Daniel L. Hightower

Before making Ocala his home, Daniel L. Hightower was born and raised in Lakeland, Polk County, Florida. After graduating from Lakeland High School, he attended Stetson University in DeLand where he earned a B.A. degree in history. He then continued his education at Stetson Law School in St. Petersburg, where he went on to earn his Juris Doctorate degree. While there, he was elected as a Justice to the Honor Court and appointed to the Stetson Law Review Board.

After graduating from Stetson University College of Law, Mr. Hightower and his wife moved to Ocala in 1973. Here, he joined the Green, Simmons, & Green Law Firm, working one year as a part-time Assistant State Attorney, prosecuting felony crimes. After fourteen years with the same firm, Mr. Hightower started his own law firm in 1987, Daniel L. Hightower, P.A., focusing on Personal Injury, Wrongful Death and Workers’ Compensation cases.

Mr. Hightower has been fervently fighting for his clients’ legal rights and remedies since his admission as a lawyer in October of 1973. Over the last 50 years, he has received countless service awards and recognitions for his contributions to the Ocala/Marion County community and beyond.

Hightower & Hightower Lawyers

Timeline

1982 – Served as Chairman of the Fifth Judicial Circuit Grievance Committee of The Florida Bar

1984 – Elected President of the Marion County Bar Association

1988 – Appointed by Governor Bob Martinez to the Fifth Judicial Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission

2006 – Awarded the Rick Custereri Pro Bono Award for providing free legal services to those in need by The Marion County Bar Association

2011 – Awarded the Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award

2012 – Inducted into the Charter Class of the Florida Workers’ Compensation Institute Hall of Fame

2017 – Received the Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award from Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida

2020 – Voted Best Attorney in the Ocala Magazine Survey

2023 – Honored by Mayor Guinn and the City of Ocala for an outstanding 50 years of service as an attorney in the community

2024 – Voted Ocala Magazine’s “Better Than The Best” Local Attorney (Any Practice/Specialty)

Mr. Hightower holds an AV® Preeminent™ rating from the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, the nation’s oldest lawyer peer review publication.

In his spare time, Mr. Hightower enjoys spending time with his family and friends. He is also a cattle rancher and owns the HT Ranch near Blitchton, Florida, a working ranch that raises beef cattle and hay. Mr. Hightower takes an active role in the ranch operations including penning and working cattle and cutting and baling hay. Mr. Hightower says, “I may be a lawyer but I still have calluses on my hands.”

This picture is of Daniel L. Hightower with Florida Bar President, Mayanne Downs (left) and Chief Justice of Florida Supreme Court, Charles Canady (right), at the Florida Supreme Court, receiving the Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award in 2011 for legal services provided to people who are unable to afford a lawyer.