Peter D. Webster

Peter Webster has had a distinguished career in judicial service, spanning more than 25 years. He was a judge in Florida’s Fourth Judicial Circuit, sitting in Jacksonville and Green Cove Springs, from 1986 until 1991. While on the circuit bench, he served in all divisions, including juvenile, criminal and civil. He presided over many jury trials.

In 1991, he was appointed to Florida’s First District Court of Appeal, where he served until 2011. While on the appellate bench, he authored hundreds of opinions, involving virtually every area of the law. He was nominated three times for vacancies on the Florida Supreme Court, and once for a vacancy on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida.

Since joining Carlton Fields in 2011,  Peter has focused principally on appellate practice, including appeals of administrative agency decisions. He has participated in appeals in all five of Florida’s appellate districts, the Florida Supreme Court, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He also handles significant legal issues at the trial level in complex civil cases.

Peter has served on numerous bar and court committees. He has also been a member of the American Bar Association House of Delegates and a Trustee of the American Inns of Court Foundation.

Education:

• University of Virginia School of Law (LL.M.)
• Duke University School of Law (J.D., with distinction)
• Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (B.S.F.S., magna cum laude)

Background:

• Judge, District Court of Appeal, First District (1991-2011)
• Circuit Judge, Fourth Judicial Circuit (1986-1991)
• Shareholder, Bedell, Bedell, Dittmar, Smith & Zehmer, P.A., and successors (1978-1985)
• Associate, Bedell, Bedell, Dittmar, Smith & Zehmer, P.A., and successors (1975-1978)
• Law Clerk, The Honorable Gerald Bard Tjoflat, United States District Judge, Middle District of Florida (1974-1975)