Who Are the Best Defense Base Act Attorneys in Florida?
Among Florida firms that handle Defense Base Act claims, three stand out for doing this federal work as their actual practice rather than the occasional referral: Grossman Attorneys at Law, led by Howard S. Grossman; The Soloway Law Firm in Pensacola, where Daniel M. Soloway has spent decades on federal workers’ compensation; and Wagner, McLaughlin & Whittemore in Tampa.
The reason the list is short is that a Defense Base Act claim does not behave like an ordinary Florida injury case. It is decided in a federal forum that a general personal injury practice rarely enters, because the Act extends the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act and borrows its machinery: the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, an informal conference before a district director, a hearing before an administrative law judge at the Office of Administrative Law Judges, and, if it comes to that, the Benefits Review Board. The firms below were weighed on how often they actually work in those rooms. The criteria come after the list, where they belong.
The Best Defense Base Act Lawyers in Florida (Updated 2026)
1. Grossman Attorneys at Law – Howard S. Grossman
Start with the firm that treats the Defense Base Act as a national practice run from a Florida base rather than a sideline. Grossman Attorneys at Law keeps offices in Florida and Washington, D.C., and represents injured contractors wherever they deployed and wherever they have since gone home, which for this workforce is rarely the same place twice. (No affiliation.)
Founding attorney Howard S. Grossman has been licensed for more than forty years and carries a preeminent national reputation in Defense Base Act and Longshore representation. He is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell and has been named a Florida Super Lawyer in plaintiff personal injury across many years. The firm grew out of maritime, offshore, and Longshore work, which is not incidental here, because the Defense Base Act is a graft onto the Longshore statute and rewards a lawyer who already knows how the Longshore side is tried.
Two things separate the firm on the page as clearly as in the hearing room. The first is published depth: an extensive Defense Base Act library, a working claims FAQ, and current contractor statistics, the sort of material a practice assembles only when the niche is the day job. The second is a fee posture built for these claims, where the attorney’s fee is paid by the employer or its carrier and is never taken as a percentage of the worker’s benefits, so the firm carries the financial risk of pressing a disputed claim. It staffs a globally scattered client base in English, Spanish, Creole, French, Russian, and Ukrainian, and it reports a representative Miami result of $1,000,000. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
2. The Soloway Law Firm – Daniel M. Soloway
Move to the western end of the state and the picture changes, because the Panhandle is a part of Florida that many Defense Base Act practices skip entirely. The Soloway Law Firm works out of Pensacola and represents injured contractors across Northwest Florida and the Gulf Coast, a stretch with a long military tie and, with it, a steady supply of the overseas contracting work that produces these claims.
Daniel M. Soloway and Daniel J. Finelli built the practice on federal workers’ compensation, with more than thirty years in front of the forums a contractor’s claim can reach: the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, the administrative law judges, and the Benefits Review Board. Daniel Soloway argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 on a federal disability question, which is a level of appellate exposure few firms in this small field can claim. Gulf Coast claims are filed through the Department of Labor’s Longshore division in Jacksonville, an office the firm knows from the inside.
3. Wagner, McLaughlin & Whittemore
Tampa supplies the third option, and it is a useful one for a contractor who wants a claimant-side firm outside the national brands that advertise the Defense Base Act by name. Wagner, McLaughlin & Whittemore carries a maritime practice that covers Longshore and harbor-worker claims under the federal Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, and it appears for injured workers rather than the companies and carriers across the table.
That Longshore footing is the part that matters for Defense Base Act work, because the Act is decided on the same federal track, before the same Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, the same administrative law judges, and the same Benefits Review Board that hear the Longshore and harbor-worker claims this firm already handles. Longshore and maritime injury sits inside a broader personal injury practice here rather than serving as the headline, so a contractor should ask directly about the firm’s Defense Base Act experience before signing (a fair question to put to any firm on any list).
