Dennis grew up in Brevard County, Florida, and graduated from Cocoa High School in 1975. In December 1975, he joined the US Navy and served five (5) years in the U.S. Navy and Naval Reserve. Dennis graduated from the University of Florida, (1982) then attended Walter F. George School of Law in Macon, Georgia graduating in 1987, and several months later was admitted to the Florida Bar. He began representing injured workers in the law firm of Hurt & Parrish, P.A., where he made partner in 1990. In 1993, he became a founding partner of Parrish & Smejkal, P.A. until 2008. Dennis then established his current firm, the Law Office of Dennis Dean Smejkal, P.A., where both of his children James, and Dena have practiced with him. His daughter Dena currently handles Workers’ Compensation claims for the firm, alongside her father. The team at the Law Office of Dennis Dean Smejkal also consists of our Registered Paralegal Angela Dunham who has over twenty-five years’ experience in Workers’ Compensation, and our seasoned law clerk, Savannah Provenzano.
He enjoys an AV rating, the highest rating assigned to a lawyer by the Martindale-Hubbell, has been selected into the Best Lawyers in America since 2005, the Florida Super Lawyers in 2007, and in the Orlando, The City’s Magazines Top Lawyers since 2005, Lawyer of the year, claimant 2016 and 2018. He was a member of The Florida Bar’s Workers’ Compensation Section Executive Counsel from 1991 to 2006, Chair of the Section (2003-2004), then selected to Emeritus status in 2007. He was the chairman of the Workers’ Compensation Section of the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers twice. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Florida Workers’ Advocates from 1990 to 2018 and resumed serving on the Board from 2020 to present. He was one of the founding members of the Orlando chapter of Friends of 440, a charitable organization benefiting children of injured workers and folks involved in the workers compensation system.
In 2022, Dennis became a Florida Supreme Court Certified Civil Circuit Mediator and is now mediating workers’ compensation cases in addition to his workers' compensation practice.
In his free time, Dennis enjoys surfing, traveling with his wife, Mariella, and spending time with his grandson’s Jack and Archer.
