Founding partner and termite lawyer Peter M. Cardillo has been a trial attorney for the last 36 years. As a result of his Army ROTC academic scholarship, Cardillo incurred a military commitment, and served as a JAG lawyer in the Army for his first four years of practice, trying many military jury cases. Pete was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal while on active duty in Germany at the end of the Cold War. He was discharged from active duty with an honorable discharge at the rank of Captain in 1987, and was recalled to active duty by President Bush during the Gulf War in 1990.
Cardillo began his private practice at a national law firm office in Florida, developing a wide variety of business litigation experience. In 1996, he was recognized by the Florida Bar and granted a specialty certification designation in “Business Litigation,” which was the first year it was available. Certification is the highest level of evaluation by The Florida Bar of competency and experience within an area of law, professionalism, and ethics in practice. Only 7% percent of eligible Florida Bar members are board certified. Established in 1982 by the Florida Supreme Court, board certification helps consumers of legal services identify specialists in various areas of law. Cardillo has maintained the Board Certified status for over 20 years.
In 1996, Pete began his focus on the representation of property owners throughout the state of Florida who experienced termite damage, with claims against either their termite company or insurance carrier. In 1999, he was named the managing partner of the Tampa litigation department of a national law firm, a position he held until 2003. By then, his focus had evolved to the point of exclusively representing property owners with termite damage and insurance claims. Despite tremendous success in building that firm’s Tampa litigation department from its genesis into a formidable team, Cardillo decided that he could best serve his Florida termite clients by opening his own boutique law firm. In 2003, Cardillo founded Cardillo Law Firm, and as a result, he has been able to devote the attention and service expected by his termite claim clients. He now handles termite damage related cases throughout Florida, in Georgia and other parts of the U.S.
Cardillo was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1982 and is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia. He is also admitted to practice before all three of Florida’s federal district courts – the Middle, Southern, and Northern Districts of Florida. Cardillo has served as a federal arbitrator and is a master in the Tampa Bay Inns of Court. He has tried more that 30 jury cases. For the past 15 years, Mr. Cardillo has received the “AV®” Peer Review Rating (the highest rating available) from Martindale-Hubbell based on evaluations from fellow attorneys. He has also been selected for inclusion in Florida Super Lawyers Magazine from 2006 – 2017, representing 5% of Florida attorneys. Pete is a member of the Trial Lawyers Section of the Florida Bar, the Trial Lawyers Section of the Hillsborough County Bar Association, and the Florida Justice Association. Cardillo is a member of Community Associations Institute and the Bay Area Apartment Association, to which he frequently contributes his legal termite knowledge.
