William “Bill” Clark and Donald Partington were best friends, as well as graduates and colleagues from their days at Washington and Lee University Law School, when they left a Pensacola general practice law firm to establish their own firm Clark and Partington in 1975.
But, in 1976, they joined with a duo who had an even deeper bond than they did —brothers Bob and Christopher Hart—and the law firm Clark, Partington, Hart and Hart was established.
Now, 50 years later, three of the founders are retired, and the other, Clark, a well-known and respected trial lawyer who represented the Pensacola News Journal on various First Amendment cases, passed away in October 2025 at the age of 88.
Yet the powerful multidisciplinary firm has built a legacy not only in law, but as community leaders, mentors and benefactors that continues to this day. Its founders and attorneys have helped Pensacola grow and succeed in a number of areas such as the arts, civic engagement, historic preservation and more.
Branded as Clark, Partington Attorneys at Law today, the law firm has now grown to include offices in Destin, Santa Rosa Beach and Tallahassee, while maintaining its Pensacola location at 125 E. Intendencia St., where it moved in the 2010s after 32 years at 1 Pensacola Plaza. The firm has more than 40 attorneys specializing in various aspects of law, including business, real estate, healthcare, dispute resolution, financial institutions and family and individual law.
“A hallmark of the legacy of the founders is to be involved in the community,” said Will Dunaway, a former military attorney and judge who joined the firm after retiring from the U.S. Navy in 2006. “Mr. Clark had a rule: What he was looking for in an attorney was someone who wanted to raise a family in Pensacola and be involved in Pensacola’s future, and who will work to better the community.”
Dunaway, who specializes in environmental and land use law, is one of those who does just that. He has been active in CivicCon for years and has been chairman of the Center for Civic Engagement since 2018, and has also served as president of the Pensacola-Cordova Rotary Club, and is former board member of the Studer Community Institute.
“A dedication to service is expected, and you see what your mentors are doing in the community, and you follow them,” said Keith Bell Jr., current firm president. “I’m a Pensacola kid as well, and we care about this community.”
Partington has been a major advocate for many Pensacola causes, especially in the arts, having been active in supporting such organizations as the Manna Food Bank, the Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival, the Pensacola Arts Council, Christ Episcopal Day Church, the Episcopal Day School and the Pensacola Opera, which honored him for his contributions and support by naming its offices and rehearsal facility the Donald H. Partington Opera Center.
Clark served as president of the Pensacola Area Chamber of Commerce, as did Bob Hart, and was a charter member of the Five Flags Rotary of Pensacola and served as president of the Pensacola Jaycees.
Bob Hart, 84, also served as chairman of the Historic Pensacola Preservation Board and has served as president of the Downtown Pensacola Rotary Club and as president of the University of West Florida Foundation while his brother Chris, who ran the firm’s branch in Destin, was active in Okaloosa County.
“Our legacy, we hope, is quality work and a highly ethical response to our clients,” he said. “And a very important part is the work in the community.”
Those Hart brothers remain very close. In fact, on the day the News Journal caught up with them, they were on their way to North Carolina where they have been planning a golf trip with their sons—two each—that has been in the works for a few years. Telling them apart when they’re in a car and both on speaker talking, it’s hard to tell who is who.
“Every once in a while, my mother couldn’t tell who was on the phone,” said Chris Hart, 80.
The firm currently has 25 attorneys and 70 employees.
But it started with just those original four, Clark, Partington, Hart and Hart, but would grow to include a host of influential attorneys such as Dennis Larry, Bill Bond and Hank Stackhouse, and the firm would become known in 1985 as Clark, Partington, Hart, Larry, Bond & Stackhouse, P.A., which remains the firm’s legal name today.
A fun story about Larry came from the time he argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court and accidentally addressed Justice Sandra Day O’Connor as “Yes, ma’am” instead of “Yes, your Honor.” He still won the case, but was teased a bit.
Now a half-century old, the firm continues to grow its legacy throughout Northwest Florida.
“The firm is in strong position and is well situated in the Northwest Florida market and we cast a long shadow,” Bell said. “We have made a concerted effort to expand eastward to the Destin market and beyond into Tallahassee. It’s been a success and we hope to use that platform to grow deeper into the state of Florida. The firm will continue to grow and be successful. I think from a client’s perspective, the firm is known for excellence in legal services, and from an attorney’s perspective it’s just a great environment that has produced a culture of collaboration over the years that has been passed on to us from all of the great leaders of the firm who came before us.”
Dunaway sees the firm’s story in parallel to that of Pensacola’s own growth, as well as the growth of Northwest Florida.
“Northwest Florida has been discovered and other firms want to be here and that’s part of the growth,” he said. “There’s still a lot of growth potential and our firm has continued to move with that.”
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Clark Partington law firm celebrates 50 years in Pensacola
Reporting by Troy Moon, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
