Over the last three decades, Tom Bishop has built a reputation as one of Florida’s leading advocates in complex high-stakes litigation. His practice focuses on trials and appeals in commercial, construction, insurance, tort, probate, white-collar, and constitutional matters. His work has spanned the state, and in recent years has included representing Florida’s Governor in critical constitutional and public records litigation, serving as trial and appellate counsel for the plaintiff in one of the largest commercial jury verdicts in Florida, representing clients fighting to clean up the Florida Everglades, and serving as trial counsel in significant litigation for Fortune 500 companies.
He was educated at The Citadel and the University of Florida and received a BA in English Literature from UF in 1988. He studied at the London School of Economics on a fellowship in 1989-1990 and received a law degree from the University of Florida College of Law in 1992.
Tom began his career as a state prosecutor in Jacksonville, trying many significant cases to juries, and serving as a homicide prosecutor and prosecutor of career criminals. He then became a trial lawyer and partner at the Jacksonville office of Holland & Knight where for a decade he focused on commercial and complex tort litigation and white-collar criminal defense. In 2006 he founded Tanner Bishop and led the firm to prominence with over a decade of success in bet-the-company cases. In 2019 he joined his firm with John Mills and his team to create one of Florida’s leading trial and appellate boutiques.
Tom has also been a leader in the legal profession and the community. He is past chair of the Trial Lawyers Section of The Florida Bar, leading the nearly 6,000 Florida courtroom lawyers. He is a past President of the Federal Bar Association in Jacksonville. From 2013-2016 he chaired the prestigious Advanced Trial Advocacy Course jointly presented by The University Florida College of Law and The Trial Lawyers Section. He is rated “AV” by Martindale-Hubbell, Inc., listed in Best Lawyers in America, and has been consistently recognized within Florida Trend Magazine’s “Legal Elite” and also Super Lawyers Magazine, and has been counted amongst Super Lawyers Top 100 Lawyers in Florida. In 2016 he was inducted into the Litigation Counsel of America, a trial lawyer honorary society for the top 1% of American lawyers.
Tom is admitted to practice in the state and federal courts of Florida and also admitted as a Barrister in the courts of the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland, Australia, and the High Court of New Zealand.