Professional Experience:

Donald H. Partington founded the firm in 1976 with William H. Clark, Robert D. Hart, Jr., and W. Christopher Hart. He graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1961, and graduated summa cum laude from its law school in 1964. Partington then entered the Army, serving in the Judge Advocate General Corps. He moved to Pensacola in 1967 to practice in the same firm as his law school moot court partner, Bill Clark. His 1965 law review article, The Incidence of the Death Penalty for Rape in Virginia, 22 Wash. & Lee L. Rev 43 (1965), was cited by the United States Supreme Court in Justice Burger’s dissent in Furman v. Georgia, 408 US 238 (1972), and has been widely referenced for its demonstration of racial disparity in death penalty sentencing.

Partington held a wide ranging civil practice, and was a member of the first “Civil Trial” Board Certification Review Committee when created by the Florida Bar, and was for many years the chair of the Florida Supreme Court’s “Standard Jury Instructions in Civil Cases” Committee. He also was president of the Escambia/Santa Rosa Bar Association. Before his retirement, Partington was widely regarded as one of the most knowledgeable and respected civil trial attorneys in the area, and was thought of as a “lawyer’s lawyer.”

He remains very active and instrumental in many civic and non-profit organizations, such as Manna Food Bank, the Great Gulf Coast Arts Festival, the Pensacola Opera, the Pensacola Arts Council, Christ Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Day School. Notably, the Pensacola Opera has honored Partington for his contributions and support by naming its offices and rehearsal facility as the “Donald H. Partington Opera Center.”