Papantonio graduated from the University of Florida and received his J.D. from Cumberland School of Law. He was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1982 and the bar of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida in 1983. He graduated from DeSoto County High School, Arcadia, Florida. He is a senior partner in the Pensacola, Florida-based Levin Papantonio Law Firm, a leading mass torts firm. He is noted for his success in mass torts, product liability, personal injury, and wrongful death cases, and has returned numerous verdicts of multimillion-dollar damages for his clients and his firm.