Name: John Leighton
Item: John Leighton
Author: john

Bio

John Elliott Leighton is the managing partner of Leighton Law, P.A., a Miami and Orlando trial law firm. Mr. Leighton is a Board Certified Civil Trial Specialist by the Florida Bar Board of Legal Specialization. He specializes in medical malpractice and catastrophic injury/wrongful death litigation.

He is an accomplished author, having published numerous articles, books and book chapters on a variety of personal injury and trial skills topics. His writings have been featured articles in Trial magazine seven times. He is a frequent national lecturer at legal programs and conventions and has taught at seminars, colleges and conventions in over a dozen states. He is the author of the two-volume text, Litigating Premises Security Cases (Thomson-West Publishing) and has authored book chapters on medical malpractice and spinal cord injury.

Mr. Leighton is past Chairman of the American Association of Justice/ATLA’s Motor Vehicle, Highway and Premises Liability Section and current Chairman of the Inadequate Security Litigation Group. He also currently serves as the Chairman of the Academy of Trial Advocacy, a national invitation-only organization of the country’s leading catastrophic injury trial lawyers.

Leighton has obtained some of the state’s largest verdicts and settlements in major personal injury and wrongful death cases, including a medical malpractice case which was the largest verdict in Seminole County history. This was followed by a wrongful death verdict in Orange County which was one of the American Lawyer largest verdicts of 2011. He also received the Daily Business Review 2015 “Verdicts Hall of Fame” award for a wrongful death verdict over $24 million.

He has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America for the past ten years, voted as one of the “Top Lawyers” in the South Florida Legal Guide for the last 12 years, has been named a Top 100 Florida SuperLawyer™, listed as “Orlando Legal Elite” by Orlando Style magazine, and has been elected to the Florida Trend magazine “Legal Elite” Top Lawyers in Florida by peer selection. He is rated as “10.0/10 - Superb” by AVVO.com and holds an AV rating (highest possible) by Martindale-Hubbell.

Having obtained some of the state’s largest verdicts and settlements in major personal injury and wrongful death cases, Mr. Leighton continues to represent families throughout Florida and selectively around the country. His medical malpractice verdict in Shoaf v. Geiling of $24.1 million was the largest verdict in Seminole County history. He followed that in 2011 with a $24.3 million verdict in Orange County for a wrongful death (Gordon v. Terry, et al.), which was one of the American Lawyer largest verdicts of 2011. The arbitration award of $8 million he obtained in Seetaram v. United Rentals is the largest known single death award in Broward County for a minor child. He is often called upon to handle catastrophic and complex matters in other states, and has litigated and tried complex cases in Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Georgia, New York, Kentucky and North Carolina. Mr. Leighton’s victories on behalf of families who have lost loved ones to negligence have resulted in record setting wrongful death verdicts and settlements.

Mr. Leighton has obtained wide recognition for his results in wrongful death cases. He is often invited to speak to attorneys around the country on strategies for maximizing damages in death cases, and has been recognized for obtaining some of the largest verdicts and settlements in the United States.

Mr. Leighton received his undergraduate and law degrees with honors from the University of Florida, where he was an editor of the Florida Law Review, competed on the Trial Team, and taught first year jurisprudence.

John Leighton

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