Our People by Location: Boca Raton

Biography

Dan Santaniello is a seasoned trial attorney with more than 33 years of trial litigation experience and over 100 jury verdicts.   He is Board Certified by The Florida Bar as an expert in Civil Trial.  Martindale-Hubbell and his peers have rated him AV® Preeminent™. Dan is also a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). Dan has full confidence and faith in the jury system and regularly mitigates and tries catastrophic cases. He is adept in jury selection and considers his best asset to be the art of cross examination and presentation of the "big picture" in his quest for the truth and equal justice for American businesses.  Dan leads the firm's Excess Monitoring and Parachute Trial Team, a specific unit designed to disrupt the status quo and open doors to settlement.  As the plaintiff's bar continues to utilize Reptile strategies to deliver nuclear verdicts, Dan has perfected a strategy to keep jurors deciding cases on the facts, not emotions.  "My reverse-reptile strategy has been employed successfully with some of America's largest corporations on sympathetic and catastrophic cases.  It has enabled me to task jurors with the nearly impossible job of setting aside sympathy and prejudice in deliberating tough cases."   Dan's areas of practice include wrongful death and catastrophic losses involving negligent security, commercial trucking and transportation, retail and premises Liability, professional and product liability. 

Dan also advises clients on time limit demands and bad faith.  He oversees the firm's Time and Policy Limit Demands and Tenders Practice Group.  He has been certified by the Supreme Court of Florida as a Circuit Mediator and is a Qualified Florida Arbitrator, having successfully completed Florida Supreme Court Mandated Arbitrator Training.  He is a co-founder of ADAAM.org, a Diversity Supplier Initiative that rolled out in June of 2023 with the idea of providing a single access point to some of the most qualified and diverse arbitrators and mediators in the nation.  Dan also co-founded and is the Managing Attorney Member of TheGavel.net, a national claims defense network made up of trial attorneys, experts, claims professionals and other litigation specialists.   Dan also has handled and tried complex construction cases and is certified by the Florida Department of Transportation in the area of Traffic Control / Maintenance of Traffic. 

Dan started the firm in 1995 as a 5-year attorney and since that time it has grown into approximately 190+ attorneys with more than 400 employees in 12 offices: Boston, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Stuart, Fort Myers, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Key West and Pensacola.  As the Past President of the Florida Defense Lawyers Association, he has been an advocate for equality and fair play in the civil jury system.  Dan received the FDLA's President's Award for outstanding service and The Defense Research Institute (DRI) selected Dan for its Exceptional Performance Citation 2013-2014 for supporting and improving the standards and education of the defense bar and contributing to the improvement of the administration of justice in the public interest.  Dan has been a member of Florida Super Lawyers and the Daily Business Review rated him as a Most Effective Lawyer Finalist in 2007 for his innovation in pursuing a DJ on The Graves Amendment that saved his client millions of dollars and forever changed the landscape and exposure for Rental Car companies in Florida.

Dan was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, where he obtained his undergraduate degree in Criminal Justice (Northeastern University, 1987). He moved to Florida where he attended Nova Southeastern University Law School on a full, academic scholarship and graduated summa cum laude (Class Rank 3rd, 1990).  He and his wife, Michelle, raised three daughters.  Dan still has that Boston fight in him (and a little bit of the accent too).   

Practice Areas

Practice Areas

• Appeals | Litigation Support
• Arbitration & Mediation
• Auto & Fleet Liability
• Bad Faith | ECO
• Boating | Maritime
• Construction Defect
• Commercial Litigation
• Creditor's Rights
• Directors & Officers
• Health, Life & Disability Law
• Excess | Wrongful Death
• Environmental | Toxic Tort
• EPL | Employment Law
• Federal Practice
• General Liability
• Home Owners Association and Condo Association
• Insurance Coverage
• Liquor Liability
• Negligent Security
• Premises Liability
• Professional Liability | E&O
• Product Liability
• Reptile and Deposition Strategies
• Roadway Construction
• Sexual Misconduct Liability
• SIU | Fraud Special Investigations
• Surgical LOP Abuse
• Time & Policy Limit Demands and Tenders
• Trucking Liability

Experience

Martindale Rating

• AV® Preeminent^TM

Awards & Honors

• Recipient of the Defense Research Institute (DRI) Exceptional Performance Citation 2013-2014".
• Named South Florida Legal Leaders (ALM) 2013.
• Florida Super Lawyers 2012 and 2011.
• Recipient FDLA 2010 President's Award for outstanding service.
• Selected Most Effective Lawyer (2007 finalist) by the Florida Daily Business Review.
• Named 2012 “Go-To” Law Firm to F500 Companies by ALM.

Accreditations

• Board Certified Civil Trial Specialist by The Florida Bar.
• Certified by the Florida Department of Transportation in the area of Traffic Control / Maintenance of Traffic. 
• Certified by the Supreme Court of Florida as a Circuit Mediator
• Qualified Florida Arbitrator
• Approved Instructor - Florida Adjuster Continuing Education and Attorney Continuing Legal Education seminars

Bar/Court Admission

• 1990, Florida Bar; 1991, Massachusetts Bar
• 1990, U.S. District Court, Southern; 1990, Middle and Northern Districts of Florida including Trial Bar
• 1991, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts

Education

• Northeastern University, B.S., 1987
• Nova Southeastern University, J.D., summa cum laude, class rank 3rd, 1990.

Professional/Civil Memberships

• The Florida Bar
• Massachusetts and American Bar Associations
• Board of Directors Florida Defense Lawyers Association
• Member of the Trucking Industry Defense Association
• Member of the Claims Litigation Management
• The Defense Research Institute
• Miami-Dade County Bar Association
• Broward County Bar Association
• Managing Attorney Member of The Gavel Claims Defense Network
• American Board of Trial Advocates

Industries Represented

Verdicts

Verdicts

Presentations

Presentations and Speaking Engagements

Publications

Articles