Mike Papantonio

Mike Papantonio is a senior partner with the Law Firm of Levin Papantonio. He has received numerous multimillion-dollar verdicts on behalf of victims of corporate malfeasance. His award-winning work handling thousands of mass tort cases throughout the nation has helped make Levin Papantonio one of the most influential plaintiff law firms in the country.

His trial work in some of the most significant cases in America was the catalyst for his induction into America’s Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame. The 100 lawyers in that group include Johnnie Cochran, Gerry Spence, Mark Geragos, Edward Bennet Williams, along with a small handful of America’s most distinguished trial lawyers.

Mr. Papantonio’s role with Ring of Fire is featured in the movie, Jesus Camp, which was nominated for the 2007 Academy Award for Documentary Feature. He also was featured in the award-winning documentaries, Oxy Kingpins (2021), which focuses on the untold story of how a network of pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, and retailers worked together to orchestrate and perpetuate the opioid crisis that has killed over half a million people in America. His major role in The Devil We Know (2018), highlighted the dangers of DuPont’s man-made chemical C8. He was a key figure in Beyond Pollution (2012), regarding the truth behind the largest man-made natural disaster in history, the BP Oil Spill. 

For ten years, Papantonio served as the host of the YouTube show America’s Lawyer with over 1.3 million subscribers where he provided in-depth investigations into major corporate and government corruption. He is also the founder and former host of the nationally syndicated radio program Ring of Fire.  

Mr. Papantonio has conducted hundreds of recorded interviews with guests including Sting, Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert, John Fogerty, Matthew McConaughey, Al Pacino, Erin Brockovich, Dan Rather, Helen Thomas, Howard Zinn, Mary Chapin Carpenter, David Crosby, Merle Haggard, Morgan Spurlock, Bill Moyers, Rickie Lee Jones, Alanis Morissette, Pete Seeger, Jackson Browne, Chuck D, Henry Rollins, and Ted Sorensen.

Mr. Papantonio was selected to serve as Lead and Co-Lead in discovery and trial in the National Prescription Opiate Litigation MDL, which has been called “the largest and most complex case in the history of jurisprudence” by the Washington Post. He and his firm have been credited as one of the key negotiators in the $70 billion settlement with America’s “Big Three” drug distributors, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson.

Mr. Papantonio helped secure a $12 billion settlement against DuPont and 3M related to the company’s West Virginia plant discharging PFAS chemicals into the air and water around the Ohio River Valley and exposing citizens to this toxic Teflon chemical.

As lead trial counsel in a West Virginia environmental case, Mr. Papantonio received a jury verdict for a West Virginia community in excess of $380 million. It remains the highest jury verdict in West Virginia history. 

Published Works:
A Death in Arcadia – A Legal Thriller (2026 Release) 
The Middleman – A Legal Thriller (2025)
Suspicious Activity – A Legal Thriller (2024)
Inhuman Trafficking – A Legal Thriller (2021)
Law and Addiction – A Legal Thriller (2019)
Law and Vengeance – A Legal Thriller (2017)
Law and Disorder – A Legal Thriller (2016)
Air America: The Playbook – (Co-Author) (2006) 
Closing Arguments – The Last Battle (Co-Author) (2003)
Resurrecting Aesop – Fables Lawyers Should Remember (2000)
Clarence Darrow, The Journeyman – Lessons for the Modern Lawyer (1997)
In Search of Atticus Finch – A Motivational Book for Lawyers (1996)

Papantonio is a member (and past president) of the National Trial Lawyers Association, the largest trial lawyers association in America. Mr. Papantonio is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Lawyer by the Florida Bar and the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He is a fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the International Society of Barristers, American Board of Trial Advocates, the American Association for Justice, the Southern Trial Lawyers Association, and the Florida Justice Association, where he served on the Board of Directors for five years. He is also listed in the publication Best Lawyers in America. 

In 2019, Mr. Papantonio was awarded the Compassionate Gladiator Award from the Florida Justice Association.

In 2016, Levin Papantonio won the Special Litigation Award by the National Law Journal Elite Trial Lawyers in recognition for Papantonio’s trial work in environmental litigation against some of the largest multi-national corporations on the planet.  

In 2015, He also was awarded the Defender of Justice Award by the American Association for Justice for his many victories in the courtroom on behalf of American consumers. 

In 2014, the Stephen and Sandra Sheller Center of Temple University Beasley School of Law presented Mr. Papantonio with the Inaugural Award for Social Justice, honoring him for his outstanding contributions to social justice.

In 2011, Mr. Papantonio was awarded the Perry Nichols Award, the highest honor given by the Florida Trial Lawyers. The award recognizes individuals who fight with distinction for justice throughout their lives on behalf of consumers.