979. At Alabama he won every award available for written briefs and oral argument during the annual Law Day Moot Court competition. After completing law school he returned home to Pensacola, Florida where he worked as an assistant public defender before joining the firm in 1984, becoming a partner in 1985. Since 1987 he has been local counsel for...
Grayson Miller is a partner and attorney in the firm’s Pensacola office where he handles litigation primarily throughout the Florida panhandle and southern Alabama. Grayson earned an AV-Preeminent Rated attorney – the highest legal and ethical rating awarded – by Martindale-Hubbell, has been recognized in “The Best Lawyers in America” for “Personal Injury – Defendants” for 2023 - 2025, and has been recognized as a Florida Super Lawyer, Rising St...
Peter Mougey is a shareholder and the Chair of Levin Papantonio’s Securities and Business Litigation department. He concentrates his practice in the areas of complex litigation, financial services, and securities litigation, and whistleblower or qui tam litigation. Mr. Mougey has been recognized as one of Florida’s top 100 trial lawyers and a Florida Super Lawyer and has dedicated his career to championing individuals’ rights against the world’s largest companies. His ...
Levin Papantonio shareholder Timothy O'Brien is a board-certified civil trial attorney who concentrates his practice in the areas of mass tort litigation, product liability, personal injury, wrongful death, and transactional liability. Mr. O'Brien is rated "A-V Preeminent" by the prestigious Martindale-Hubbell lawyer peer-rating service (the "A-V Preeminent" rating is the highest rating an attorney can receive). In September 2018, Mr. O’Brien was appointed by the United States Southern ...
Mike Papantonio is a senior partner with the law firm of Levin Papantonio. He has received numerous multi-million dollar verdicts on behalf of victims of corporate malfeasance. His award-winning work handling thousands of mass tort cases throughout the nation has helped make Levin Papantonio one of the largest plaintiff law firms in the country. Mr. Papantonio is a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer by the Florida Bar and the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He is a fellow in the Internation...
Randy Thompson was born in Paducah, Kentucky, in 1961 and subsequently moved with his family to Clearwater Florida where he graduated from Dunedin High School. He then attended 2 years of junior college at St. Petersburg, Junior College. Randy finished his undergraduate studies by graduating from Florida State University with honors. Three years later Randy was admitted to The Florida Bar after graduating with honors from Florida State University, College of Law. While in law school, Mr. Thom...
