JOSHUA A. WHITMAN became Of Counsel to the Firm on January 1, 2026, after 24 years as a Partner and Shareholder.
For over 40 years, Mr. Whitman has limited his practice to personal injury, wrongful death, medical malpractice, product liability, interstate trucking and insurance cases. He has extensive experience in cases involving roadway design and commercial transportation. Mr. Whitman’s record of service to the firm’s clients and to the local and national legal community has bolstered the firm’s reputation for decades. In his “Of Counsel” capacity, he will continue to represent individuals needing a lawyer to take their personal injury case to trial, and contribute his extensive legal knowledge and experience to the firm.
Mr. Whitman received his Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Florida College of Business Administration in 1980. In 1984, he graduated with honors from the Florida State University College of Law, where he taught Legal Research and Writing, and was a member of the Moot Court Team. He began his service on the Alumni Board of the College of Law in 1988, and is a member emeritus.
Mr. Whitman was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1984, and is authorized to practice in the United States District Court for the Middle and Northern Districts of Florida, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. From 1984 through 1985, Mr. Whitman served as Law Clerk to the Honorable Harvey E. Schlesinger, then-United States Magistrate, now United States District Court Judge, for the Middle District of Florida.
Mr. Whitman has served by appointment on The Florida Bar’s Standing Committee on the Unlicensed Practice of Law, the Fourth Judicial Circuit Grievance Committee, and the Fourth Judicial Circuit Fee Arbitration Committee. He is a past member, and two term Chairman, of the Judicial Nominating Commission for the Fourth Judicial Circuit, which is responsible for screening and nominating lawyer applicants for the local trial bench.
Mr. Whitman has continuously qualified as a Board-Certified Civil Trial Lawyer since 1990 and, in 1998, he was appointed to serve on The Florida Bar’s Civil Trial Certification Committee. This Committee is charged with screening applicants for certification, and with authoring, administering and grading the examination required to become a Board-Certified Civil Trial Lawyer. Mr. Whitman served as Vice-Chair of the Committee in 2001. He has also been Board Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy since 1991.
In 1999, Mr. Whitman was inducted into the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), a national invitation-only organization comprised of an equal number of plaintiff and defense attorneys, dedicated to civility and professionalism, the independence of the judiciary and the Rule of Law. He has served on the organization’s National Board of Directors since 2007, was appointed to serve on the National Executive Committee in 2010, and was elected National Treasurer for the years 2012 and 2013. He is a past Chair of the organization’s Long Range Planning Committee, Chapter Relations Committee and Judicial Relations Committee. Mr. Whitman has served as the Jacksonville ABOTA Chapter Treasurer (2002), Vice-President (2003) and President (2004). At the conclusion of his term as ABOTA Chapter President in 2004, the Jacksonville Chapter was recognized as the National ABOTA Chapter of the Year. In 2008, Mr. Whitman was honored as ABOTA Chapter Trial Lawyer of the Year and, in 2015 and 2022, he received the Chapter’s President’s Award recognizing his commitment to the preservation of the Seventh Amendment. Mr. Whitman also serves on the Board of Directors of the Florida Chapters of the American Board of Trial Advocates (FLABOTA), an organization made up of the Florida Chapters of ABOTA, and has served as its Treasurer (2005), President-Elect (2006) and President (2007 – 2008). Mr. Whitman chaired FLABOTA’s 2008 Regional Jury Summit in Palm Coast, Florida, and ABOTA’s 2009 National Jury Summit in San Francisco, California. He went on to Chair ABOTA’s 2011 National Leadership Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, and ABOTA’s 2022 Preservation of the Rule of Law Program in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Whitman is a Delegate level Legacy Fellow of the Foundation of ABOTA, the organization’s educational arm, has participated in and chaired numerous Foundation committees and programs and, in 2023, was the recipient of the ABOTA Foundation Founders’ Award.
Mr. Whitman also became a member of the invitation-only International Society of Barristers in 2009, serving as its Florida Membership Chair since 2019, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the ISOB Foundation in 2022 and 2023. In 2024, he began a three-year term on the ISOB Board of Directors. He is currently the National Membership Co-Chair.
Mr. Whitman has also served the Jacksonville Bar Association, where he was Plaintiff Co-Chair of the Personal Injury Litigation Section from 1996 through 1998. Mr. Whitman is also a member of the Florida Justice Association, where he has been an Eagle participant since 1989, and is a past recipient of the Talon Award. He was elected to the organization’s Board of Directors in 2003, serving for two terms and chairing various fund-raising efforts.
Mr. Whitman is also a founding member, and the Charter President, of the Jacksonville Justice Association, a member of the American Association for Justice, and a Barrister member of the Chester Bedell Inn of Court, where he has served on the faculty of the Inn’s Trial Academy. He is also an invited member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum.
In 2006, Mr. Whitman was named as a Super Lawyer of Florida in the first edition of that publication, and has continuously held that distinction. Every year since 2009, Jacksonville Magazine has included Mr. Whitman as one of Northeast Florida’s “Top Lawyers”. Also active in his local community, Mr. Whitman was selected to the Leadership Jacksonville Class of 2003.
Josh and his wife Elyse, a retired professor, live in the Southside area of Jacksonville; they have three adult children and four adorable grandchildren.