Craig Thomas Kochheiser

Craig Kochheiser is an attorney at Lytal, Reiter, Smith, Ivey & Fronrath and a proud veteran of the United States Army, having served over twenty years as a non-commissioned officer in Special Forces. As a member of Special Forces, commonly known as ‘Green Berets’, Craig operated in a tactical intelligence capacity, specializing in battlefield forensics, human intelligence, and the targeting of high-value individuals and networks. He deployed numerous times around the world as a member of a Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha, including over 48 months in Afghanistan and Iraq and more than two years in Latin America. A capstone of his military service was serving as the Operations Sergeant for a multi-national Special Operations Task Force responsible for countering ISIS attacks worldwide.

That experience of working alongside allies, standing between the vulnerable and those who would do them harm, helped shape Craig’s understanding of what it means to fight for someone who cannot fight for themselves. The Special Forces motto, De Oppresso Liber (“To Free the Oppressed”), is not just a phrase to Craig; it is a philosophy he carried from the battlefield into the courtroom.

Craig earned his Bachelor of Arts in History from Florida State University, completing his degree while serving as an ROTC instructor to future Army officers. Following his military retirement, he attended the University of Miami School of Law, where he graduated Cum Laude and earned both a Juris Doctor and a joint LL.M. in Maritime Law. During law school, Craig was active in the Maritime Law Society, held an executive position in the Veterans Law Student Society, and served as a student member of The Inns of Court. He received three CALI Book Awards for the highest grade in a course and was among fewer than 10% of his graduating class to earn a Pro Bono Award for volunteer hours.

Before joining Lytal Reiter, Craig was an attorney at a large insurance defense firm with a focus on medical malpractice, defending physicians, hospitals, and surgical centers. That experience gave him an intimate understanding of how insurance companies and defense firms build their cases—knowledge he now uses on behalf of his clients.

Craig’s practice focuses on personal injury, with a particular emphasis on automobile accidents, maritime personal injury, and cases involving medical negligence. He represents injured workers, passengers, and seamen harmed on the water, as well as individuals and families navigating the aftermath of catastrophic accidents and medical errors. He knows how defense attorneys think, how insurance companies evaluate claims, and more importantly, how to use that knowledge to maximize results for the people he represents.

Craig understands that when someone calls a personal injury attorney, it is rarely an ordinary day for them. A client walking through his door is often experiencing one of the worst moments of their life—frightened, in pain, and uncertain about what comes next. Craig does not treat that call as routine because it isn’t. Every client receives the same focused attention and sense of urgency he brought to every mission: the understanding that the outcome matters deeply, and that the person across from him is counting on him to get it right.

Outside of work, Craig enjoys spending time with his family, fishing, being on the water, and woodworking.