Awards

Criminal Defense Attorney Awards and Recognition in Tampa, FL

When your freedom is on the line, an attorney’s advertising tells you very little. Peer ratings and professional awards tell you more, because other lawyers, judges, and independent research teams decide who receives them, and most of them cannot be bought. This page lists the recognition Rocky Brancato, founder of The Brancato Law Firm, has earned over 25+ years as a Tampa criminal defense attorney, along with a plain explanation of how each award works and why it means something.

AV Preeminent Rating from Martindale-Hubbell

Rating: AV Preeminent, the highest peer rating for legal ability and ethics

Held since: 2015

Martindale-Hubbell has published attorney ratings since 1887, which makes it the oldest lawyer rating system in the United States. The rating has two parts. First, practicing attorneys and judges confirm the lawyer’s ethical standards through confidential surveys. A lawyer who does not clear that ethics threshold receives no rating at all. Only then do peers score the lawyer’s legal ability across five areas: legal knowledge, analytical capabilities, judgment, communication ability, and legal experience.

AV Preeminent is the top tier, and roughly 10 percent of rated attorneys hold it. The rating cannot be purchased, and advertising has no effect on it. Rocky Brancato has held the AV Preeminent rating continuously since 2015, more than a decade of sustained recognition from the lawyers and judges who see his work firsthand.

Florida Super Lawyers Selection

Selected: Top 5 percent of attorneys in the state

Super Lawyers is a rating service owned by Thomson Reuters, and its selection process is patented (U.S. Patent No. 8,412,564). It runs in phases. Lawyers enter the pool through peer nominations, and no one can nominate themselves. An independent research team then scores each candidate on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement, including trial results, experience, and honors. The highest-scoring candidates in each practice area form review panels that evaluate the rest of the field, and every selectee is checked for good standing before the list is published.

The final list is capped at the top 5 percent of attorneys in the state, and there is no way to pay for a spot. Rocky was selected to the Florida Super Lawyers list.

National Trial Lawyers Top 100

Membership: Invitation only, criminal defense division

The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 is an invitation-only organization founded in 2008, with a division reserved for criminal defense trial lawyers. Candidates surface through peer nominations and third-party research, then get screened on trial record, verdicts, reputation among peers and judges, and leadership in the profession. Membership generally requires at least ten years in practice, and the number of members is capped for each state.

One detail matters for Florida readers. The Florida Bar restricts attorneys from advertising memberships unless the organization uses objective selection criteria, and the Bar’s advertising committee reviewed the National Trial Lawyers in 2015 and approved it as a bona fide organization under that standard. When a Florida lawyer displays this credential, the Bar has already vetted the organization behind it.

Facing charges in Tampa Bay? Call The Brancato Law Firm at (813) 727-7159 for a free, confidential consultation.

Death-Penalty Qualified Under Florida Supreme Court Rules

Certification: Qualified to serve as lead counsel in capital cases

Florida does not let just any attorney defend a capital case. The Florida Supreme Court sets minimum standards for lead counsel in death penalty matters, including extensive trial experience in serious felony cases and specialized training in capital defense. Rocky Brancato is certified under those rules, a credential few Tampa attorneys have earned.

The qualification reflects the training and preparation standards required for the most serious criminal matters. A client charged with a first DUI and a client charged with sexual battery both benefit from the same thing: a firm whose standards were measured against the highest bar the state sets.

Tampa Magazine Top Lawyers

Named: Top Lawyers, January 2026

Tampa Magazine builds its annual Top Lawyers list through direct peer voting. For the 2026 list, the magazine sent close to 8,000 surveys to Florida Bar attorneys practicing in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and southern Pasco counties. Each attorney voted for the peers they consider the best across roughly 100 practice areas, using a one-time survey number so no ballot could be cast twice. The votes were tallied to produce the list.

This is local recognition in the most literal sense. The voters practice in the same courthouses, argue against the same prosecutors, and appear before the same judges. Rocky was named in the January 2026 feature, which also covered his 25+ years of experience and his forensic approach to defense.

The Julianne M. Holt Torchbearer Award

Awarded by: Hillsborough County Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (HCACDL)

The HCACDL is the professional association of the criminal defense bar in Hillsborough County. Its Torchbearer Award is named for Julianne M. Holt, who led the county’s Public Defender’s Office for three decades and was the first woman elected to that position.

