Dale Swope

Dale Swope is the managing partner of Swope, Rodante, Newsome & Steinberg, which is the development of the solo firm practice he founded six months out of law school in 1979.

Mr. Swope is a Tampa native and a graduate of Hillsborough High School, the University of South Florida, and the University of Florida Law School. The firm’s most senior lawyer, Mr. Swope, has received virtually every professional recognition available to lawyers who practice in his field.

He has an AV rating (the highest possible) by Martindale-Hubbell, the oldest reviewing agency in the country. He has a ‘Superb’ rating (the highest possible) by AVVO.com, which is probably the newest rating agency in the country.

He has been designated as a ‘Super Lawyer’ by Super Lawyers Magazine. He is also listed in ‘Best Lawyers in America,’ ‘Who’s Who in the South,’ and ‘Who’s Who in American Law.’

For more than twenty years, he has been Board Certified as a Civil Trial Specialist and was previously also Board Certified as a Business Litigation Specialist. These certifications are considered the most substantive credentialing of attorneys, since admission actually requires taking a substantial test and serious peer review by lawyers and judges familiar with the lawyer’s work.

He was the original incorporator of the Tampa Bay Trial Lawyers Association and the first of two partners in the firm (along with Angela Rodante) who have been elected as president of that organization. He has been a director of the Florida Justice Association and served on its Executive Committee as the 2017-2018 President.

American Board of Trial Advocates is an organization that requires actual trial experience and peer approval for admission, and he has been a member for more than a decade. Recently, Mr. Swope was elected to be a member of the prestigious American Law Institute.

Receiving endorsements from peers and recognition from prestigious organizations is flattering, but Dale Swope will quickly tell you that none of these ‘credentials’ mean a thing compared to a simple ‘thanks’ from a client or family that has been helped by the law firm.