Inducted: 2021
Lakeland High , 1950
Robert L. Trohn began his distinguished career as a trial attorney in Lakeland and practiced for more than 50 years. He is a highly regarded lawyer in Florida and beyond, known by many Polk County physicians as the 'doctor's lawyer' for his record at winning medical malpractice defense cases.
As a young man, Trohn worked in Polk County as a criminal prosecutor, assistant county solicitor and assistant Lakeland city attorney. His civic duties included past president of the Lakeland Bar Association, past president of the 10th Judicial Circuit Bar Association, and former member and chair of the Second District Court of Appeal Nominating Commission. He was also the principal contributor to the first endowed law firm scholarship at the University of Florida College of Law, and a trustee emeritus of the University of Florida Law Center Association. He was the founding partner of the law firm Lane Trohn, which later merged with Gray Robinson.
The case for which Trohn is best known was his representation of Polk County in the so-called 'sick courthouse' case, often cited as one of the first such cases in the country. He helped the county recover $35 million for reconstruction of the courthouse.
Besides major construction cases, Trohn has tried complex cases in such diverse areas as eminent domain, patent and trademark, insurance contracts, personal injury, white collar crime and civil rights. He was selected a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers. Trohn is also known for his philanthropy in the community; his firm donated $50,000 to make improvements at the Polk Theatre
Trohn received his bachelor's degree and law degree from the University of Florida.