For Rocky, this award carries particular weight. He spent roughly 24 years in the office Holt led, rising from misdemeanor attorney to Chief Operations Officer, and when Holt prepared to step down in 2022, she publicly endorsed him as her successor. An award named for her, given by the defense lawyers of Hillsborough County, is recognition from the community that knows his work best.

NACDA Top Ten Ranking in Florida

Ranking: Top Ten, 2025

The National Academy of Criminal Defense Attorneys, founded in 2013, ranks the top ten criminal defense attorneys in each state each year. The process has multiple stages. An attorney must first be nominated by a licensed practicing attorney or identified by the academy’s research staff; self-nomination is not allowed. The research team verifies that nominees meet the academy’s minimum requirements, a processing committee narrows the field to 50 finalists per state, and the Board of Governors selects the final ten. The academy describes its rankings as independent and free from commercial influence, and fewer than 1 percent of attorneys make the list.

Avvo 10.0 Superb Rating

Rating: 10.0 out of 10, labeled “Superb”

Also received: Avvo Client’s Choice Award and Top Contributor Award

Avvo rates nearly every licensed attorney in the country on a 1-to-10 scale using an algorithm built from public data: bar records, years in practice, disciplinary history, professional achievements, and endorsements from other lawyers. Because the score is calculated from records rather than submitted by the attorney, Avvo states plainly that the rating cannot be bought or manipulated. A 10.0 is the highest score the system produces.

Rocky holds a 10.0 rating and has also received two additional Avvo distinctions. The Client’s Choice Award comes from reviews left by former clients, and the Top Contributor Award recognizes attorneys who answer legal questions from the public on the platform, work Rocky does without charge.

If you want to talk through your case with the firm behind these ratings, call (813) 727-7159. Consultations are free and confidential.

Justia 10.0 Rating

Rating: 10.0 out of 10

Justia’s rating is built entirely on attorney-to-attorney review. Only verified lawyers who are personally familiar with an attorney’s work can submit a review, and each reviewer must score the attorney in four areas: legal knowledge, legal analysis, communication skills, and ethics and professionalism, with a written explanation to back up the numbers. Reviews are public and signed, not anonymous, which means every reviewer puts their own professional name behind what they say. Justia states that the rating cannot be affected by advertising. Rocky holds the highest score the system awards.

Elite Lawyer Award

Received: 2026

Elite Lawyer is a recognition program that has operated since 2016. An attorney must first be nominated by a peer. An advisory panel then reviews the nominee’s experience, case results, honors, credentials, and professional reputation, and only a small percentage of nominated attorneys receive the award. Rocky received the Elite Lawyer Award for 2026.

BBB Accreditation

Rating: A-, accredited since July 2025

The Better Business Bureau accredits businesses that commit to its standards for honest advertising, transparency, and responsiveness to customers. Letter grades weigh several factors, including how long a business has operated, which is why newer businesses rarely open at the top of the scale. The Brancato Law Firm, founded in January 2025, earned BBB accreditation within its first year and holds an A- rating.

What These Ratings Have in Common

Every rating on this page was decided by someone other than the firm: judges, fellow attorneys, independent research staff, or former clients. None of them can be purchased outright, and most cannot be influenced by advertising at all. Taken together, they point back to a record built over 25+ years of exclusive criminal defense practice, including 150+ jury trials to verdict and service as Chief Operations Officer of the Hillsborough County Public Defender’s Office, where Rocky oversaw a staff of over 100 attorneys in the largest criminal defense operation in Tampa Bay.

That record now sets the standard for the whole firm. Every attorney at The Brancato Law Firm operates by the preparation standards Rocky developed over his career: every case worked up as if it will go to trial, forensic evidence challenged rather than accepted, and defense strategy built from day one. You can see how that approach applies to specific charges on our practice areas page.

Contact The Brancato Law Firm

If you or someone you love is facing criminal charges in Tampa Bay, talk to a defense team whose credentials were decided by judges, fellow attorneys, and former clients. Consultations are free, confidential, and carry no obligation, and the firm is available 24/7 for arrest emergencies.

Phone: (813) 727-7159

Email: rocky@brancatolawfirm.com

Office: 620 E. Twiggs Street, Suite 205, Tampa, FL 33602, two blocks from the Hillsborough County Courthouse

The Brancato Law Firm, P.A. is a Tampa-based criminal defense practice. We are not affiliated with any other Brancato-named law firms.