Laird A. Lile has practiced law in Florida since 1984, concentrating on estate and trust matters. He has been Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Wills, Trusts and Estates since 1989 and a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel since 1995.

Throughout his career, Laird has helped shape Florida’s trust and estate laws through leadership roles with The Florida Bar and appointments by the Florida Supreme Court and other state and local leaders. His work has included service on committees and workgroups addressing significant changes to Florida’s trust and estate laws, court administration and related legal matters.

Laird has held significant leadership roles within the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. He was elected Florida State Chair in 2008 and served through 2013, when he was elected as a Regent of the College. He has been active in ACTEC governance, substantive committees and the development of the Fellows Institutes. In 2019, the President of ACTEC appointed him as an initial member of the College’s Artificial Intelligence Task Force.

Laird is a past Chair of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section of The Florida Bar and has served the Section in numerous leadership roles. As Chair of the Section’s Legislation Committee, Laird served during the enactment of Florida’s elective share law and the current Florida Probate Code. He later co-chaired the Trust Code Revision Committee, which developed the comprehensive revision of Florida’s trust law enacted in 2006. He also served on the Power of Attorney Committee, which drafted comprehensive legislation governing powers of attorney in Florida that was enacted in 2011. Laird currently serves as the Section’s liaison to Florida’s Clerks of Court and is the founding and current Chair of the RPPTL-PAC, which supports legislative initiatives concerning real property, probate and trust laws in Florida.

Laird represented the Twentieth Judicial Circuit for 18 years as an elected member of the Board of Governors of The Florida Bar. He is a member of the Collier County Bar Association, and he is the founding director of its Trusts and Estates Section.

The Florida Supreme Court has appointed Laird to the Florida Courts Technology Commission, where he is serving his fifth consecutive three-year term, and the Judicial Management Council, where he is serving his third term. The Court has also appointed him to the Workgroup on Uncontested Probate Proceedings.

Laird has been named to The Best Lawyers in America for 29 consecutive years, recognized among Florida’s Top 100 Super Lawyers 11 times and among the Top 10 seven times. He has also been included in Florida Trend’s Florida 500 since its inaugural edition in 2018.

The Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section of The Florida Bar recognized Laird with its Annual Service Award for outstanding effort and achievement in 1999, the Lifetime Professionalism Award in 2009, and the Robert C. Scott Award for devoted and continued service in 2010 and again in 2024.

The Collier County Bar Association named Laird as Attorney of the Year in 2007. In 2011, the local judiciary presented him with its Lion of the Law Award.

Laird writes and speaks on estate and trust issues for local, state and national organizations and is a frequent speaker at seminars organized by The Florida Bar.

He authored a BNA portfolio on powers of appointment for the Bureau of National Affairs (now a subsidiary of Bloomberg L.P.) and authored Florida Probate: A Discussion and Commentary, a comprehensive guide for legal practitioners.

Laird has also served as an adjunct professor in the estate planning LL.M. program at the University of Miami School of Law.

Laird has been appointed by the Chief Judge of Collier County to serve as interim Collier County Clerk, by the State Attorney to serve as a commissioner on the Ethics Commission for the City of Naples and by the President of the Florida Senate to serve on the Florida Commission on Ethics.

He is a past board member and executive committee member of the Florida United Methodist Foundation, a past Chair and founding board member of the Collier County Education Foundation, and a past Chair of the School Advisory Council for Naples High School.

LL.M. in Estate Planning, University of Miami

J.D. with honors, Ohio Northern University

B.B.A., College of William and Mary

Certified Public Accountant, inactive, Florida