Peter M. Cardillo

Biography

Founding partner Peter M. Cardillo has been a trial attorney since 1982. 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. 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 Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm 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. Cardillo has maintained and renewed this specialty designation, and thus remains board certified in business litigation. Only 3% of Florida attorneys have received this certification.

In 1996, Pete began his focus on the representation of property owners throughout the state of Florida who have suffered 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 and practice exclusively as a termite lawyer. 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. 

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 35 jury cases. 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 seven years straight from 2006 - 2018, 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 termite damage knowledge. In his spare time Pete is an avid cyclist and traveler.