The Daily Business Review has named David Bianchi a Lifetime Achievement winner in the 2026 Florida Legal Awards—a recognition reserved for lawyers whose careers have left a lasting mark on the practice of law in Florida.
The Lifetime Achievement award is distinct from other categories in the Florida Legal Awards. Where many honors recognize a strong year of work, this one recognizes something harder to build: a career’s worth of impact. The Daily Business Review worked alongside leaders in the Florida legal community to select winners whose contributions have shaped the profession over time beyond the courtroom, in the law itself.
David has done exactly that. Over more than four decades of trial practice, he has represented individuals and families in some of the most complex and high-profile civil cases in the country—winning verdicts and settlements against major automobile manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, national fraternities, and other well-resourced corporate defendants. He has argued cases that didn’t just compensate his clients, but changed how corporations operate and how institutions are held accountable.
His work in hazing litigation stands as perhaps the most visible example of that broader impact. After winning the largest hazing verdict in on behalf of the family of Chad Meredith, David helped draft the legislation that now bears Chad’s name. He went on to represent the families of Andrew Coffey and Daniel Santulli, co-authoring groundbreaking anti-hazing legislation in the process. What began as a commitment to one family became a sustained effort to make campuses across the country safer for students.
The Florida Legal Awards ceremony will be held April 29 at the JW Marriott Marquis in Miami, where winners across all categories will be announced and celebrated.
Congratulations to David on this well-deserved recognition.