Sam Holland | Attorney

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W. SAM HOLLAND

Sam Holland's more than 35 years of legal experience positions him as one of Florida's most respected attorneys. He is a fellow of America's most prestigious legal organization in the United States, the American College of Trial Lawyers, whose membership is limited to 1% of the attorneys practicing in any given state. He was ranked in 2005 in the top 1.6 percent of all Florida lawyers as one of Florida Trend magazine's Legal Elite in the area of civil trial law and he holds Martindale Hubbell's highest peer review rating, AV, for professional skills and ethics. In 2005 he was recognized as one of America's best civil trial advocates.

Mr. Holland's professional affiliations encompass numerous leadership positions, including service on the Executive Council of the Trial Lawyers' Section of The Florida Bar; membership in the Miami-Dade County Bar Association, in which he served on the Board of Directors and was president of the Young Lawyers Section; membership in the Miami-Dade County Defense Bar Association in which he was president, among others. Holland was one of the early founders of the University of Florida Law Center Association, which provides voluntary funding and other services to the University of Florida School of Law. He was on the Board of Directors of such association and still serves in an emeritus capacity. He was one of the founding members of the Miami-Dade County Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He is a member of the Miami-Dade County Trial Lawyers Association, the Florida Trial Lawyers Association, and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. He has served as Chairman of the Legal Campaign Committee for the annual fundraising effort of the United Way. In 2005 he was recognized by the Dade County Bar Association for his pro bono work in several matters under the Put Something Back program, during which he devoted over 400 hours of service in matters involving children's rights.

During his career, Mr. Holland has tried to verdict more than 300 jury trial involving quadriplegia, paraplegia, amputations, burns, wrongful death, professional malpractice, product liability, general tort liability and commercial litigation. At different points in time he has held the record for the largest verdict in Hillsborough County for the wrongful death of a minor and the largest verdict in Monroe County for personal injury. He is a frequent lecturer and has participated in a number of mock trial demonstrations under the Masters in Trial Program for the American Board of Trial Advocates. As a senior law student at the University of Florida, he published a 26-page article in the University of Florida Law Review entitled, The Protection of Equitable Interests Under the Florida Recording Act in Florida, which was recognized as the best senior writing thesis in the State of Florida in the area of real property. He has published articles for the Florida Trial Lawyers Newsletter in the area of computation of economic losses.

A Key West native, Mr. Holland attended the University of Florida, where he earned a bachelor's degree in finance and was captain and MVP for the 1962 Gator Bowl Champion football team. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Law School. He is married to Francine D. Holland of Key West, Florida, and they are the parents of five children.