Christopher Carlyle

Christopher V. Carlyle is the owner of The Carlyle Appellate Law Firm, which is located in Orlando and also has offices in Daytona Beach and Leesburg, Florida. He focuses his practice exclusively on appellate litigation and trial support and serves clients in the Orlando area as well as throughout the state of Florida. Mr. Carlyle is an experienced appellate practitioner who has been Board Certified by The Florida Bar in appellate practice since 2006. At present, only 217 lawyers in Florida have that certification. Mr. Carlyle has handled many cases in all six of Florida’s District Courts of Appeal, the Supreme Court of Florida, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. Most notably, Mr. Carlyle was involved in Koontz v. St. John’s River Water Management District, 570 U.S. 595 (2013), a groundbreaking decision concerning property rights.

Mr. Carlyle has consistently been named to Florida Trend Magazine's Legal Elite since 2009. Honored for his exemplary work in the appellate field, Mr. Carlyle has received an AV Preeminent* peer-review rating through Martindale-Hubbell. Mr. Carlyle also has a 10 out 10 rating on Avvo. He has been recognized as a Florida Super Lawyer for 17 consecutive years. In 2022 and 2023, he was named as one of the top 50 lawyers in Orlando by Super Lawyers. 

Since 2022, Mr. Carlyle has been a Visiting Professor of Law at Florida A&M University College of Law in Orlando where he teaches Appellate Advocacy.

Mr. Carlyle is active within the Florida Bar and served as Chair of the Florida Bar’s Appellate Practice Section in 2015-2016. He also served as the Section’s Chair-Elect, Vice-Chair, Secretary/Treasurer and Continuing Legal Education Chair, and he continues to serve on the Section's Executive Council. Mr. Carlyle spent six years (2009-2015) on the Florida Bar’s Appellate Rules Committee, including serving as that group’s secretary and parliamentarian. Additionally, he was a member of the Florida Bar's Appellate Certification Committee (2016-2019) where he served as Vice Chair.

Mr. Carlyle was awarded the Florida Justice Association’s S. Victor Tipton Award for Superior Achievement in Legal Writing in 2012. In addition, Mr. Carlyle received the Brevard County Legal Aid Appellate Law Award in 2012. 

Mr. Carlyle earned his Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from the Pepperdine University School of Law (1993) where he was Associate Editor of the Pepperdine Law Review, and where he was named to the Dean’s List all three years. He received B.A. in political science from San Diego State University (1987). A firm believer in giving back to society, Mr. Carlyle served on the board of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida and the Boys and Girl's Club of Lake and Sumter Counties for over 20 years. He speaks and writes frequently on appellate issues.

*AV®, AV Preeminent®, Martindale-Hubbell Distinguished and Martindale-Hubbell Notable are certification marks used under license in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell® is the facilitator of a peer-review rating process. Ratings reflect the anonymous opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ fall into two categories – legal ability and general ethical standards.