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Joe Zarzaur is proud to be a trial lawyer. His career is dedicated to representing those person or families that have been the victim of another's wrongdoing. Joe Zarzaur is a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer and has been recognized so by both the Florida Bar and the National Board of Trial Advocacy.
Joe Zarzaur was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. He received his undergraduate degree from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. At Spring Hill, Joe was active in student government, and in his senior year, he was elected by his peers as Spring Hill College's Student Government Association President. During his tenure as S.G.A. President, his administration was active in sponsoring visits from both Democratic and Republican Presidential Candidate campaigns. The S.G.A. also brought several national bands to Spring Hill's campus, including "The Radiators" and "The Connells." Joe also was interim president of his social fraternity Sigma Chi.
Following his graduation from Spring Hill, Joe returned to Birmingham to attend the Cumberland School of Law. While at Cumberland, Mr. Zarzaur focused his entire curriculum toward benefiting his goal of becoming a civil trial lawyer. He participated during his first months of law school in various mock trial competitions. His participation in these competitions resulted in his being selected to represent Cumberland on its American Trial Lawyers Association National Trial Team. Mr. Zarzaur also made the Dean's List at Cumberland while, at the same time, volunteering his time after school to assist in representing indigent criminal defendants. During his third year of law school, Joe assisted in his first capital murder trial defense.
Upon earning his law degree, Joe Zarzaur passed the Florida Bar exam, and then accepted a judicial clerkship with the Honorable Edward B. McDermott, Circuit Judge for the 13th Judicial Circuit of Alabama. This clerkship provided Joe with invaluable experience inside the civil jury trial system. He had the opportunity to observe the "behind the scenes" workings of a civil jury trial. During this clerkship, Joe also passed the Alabama Bar exam. |
After his clerkship, Joe Zarzaur accepted a job as a civil trial defense lawyer at the law firm, Carr, Alford, Clausen and McDonald in Mobile, Alabama. Joe Zarzaur worked in this position as an associate attorney. He eventually became the primary outside trial counsel for Bituminous Insurance Company, and assisted in representing several life insurance companies. Defending insurance companies would quickly become very unappealing to Joe. So, he told this insurance defense firm that he was going to do less of this work and start focusing on other areas, including personal injury and criminal defense. Joe Zarzaur did just this and quickly made headlines representing several "high profile" criminal defendants. These cases included crimes ranging from rape to the successful representation of two capital murder defendants. His criminal and insurance defense work continued until 2001 when Joe decided to focus all of his attention on representing those persons injured or killed due to the negligence of someone else.
In January of 2001, Joe Zarzaur moved to Pensacola, Florida and joined the law firm McKenzie and Taylor, P.A. as an associate attorney. While at the McKenzie firm, Joe would try over 20 civil jury trials and would be responsible for resolving millions of dollars in cases. Joe focused much of his attention to "resort type" injuries that included several jet-ski and parasail death, as well as other serious injury cases. These "resort type" injuries are common in the panhandle area of Florida, given the great number of tourist cities in the area. Mr. Zarzaur has tried jury trials in several different states including Alabama, Florida, California, North Carolina and Louisiana.
In 2004, Joesph Zarzaur was proud to serve John Kerry as special counsel during that year's presidential election. As part of this job, Joe spent many hours at the Escambia County supervisor of elections office participating in various election ballot dispute hearings on behalf of the Kerry/Edwards campaign.
In late 2006, Mr. Zarzaur was certified by the Florida Bar and the National Board of Trial Advocacy as a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer. This recognition is reserved for only those lawyers who have substantial experience as civil trial lawyers, positive peer reviews (both from judges and fellow lawyers) and who successfully pass a 6-hour exam devoted solely to civil trial issues. The Florida Bar describes this achievement as " . . .the highest level of recognition by The Florida Bar concerning the competency and learning of attorneys . . ." Only 1% of lawyers in Florida are Board Certified in their area of speciality and it is the highest measure of competency permitted by the Supreme Court of Florida.
In 2007, Joe left the McKenzie firm and started Zarzaur Law, P.A. That same year, Mr. Zarzaur was also asked to become associated with the Mobile, Alabama law firm of Taylor, Martino. In October of 2007, Joe Zarzaur tried a serious injury case in Santa Rosa County, Florida that resulted in a multi-million dollar verdict. This verdict was especially special to Joe since the insurance company had refused to settle that case for a reasonable demand.
In 2008, Joe Zarzaur was involved in a case that received international media attention. Joe has the proud pleasure of representing gold medalist and world champion track star Justin Gatlin. During this representation, Joesph Zarzaur was up against various sports organizations from all over the world including the United States Olympic Committee and the International Association of Athletics Federations. This case involved claims that various of these defendants discriminated against Mr. Gatlin. The suit was ultimately settled under confidential terms.
In 2009, Zarzaur Law, P.A. merged with the Taylor, Martino firm and the new firm is known as Taylor, Martino and Zarzaur. Joe Zarzaur has become one of the first lawyers in the country to offer free video legal conferencing. Joe believes that that video conferencing is the way of the future and feels strongly that in the coming years nearly all meetings will be conducted via computer.
Joe and his wife, Camilla, stepdaughter, Bella, and daughter Zoë live in Pensacola. Mr. Zarzaur is an avid triathlete and in 2004 finished Ironman® Brazil. Joe Zarzaur has competed in a dozen half-Ironman races, a few marathons and many sprint distance triathlons. Joe Zarzaur also makes plenty of time to for his family. Joe Zarzaur is passionate about his career-representing those that are victims of others wrongful conduct.
- Areas of Practice:
- Personal Injury
- Motor Vehicle Injuries
- Medical Malpractice
- Boating Injuries
- Discrimination
- Product Liability
- Wrongful Death
Certification:
Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer, Florida Bar and the National Board of Trial Advocacy
- Bar Admissions:
- Florida, 1996
- Alabama, 1997
- U.S. District Court Middle District of Alabama
- U.S. District Court Northern District of Alabama
- U.S. District Court Southern District of Alabama
- U.S. District Court Southern District of Florida
- U.S. District Court Northern District of Florida
- U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit
- Education:
- Cumberland School of Law, Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama, 1996
J.D.
Honors: Dean's List
Honors: National Trial Team
- Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama, 1993
B.S.
Major: Sociology
- Professional Associations and Memberships:
- Florida State Bar
- Member
- Alabama State Bar
- Member
- Florida Justice Association
- Member
- American Justice Association
- Member
- Alabama Association for Justice
- Member
- Escambia-Santa Rosa County Bar Association
- Member
- Mobile Bar Association
- Member
- Pensacola Museum of Art
- Board Member
- Movement For Change
- Sponsor
- Eagle Scout, 1989
- Past Employment Positions:
- Hon. Edward B. McDermott, Alabama State Court, 13th Circuit, Judicial Law Clerk
- Carr, Alford, Clausen & McDonald - Mobile, Alabama, Associate Attorney
- McKenzie & Taylor, Associate, 2001 – 2003
- McKenzie, Zarzaur & Hall, 2003 – 2006
- Zarzaur Law, P.A., 2007 – 2009
- Taylor Martino Zarzaur, P.C., 2007 – Present
- Birth Information:
- Joe Zarzaur
Dec 4, 1970
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