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 attended Stetson Law School in St. Petersburg, earning 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 law school in 1973, Mr. Hightower and his wife moved to Ocala and he joined the Green, Simmons, & Green Law Firm. He worked one year as a part-time Assistant State Attorney, in 1974, prosecuting felony crimes. After fourteen years with the same firm, Mr. Hightower started his own law firm, Daniel L. Hightower, P.A., in 1987, focusing on Personal Injury, Wrongful Death and Workers’ Compensation cases.
During his professional career, Mr. Hightower served as Chairman of the Marion County Grievance Committee of The Florida Bar in1982 and was elected President of the Marion County Bar Association in 1984. Mr. Hightower was appointed by Governor Bob Martinez in 1988 to the Fifth Judicial Circuit Nominating Commission. The Marion County Bar Association awarded Mr. Hightower the Rick Custereri Pro Bono Award for the free legal services he personally provided to people unable to afford a lawyer in 2006. He was awarded the Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award in 2010 and in 2012 Mr. Hightower was inducted into the Charter Class of the Florida Workers’ Compensation Institute Hall of Fame.
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. It’s 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 raising and cutting hay. Mr. Hightower says, “I may be a lawyer but I still have calluses on my hands.”
Fighting for Accident Victim JUSTICE Since 1976
