Joseph Ronald Denman is an American lawyer based in Tampa, Florida, with a litigation practice spanning commercial, trust, estate, and guardianship matters. He began his career as an assistant state attorney in 1990 and later worked in civil defense and corporate litigation before becoming a shareholder at Bleakley Bavol Denman & Grace in 2014.
Background
Joseph Ronald Denman was born on November 9, 1964, at Tachikawa A.F.B., Japan, a United States Air Force installation in the Tokyo area. Tachikawa Air Base was part of the American military presence in Japan after the Second World War, and his birth there links his life to that postwar setting.
His professional life developed chiefly in Florida. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees at the University of Florida, was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1990, and has practiced in Tampa and elsewhere in the state's courts.
Education
Denman studied at the University of Florida, the public flagship university in Gainesville, which was founded in 1853 and grew into one of the largest universities in the southeastern United States. He received a Bachelor of Science degree there in 1986.
He then attended the University of Florida College of Law, which is now known as the Fredric G. Levin College of Law. The law school, established in 1909, provided the Juris Doctor degree he received in 1989, a qualification that prepared graduates for admission to the bar and trial practice in Florida.
Denman's professional career began in Florida's prosecution system. In 1990, the year he was admitted to the Florida Bar, he worked as an Assistant State Attorney in Sarasota and Orange County, where he began prosecuting major felony cases. Florida state attorneys are elected prosecutors who represent the state in criminal matters within their judicial circuits, a role that gave young trial lawyers early courtroom experience.
In 1993 he moved into civil litigation, representing insurance companies and corporations in product liability, medical malpractice, director and officer liability, and professional liability defense. He also worked at Marlow, Connell, Valerius, Abrams & Adler, a Florida defense firm founded in 1956 by Homer L. Marlow. The firm's practice focused on defending professionals, manufacturers, employers, health care providers, businesses, and insurance companies.
In 1998 he joined Bilzin Sumberg, a Miami law firm, where his practice expanded into aviation defense, complex commercial litigation, intellectual property, and high-profile family law matters. During a break from law practice, he led operations for a start-up manufacturing and distribution company whose annual revenues grew to $400 million, according to a firm profile.
From October 2011 to January 2014 he was a partner at Perlman, Bajandas, Yevoli & Albright, P.L., a Florida law firm. In June 2014 he became a shareholder and senior litigation partner at Bleakley Bavol Denman & Grace in Tampa. His practice there covers complex commercial litigation in state and federal courts, along with trust, estate, and guardianship litigation for personal representatives, heirs, beneficiaries, and trustees. A firm profile reports that he has tried more than 100 jury trials.
Denman is licensed to practice in Florida, where he was admitted in 1990, and in North Carolina, where he was admitted in 2008. He was admitted to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in 1993 and is also admitted to the Middle District of Florida.
The Florida Supreme Court suspended him for 30 days in 2016 after finding a conflict of interest arising from his representation of a former employer in a 2011 deposition and from a loan he obtained from that company while serving as its in-house counsel. In a February 12, 2026 order, the court suspended him for 60 days, effective 30 days later, after a referee found violations including misconduct, conflict of interest, and filing meritless claims in a guardianship matter. The order also required him to complete a Professionalism Workshop.
Achievements
Obtained a $16.4 million jury verdict in Palm Beach County in a breach of fiduciary duty case, which was reported as the highest verdict of that type in Florida in 2017.
Membership
Denman's bar memberships connect him with Florida and national legal organizations. The Florida Bar, the statewide association of lawyers licensed in Florida, operates as an integrated bar, so membership is required to practice law in the state. The American Bar Association, founded in 1878, is the largest national professional association of lawyers in the United States.
His memberships also include the Defense Research Institute, an organization of lawyers who defend clients in civil litigation, and the Florida Defense Lawyers Association, a statewide group of defense lawyers. He is also a member of the Federal Bar Association, the Hillsborough County Bar Association, and the Miami Beach Bar Association, which serve lawyers in federal practice and in local bar communities. He is recorded as a member of the Dade County Bar Association and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the latter now known as the American Association for Justice, a national group of plaintiffs' trial lawyers.
Denman has also been involved in public-service and community organizations. He served on the Florida Bar Aviation Standing Committee, which addresses aviation law matters within the Florida Bar. He has also been a director of the Orange Bowl Foundation, the nonprofit that supports the Orange Bowl college football game in Miami, and he serves as a director of the Miami Beach JCC, a Jewish community center. As a volunteer attorney, he has worked with Lawyers for Children and the Guardian ad Litem Program, which provides representation for children in court proceedings.
The Florida Bar
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United States
Dade County Bar Association
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United States
Association of Trial Lawyers of America
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United States
Defense Research Institute
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United States
American Bar Association
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United States
Federal Bar Association
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United States
Hillsborough County Bar Association
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United States
Miami Beach Bar Association
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United States
Florida Defense Lawyers Association
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United States
Served on the committee
Florida Bar Aviation Standing Committee
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United States
J. Ronald Denman, Avvo lawyer profile
Lawyer profile listing his Tampa practice, education at the University of Florida, and bar committee and section affiliations.
