JOHN A. DEVAULT, III received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Florida, where he was a member of Florida Blue Key, Executive Editor of the Law Review, and a member of the Moot Court team. Following a clerkship with the United States District Court, he joined the firm in 1968 where he has since practiced. He was President-Elect of The Florida Bar from 1994-95 and President from 1995-96. He served for six years as a member of the Board of Governors. He served as a member of the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association from 1994-2000. He is past chair of the Trial Lawyers Section of The Florida Bar, a member of The Florida Bar Commission on Lawyer Professionalism, a founding Master of the Bench of the Chester Bedell Inn of Court and Florida Bar Board Certified in Civil Trial and Business Litigation. He was chair of the Advisory Committee on Rules, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, from 1990-93, and a member of the Federal Judicial Nominating Commission of Florida from 1997-2000. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and served as state chair. He is a member of the International Society of Barristers, the American Board of Trial Advocacy, and the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers. He has been continuously listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 1987. Chambers USA America's Leading Business Lawyers (www.ChambersandPartners.com/usa) listed him as one of the state's "first tier" litigators in each of its editions. He has been listed in Florida Super Lawyers each year of publication and in Florida Trend's Legal Elite, where he was recently selected for the Legal Elite Hall of Fame. He has argued cases in all state and federal courts in Florida, before the Eleventh, Fifth, Sixth, and Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals, and before the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. DeVault focuses on trial and appeal of complex commercial litigation and legal malpractice defense.
