M. Gary Toole, Attorney

Gary Toole received his B.S. degree in corporate finance from the University of Alabama in 1984. He graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1987. While in school, he was a member of Jasons' Senior Mens Honorary, Omicron Delta Kappa and Order of Omega.

He joined the Orlando law firm of Rumberger, Kirk, Caldwell, Cabaniss & Burke in 1987, practicing in the areas of product liability and insurance defense. In 1992, he joined the firm of Ruden, McClosky, Smith, Schuster & Russell in Miami, Florida and in 1995, he became a shareholder and moved to Ruden, McClosky's Naples, Florida office as the first resident partner.

In February 1998, Mr. Toole joined our team as a partner. Mr. Toole continues to practice in the areas of product liability, insurance defense and commercial litigation matters.

He serves as local, regional or national counsel for product manufacturers and/or excess insurance carriers throughout the United States.  He also assists a domestic manufacturer in coordinating discovery throughout the United States and with its foreign subsidaries.  He has served as lead trial counsel in castastrophic injury cases in California, New Mexico, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Florida.

He has been selected to serve on the faculty of the 2009 International Association of Defense Counsel ("IADC") at Stanford University.  The Trial Academy is one of the oldest and most well respected programs for developing defense trial advocacy skills.  The faculty consists of fifteen leading defense trial lawyers selected on a national basis from different regions of the country.

He is a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC), the Product Liability Committee of the Defense Research Institute (DRI), the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and the Torts and Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association (TIPS). He is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in the State of Florida. Mr. Toole's practice currently focuses on the defense of product liability cases for clients such as Ford Motor Company, Bob's Barricades, Collins Industries, Capacity of Texas, Inc. and commercial litigation matters.