Attorney Information

Mr. Daniel Woodring has lived in Florida for almost 30 years, but was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In Florida, he has lived and worked in Pensacola, Clearwater, Jacksonville, Gainesville and Tallahassee. His wife Jean, also an attorney, was born in Miami, and grew up in Fort. Myers. They have a son and a daughter.

Mr. Woodring is recognized as a Florida Super Lawyer, an honor given to fewer than 5% of Florida Attorneys, and holds an Avvo “Superb” rating.  Mr. Woodring also has an AV Preeminent® Peer Review rating. AV®,  AV Preeminent®  are registered certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies, and the ratings are explained at www.martindale.com/ratings.

Courts In Which Admitted to Practice

Mr. Woodring is a member of the Florida and Georgia Bars, and is admitted to practice before the Florida Federal Southern, Middle and Northern District Courts, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. He has worked at the trial level in many of Florida’s 20 judicial circuits, and in  in state administrative tribunals. He has argued cases at the Florida Supreme Court and Florida District Courts of Appeal, and has briefed cases at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Education

He graduated from the University of Florida, College of Law with a Juris Doctorate, Cum Laude, and received his B.A. degree from Clearwater Christian College, Summa Cum Laude.

Experience:

Appellate Judicial Clerkship

After law school, Mr. Woodring was in private practice handling civil and appellate work. He then left for a two-year appellate clerkship at the First District Court of Appeal. During his time at the court, he worked on cases including, but not limited to: criminal, family law, administrative law, workers’ compensation, business and civil law, and constitutional law.

Counsel in the Executive Office of the Governor

Mr. Woodring next worked as a counsel in the Executive Office of the Governor, Office of the General Counsel. During his time in Governor Bush’s Legal Office he had diverse responsibilities, including oversight and strategic litigation management of significant legal matters at numerous Governor’s agencies, including the Department of Education, Department of Management Services, Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Department of Health, Agency for Health Care Administration, Department of Children and Families, Department of Community Affairs, Department of Elder affairs, Agency for Workforce Innovation, Department of Transportation, and the Department of State.

He was also legally responsible for topics as disparate as emergency operations, advising the Governor on the selection of judges, implementation of civil service reform, reform of workers’ compensation, budget and appropriation matters, Indian gaming law, and legally advising the Florida Cabinet sitting in its many capacities, such as the Florida Land and Water Adjudicatory Commission.

General Counsel to the Florida Dept. of Education & the University Board of Governors

Mr. Daniel Woodring was then offered the opportunity to serve as General Counsel for the Florida Department of Education, which included Pre-K through 12th grade, community colleges (now State Colleges), and the Florida University System. He was also the initial General Counsel for the Florida Board of Governors, when that Board was constitutionally established to manage the State University System. During almost five years at the Department of Education, Mr. Woodring advised and litigated on issues including, but not limited to: constitutional challenges to Florida’s education programs, such as Opportunity Scholarships and the charter school approval and appeal process, eliminating race as a factor in university admissions and state contracting; teacher and professional discipline cases, union, labor, and employment matters, state procurement and bid protest proceedings, administrative rule challenges and rulemaking proceedings, IDEA and Section 504 proceedings, public records, government in the sunshine, and ethical issues, contract drafting and negotiation.

Private Practice with the Woodring Law Firm

Mr. Woodring returned to private practice in 2007 with the Woodring Law Firm, based in Tallahassee, Florida, but with a statewide practice, including Pensacola, Jacksonville, Gainesville, Tampa Bay, Orlando, West Palm Beach, Fort. Myers, Ft. Lauderdale, and Miami. He focuses his practice on appeals; constitutional cases in both state and federal court; education law matters, including charter school representation,Business litigation, and state administrative matters, including state procurement, regulation and licensing, rule challenges and proposed rule making. Please look at the individual practice areas on the left menu for more information.

Mr. Woodring is a member of the Appellate, Administrative, and Governmental Lawyer sections of the Florida Bar and past Chair of the Education Law Committee of the Florida Bar.