Joseph M. "JOE" Mason, Jr.

Joe Mason, a native of Hernando County, concentrates his practice in the areas of land use, environmental, and real estate law, including litigation of real estate matters.

During a career that has encompassed more than 48 years, he practiced with former Chief Circuit Judge Daniel B. Merritt, Sr., was a shareholder of Shackleford, Farrior, Stallings and Evans, P.A., in Tampa, Florida, served in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps during the Vietnam conflict, and worked as a trial attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Joe’s leadership in the Hernando County community includes serving as president of the Hernando County Chamber of Commerce, director and president of the Hernando Association for Retarded Citizens, Inc. (now The Arc Nature Coast, Inc.), a long-time member of the executive board of the Gulf Ridge Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and a current member of the Brooksville Kiwanis Club. He is a member of The Florida Bar and The District of Columbia Bar, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Tax Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. He is also a member of the Hernando County Bar Association (former President, for two terms), and is a Master-of-the Bench in the Citrus-Hernando American Inn of Court. Joe is a past president, and currently serves as a member of the boards, of both Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida, Inc., and Legal Advocacy Center of Central Florida, Inc., which provide free representation in civil matters to low-income residents of a 12 county area spread across Florida from the Gulf to the Atlantic. He has served as a member and chair of the Judicial Nominating Commission, the Grievance Committee, and the Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee, of the Fifth Judicial Circuit, and as a member both of the Professional Ethics, and of the Clients’ Security Fund, Committees of The Florida Bar.

Joe earned his B.S.B.A. in Banking and Finance at the University of Florida, and is an honors graduate of the University of Florida College of Law. He has earned the highest Martindale-Hubbell rating, AV, for legal ability and professional ethics.