Contact Joel D. Eaton

Joel was born October 31, 1943, in Miami, Florida. He received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Yale University in 1965 and his Juris Doctorate Degree (cum laude) from Harvard University in 1975. He is admitted to the following bars: Florida, 1975; U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit, 1976; U.S. Supreme Court, 1978; U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit, 1981; U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit, 1995.

Joel handles appellate litigation--a practice which has taken him to all of the appellate courts of Florida, including innumerable appearances in the Florida Supreme Court, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits on many occasions, and several times to the United States Supreme Court. Joel authored “The American Law of Defamation Through Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. and Beyond: An Analytical Primer,” Virginia Law Review, Vol. 61, Issue No. 7, in 1975; and Ch. 6, “Making a Proper Record,” Florida Civil Trial Practice, Seventh Edition, in 2005. His article, “Jumping Through the Hoops to Meaningful Appellate Review: Protecting the Record at Trial,” which was published in the May, 1988 Florida Bar Journal, won first prize for the best Journal article published in 1988. Joel is also heavily involved in organizations concerned with appellate practice, including a former chairmanship of the Appellate Court Rules Committee of the Florida Bar, Adviser to The Reporter of the American Law Institute's Restatement of the Law of Torts (Third), two terms as a member of the Florida Supreme Court Committee on Standard Jury Instructions in Civil Cases, membership in the prestigious American Law Institute, the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and the American Association for Justice, and is a Diplomat of the Florida Justice Association. Joel served as a Lieutenant, Naval Aviator, in the U.S. Navy from 1965-1971 and flew 150 combat missions during two tours in Southeast Asia.