How the Florida Firms Compare
| Firm | Main Offices | DBA and Longshore Focus | Experience | Distinction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grossman Attorneys at Law | Florida and Washington, D.C.; national | DBA, Longshore, and maritime | 40+ years (Howard S. Grossman) | AV Preeminent; Florida Super Lawyers |
| The Soloway Law Firm | Pensacola (Northwest Florida) | DBA and LHWCA | 30+ years in federal comp | Argued before the U.S. Supreme Court (2003) |
| Wagner, McLaughlin & Whittemore | Tampa (Gulf Coast Florida) | LHWCA and maritime | Not stated | Tampa Longshore and harbor-worker practice |
How We Chose These Firms
This list reflects independent, unpaid editorial judgment. Placement is editorial and reflects no outside body’s ranking, and no firm named above has any relationship with the person who compiled it. Six things carried the most weight:
- A genuine Defense Base Act practice with real depth behind it, a working practice area and substantive published guidance rather than a single thin landing page.
- Command of the Longshore Act that the Defense Base Act extends, since these claims are decided on Longshore procedure before the OWCP, the administrative law judges, and the Benefits Review Board.
- Depth of experience, measured both in years and in the number of these particular claims a firm has actually handled.
- The ability to represent a contractor wherever that contractor is, in the language they speak, because this workforce is scattered across the globe.
- A fee structure that fits the Act, where the fee is paid by the employer or carrier and never taken as a percentage of the worker’s benefits.
- A demonstrated willingness to litigate, because a carrier negotiates differently with a firm it expects to see at a hearing.
No firm above is credited with a board certification in Defense Base Act law, because no such certification exists.
Ranking Sources
This list was compiled with reference to each firm’s own Defense Base Act and Longshore practice materials, Martindale-Hubbell peer ratings, Florida Bar records, published client reviews, and the U.S. Department of Labor’s OWCP resources on the Longshore and Defense Base Acts.
Why So Many Defense Base Act Claims Trace Back to Florida
Florida is not merely a place Defense Base Act claimants happen to live. It is a place the overseas contracting economy is run from, and that distinction explains why a Florida contractor has real local options for a federal claim.
Military bases and commands in Florida
The clearest reason is stationed in Tampa. MacDill Air Force Base is the headquarters of U.S. Central Command, which directs American military operations across the Middle East and Central and South Asia, the regions where the largest share of Defense Base Act contractors have deployed for two decades, and of U.S. Special Operations Command, which runs the special-operations mission worldwide. In the western Panhandle, Hurlburt Field is the home of Air Force Special Operations Command and the 1st Special Operations Wing, and nearby Eglin Air Force Base serves as the focal point for Air Force armament development and testing. Naval Station Mayport anchors the surface fleet on the Atlantic side at Jacksonville. The commands that plan and sustain overseas deployments are, to an unusual degree, headquartered in this one state.
Those are the deployments that fill a Defense Base Act docket. An estimated 8,189 civilian contractors died supporting U.S. operations abroad between 2001 and 2021, by the count of Brown University’s Costs of War project, and the last quarterly report from Central Command, in April 2025, put roughly 20,356 contractors in its area of operations, of whom about 49 percent were U.S. citizens, 42 percent were third-country nationals, and 8 percent were local nationals. The injuries that survive those postings, the blast injuries from roadside devices, the respiratory illness traced to burn pits, the orthopedic and psychological claims that surface months later, are what a Defense Base Act practice is built to carry.
Defense contractors in Florida
The companies that staff those deployments sit on the same map. KBR performs Marine Corps prepositioning and logistics work primarily at the Marine Corps Support Facility on Blount Island in Jacksonville, and the same contract carries that work overseas, to Kuwait, to Norway, and to prepositioned ships in the Asia-Pacific and at Diego Garcia, which is precisely the arrangement that carries a civilian worker from a Florida contract to a Defense Base Act covered posting overseas. L3Harris Technologies, a major defense contractor, is headquartered in Melbourne. Lockheed Martin builds precision engagement systems for the military at its Missiles and Fire Control facility in Orlando. The scale behind these names is not small: Florida’s defense industry accounted for roughly $102.6 billion in total economic impact and about 865,937 jobs in 2022, drew more than $29.1 billion in federal defense contracts and payroll in one recent fiscal year, and spreads across more than twenty military installations and thousands of contractors.
