Tony Lawhon, Esq.

Tony has enjoyed a successful and diverse career as a civil trial attorney that has spanned over 27 years. Tony grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida. He graduated from the University of Miami in 1989 with a Bachelor's Degree in English and Political Science. He received his Juris Doctorate Degree from the University of Miami School of Law in 1992. While in law school, Tony served as an editor for the Inter-American Law Review, and was also a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

After law school, Tony was selected from roughly 30 candidates to serve as Law Clerk to the Honorable Harry Lee Anstead at the Fourth District Court of Appeals. During his clerkship, Tony learned behind the scenes how a state appellate court functioned, and contributed to a number of important appellate court decisions authored by Judge Anstead. In 1994, Judge Anstead was nominated to serve as a Justice on the Florida Supreme Court, so Tony took his talents to the boutique law firm of Sachs & Sax in Boca Raton. Tony worked as an associate there for more than 3 years. During his time at Sachs & Sax, Tony was immersed in construction law, condominium and homeowner association law, commercial litigation, and insurance coverage cases, and was primarily responsible for updating and rewriting an entire chapter of a well-known community association resource manual. In addition, Tony was responsible for prevailing in one of the first cases in the state invalidating a bulk cable contract between a community association and a large cable company, and won every case but one representing State Farm in a wide variety of insurance coverage disputes.

In 1997, Tony left Sachs & Sax with just a few clients and moved across the coast to Naples to join a small, start-up firm. Tony became a partner and shareholder the next year, and for the following 14 years, Tony built his own commercial litigation trial practice without any advertising or marketing. Indeed, one aspect of Tony's practice about which he is particularly proud is that he has relied exclusively on referrals and repeat clients to build a successful and diverse client base that includes automobile dealerships, real estate developers, contractors, sub-contractors, architectural design firms, physicians, and a diverse array of individuals.

Toward the end of 2012, Tony decided to take his entire practice solo, founding The Law Office of Tony Lawhon. Today, the firm has grown to 4 lawyers and is well respected in the Southwest Florida community for providing outstanding legal services. In addition to handling a broad range of civil cases involving thousands to millions of dollars, Tony also serves as a local consultant for several out-of-town attorneys, and an expert witness regarding the amount of attorney's fees to be awarded to prevailing parties.

Tony is a member of the Florida and Collier County Bar Associations. He is also admitted, or has been admitted to practice in state court in Florida, and in at least 7 other federal courts covering 4 other states, including the Southern, Middle and Northern Districts of Colorado, the District Court of Colorado, and the 10th and 11th Circuit Courts of Appeal. Tony has also represented clients in Virginia, Alabama, Colorado, and Utah.

Tony has been actively involved in serving others outside of the practice of law. He has routinely handled pro bono matters from his church, and travels several times a year to Immokalee, a nearby rural town, to deliver food, clothes, the Gospel, and holiday presents to those in need. He has also served as a Board Member of the Sherman Chiropractic College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, spearheading the complete overhaul of the School's governance practices and procedures.
Tony is blessed with an incredible wife, Megan, and three amazing children, Claudia, Sydney and Cade. In his off time, he enjoys staying active, his Miami Hurricanes, and traveling.