Michael Orta

Overview

Michael Orta is an experienced litigation attorney with Jimerson Birr’s complex litigation team providing representation to clients on claims in litigation or where litigation is anticipated. He previously practiced in the area of civil litigation insurance defense for a little under a decade and was named to Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America for Insurance Defense in 2024 and 2025. He possesses both an MBA and a Law degree and is a member of the Florida Bar. I am also admitted to practice in the Middle and Southern District Courts of Florida.

He has years of experience in the practice fields of first party property claims, compelling alternative dispute resolution on litigated claims, personal injury cases, un and underinsured motorist claims, premises liability, wrongful death, professional malpractice, insurance bad faith litigation, and previously managed a niche first-party insurance defense practice group with two dozen attorneys and upwards of five thousand cases under management. He also has prior legal experience in the fields of worker’s compensation defense, the Jones Act and the LHWCA. He has overseen hiring and training of associate attorneys, law clerks, Summer Associates, and paralegals. He also has additional legal experience in the fields of corporate governance, wills & trusts, not-for-profit tax code compliance, real property disputes, and contract law.

Prior to practicing law, he worked in the fields of leadership education & development and coached rowing. Additionally, he has entry-level, management, and board-level experience in leadership education and management consulting, providing advisory services in the fields of business development, market expansion, market strategy, cash flow management, data analysis, competitive analysis, system design, leadership education, internal accreditation programming, risk management and alternative dispute resolution.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in History with a concentration in Intellectual History from Bucknell University in 2006. While at Bucknell, he was a member of the rowing team, the rugby club, helped restart the Phi Lambda Theta Chapter of the Chi Phi National Fraternity, and wrote for the sports page of the school paper. After college, he joined the national staff of the Chi Phi National Fraternity, where he worked as a Field Executive and later the Director of Expansion, before departing staff and joining the board of directors in a volunteer capacity. He later earned a Master’s of Business Administration (MBA), with concentrations in Entrepreneurship and Real Estate Development, at the Mason School of Business at the College of William & Mary in 2011. Finally, he is also a 2014 graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law, where his studies were concentrated on International Trade, International Law, Alternative Dispute Resolution, System Design, and Complex Litigation. While in Law School, he also took courses at Tshinghua and Fudan Universities in the People’s Republic of China and interned at King & Wood Mallesons in Shangai after his 1L year.

Michael was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, and these days lives in Ponte Vedra Beach with his wife and three children. Michael is a lifelong fan of the Jacksonville Jaguars, dogs, and movies, enjoys Lego both with his children and solo, and is an on-again, off-again runner with several marathons and a pair of ultramarathons under his belt.