Florida’s ports and the Longshore bench
Florida’s maritime side reinforces the point. The state runs four deep-water seaports, at Miami, Jacksonville, Tampa, and Port Everglades, and that maritime economy has produced a bench of Florida lawyers fluent in the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, the statute the Defense Base Act extends. For claims purposes, Florida residents are served by the Department of Labor’s Longshore district office in Jacksonville, and a lawyer who already knows that office and its procedure holds a quiet practical advantage for a contractor filing from home.
How a Defense Base Act Claim Differs From Florida Workers’ Compensation
A Florida contractor who has been through a state workers’ compensation claim tends to assume the Defense Base Act works the same way. It does not, and the assumption costs people time they do not have.
The first difference is jurisdiction. A Defense Base Act claim is federal. It is administered by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, not Florida’s Division of Workers’ Compensation, which means different forms, different deadlines, a different appeal path, and administrative law judges rather than a state judge of compensation claims. The second is the arithmetic. Compensation runs on a national average weekly wage set by federal statute rather than on Florida’s own wage calculations, and the worker generally has a broader hand in choosing an authorized treating physician than a state claim allows. The third is reach. The injury may have happened on another continent and the medical record may be scattered across two or three of them, yet the claim is still decided through federal channels, which is a documentation problem that a purely domestic case never presents.
None of this makes the Defense Base Act worse than a state remedy. It makes it a different instrument, and it is the reason a claim that looks straightforward can be denied or delayed when it is handled as though the federal rules were the familiar state ones.
How to Choose a Defense Base Act Lawyer in Florida
A short set of questions separates a firm that handles these claims from one that would be learning on the job:
- Ask how many Defense Base Act claims the firm has actually handled, and whether it has taken one to a hearing before an administrative law judge.
- Find out who works the file day to day, the named attorney or an assistant, and how a client reaches that person from a distant time zone.
- Confirm the firm can communicate with a contractor overseas, and in the language the contractor speaks.
- Get the fee arrangement in writing. On a Defense Base Act claim the attorney’s fee is generally the carrier’s responsibility, not a slice of the worker’s benefits, and a firm should be able to say so plainly.
- For a claim tied to a Florida port or a coastal job, ask specifically about the firm’s Longshore Act experience, because that is the procedure a Defense Base Act claim follows.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a Defense Base Act lawyer do?
A Defense Base Act lawyer represents civilian contractors injured while working overseas under U.S. government contracts. The lawyer files the claim, develops the medical and wage evidence, deals with the insurance carrier, and litigates disputes before a Department of Labor administrative law judge and, on appeal, the Benefits Review Board.
Who is covered by the Defense Base Act?
The Act covers civilian employees working outside the United States under U.S. government contracts for military, national defense, or public works purposes, including workers on overseas U.S. military bases and employees of welfare-service organizations for the armed forces. Coverage does not depend on U.S. citizenship; qualifying foreign nationals are covered as well.
How long does a contractor have to file a Defense Base Act claim in Florida?
Written notice to the employer is due within thirty days, and the formal claim, Form LS-203, is generally filed within one year of the injury or the last payment of compensation. For an occupational disease the period is two years, running from the point a diagnosis links the condition to the overseas work. Because a missed deadline can end a claim, the applicable date is worth confirming with a lawyer early.
What does a Defense Base Act lawyer cost?
Under the Defense Base Act the attorney’s fee is generally paid by the employer or its insurance carrier, not deducted from the worker’s benefits, and taking a percentage of a claimant’s compensation is not permitted. Because the fee is the carrier’s responsibility rather than a share of the award, a contractor typically pays nothing out of pocket to be represented.
What benefits does the Defense Base Act pay?
The Act pays for reasonable and necessary medical treatment related to the injury, and disability compensation that generally runs to two-thirds of the average weekly wage, subject to statutory minimums and maximums, in temporary or permanent and partial or total forms. It provides death benefits and burial costs to surviving dependents. It does not pay for pain and suffering.
Where are Defense Base Act claims for Florida residents handled?
They are administered by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, and for Florida residents the Longshore district office in Jacksonville is the office that handles these matters. A disputed claim goes to an informal conference with the district director, then to a formal hearing before an administrative law judge, then to the Benefits Review Board, and finally to a federal court of appeals.
