Mike Papantonio

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Mike Papantonio is an American attorney and radio talk show host. A prominent trial lawyer, he co-hosts Ring of Fire a national-syndicated weekly program on Air America Radio, with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a fellow attorney.

Papantonio graduated from the University of Florida and received his law degree from Cumberland School of Law. He was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1982 and the bar of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida in 1983.

Papantonio is a senior partner in the Pensacola, Florida-based Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Echsner & Proctor law firm, a major torts firm. Since 1983, he has headed the firm's mass tort division. Papantonio is noted for his success in mass torts, product liability, personal injury, and wrongful death cases, and has returned verdicts of multi-million dollar damages for the plantiffs.

Papantonio has written several books, including Resurrecting Aesop: Fables Lawyers Should Remember, Clarence Darrow, the Journeyman, and In Search of Atticus Finch, A Motivational Book for Lawyers, as well as Defenses You Can Count on in an Asbestosis Case and How to Prove a Sick Building Case. He also co-authored Closing Arguments–The Last Battle with Fred Levin. Papantonio says he wrote In Search of Atticus Finch as a "wake-up call to the legal profession" and has said that "seventy percent of kids coming out of law school want to represent corporations and get paid exorbitant amounts of money," he says. "They're willing to sell their souls to the highest bidder. We need to bring more quality to what we do as lawyers, we need to be better servants to the community and we need to have more political involvement for positive change in the country."

Papantonio co-hosts Ring of Fire on Air America Radio with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., which airs weekly on Saturdays from 5-7 p.m. EST. He also sits on the Board of Directors of Air America Radio. On the radio show Papantonio (a Methodist) often criticizes the Christian right. He has said that "I come from a pretty strong spiritual center, but it doesn't change the way I judge people. Simply put, the Sermon on the Mount makes much more sense to me than the frenzied rantings of America's new 'religious right.' They have become an element of American politics that threatens our sense of decency as well as our democracy." His role in the show is featured in the 2006 documentary Jesus Camp.

Papantonio is married and has one daughter. He is an avid scuba diver and often dives on the Emerald Coast.