Spencer H. Silverglate

Managing Shareholder

ssilverglate@cspalaw.com

(305) 347-1557

Areas of Practice in Litigation

Class Actions
Commercial Litigation
Employment Law
Insurance Coverage
Personal Injury
Product Liability
Professional Liability

Professional Experience

Mr. Silverglate is a founding principal of Clarke Silverglate, P.A. and serves as the firm’s Managing Shareholder.  His practice focuses on complex commercial and employment litigation and class actions and the defense of catastrophic personal injury claims.

Mr. Silverglate grew up in Miami, Florida.  He graduated from Miami Killian Senior High School with high honors in 1981, and went on to attend both college and law school at the University of Florida.  He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance with honors in 1985, and his Juris Doctor degree in 1988.  In law school, he served as a Senior Editor on the Florida Law Review and taught legal research and writing as a fellowship instructor to first year law students.

Upon graduating from the University of Florida College of Law in 1988, Mr. Silverglate joined the Miami office of Kelly Drye & Warren as an Associate in the Commercial Litigation Department.  In 1993, he co-founded Clarke Silverglate, P.A..

Mr. Silverglate engages in litigation, trial and appellate practice in the state and federal courts throughout Florida.  His substantive areas of emphasis include employment law, commercial and business matters, product liability, insurance coverage and personal injury.  He is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell, and has been selected by a variety of publications as one of the top attorneys in America and South Florida.  Mr. Silverglate is Past President of the Florida Defense Lawyers Association and is actively involved in the Leadership of the International Association of Defense Counsel. He is a widely published author and frequent speaker on employment law topics and litigation and trial techniques.

His representative clients include:

• DHL, Inc.
• First Data Corp.
• McKesson Corp.
• Saks Fifth Avenue, Inc.
• The Continental Group, Inc.
• United States Liability Insurance Group, Inc.
• Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc.
• Walgreen Co.

Bar Admissions

Florida Bar, 1988

Court Admissions

• United States Supreme Court
• Eleventh United States Circuit Court of Appeals
• United States District Court, Southern, Middle and Northern Districts of Florida
• Florida Supreme Court
• United States District Court, Southern District of Texas

Activities & Memberships

• Trial Academy Director, 2015 IADC Trial Academy, Stanford University
• International Association of Defense Counsel (Chair, Trial Tactics and Techniques Committee, July 2009- July 2011; CLE Subomittee Chair, 2012 Midyear Meeting; Convention Chair, 2013 Midyear and Annual Meetings).
• Faculty, IADC Trial Academy Faculty, Stanford University (July 2009)
• Faculty, IADC Satellite Trial Academy, Miami (January 2008)
• Association of Defense Trial Attorneys
• Dade County Bar Association
• Dade County Defense Bar Association
• Defense Research Institute (Employment Law Committee; Chair of Jury Preservation Task Force, Oct. 2011- __; Chair Marketing Subcommittee, Oct 2011- ; Seminar Chair, 2006)
• Everglades Community Church (Chair, Church Council)
• Florida Association of Managing Partners (Vice-Chair)
• Federal Bar Association
• The Florida Bar (Employment Law Committee)
• Florida Defense Lawyers Association (Past President)
• American Inns of Court, Spellman-Hoeveler Chapter

Honors & Awards

• The American Lawyer & Corporate Counsel Magazine “2013 Top Rated Lawyer in Labor & Employment”
• The International Who’s Who of Product Liability Defense Lawyers, 2013
• AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell
• Selected by Best Lawyers Guide as one of “The Best Lawyers in America”
• President, Florida Defense Lawyers Association (2004-2005)
• Selected by the South Florida Legal Guide as one of the Top Lawyers in South Florida
• Selected by the South Florida Business Journal as among the Best of the Bar
• Selected by Florida Trend magazine as among the Legal Elite
• Joseph P. Metzger Outstanding Achievement Award, Florida Defense Lawyers Association, 2006
• President’s Award for Outstanding Member of the Florida Defense Lawyers Association, 2002
• Black Belt, Atemi Ryu Ju Jitsu, 1994

Significant Reported Decisions

• Order and Opinion Granting Winn-Dixie’s Motion for Directed Verdict 6-72
• Slavin Opinion - Reversed 10-12-11
• Juarbe v. SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories, Inc., 762 So. 2d 534 (Fla. 2000)
• Jones v. Winn Dixie Stores, Inc., 75 F. Supp. 2d 1357 (S.D. Fla. 1999)
• Lamothe v. Equifax Credit Information Services, Inc., 718 So. 2d 326 (Fla.1998)
• Supreme International Corp. v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc., 972 F. Supp. 604 (S.D. Fla. 1997)
• Mangio v. Equifax, Inc., 887 F. Supp. 283 (S.D. Fla. 1995)
• Panchal v. Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc., 648 So. 2d 245 (Fla. 4th DCA1994)
• Joaquim v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., 899 F. Supp. 600 (S.D. Fla. 1993)
• Rafferman v. Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc., 659 So. 2d 1271 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995)
• Villa v. Equifax, Inc., 130 F.3d 443 (11th Cir. 1997)
• Dennehey v. Continental Group, Inc., 781 So.2d 370 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000)

Education

• J.D., University of Florida College of Law, 1988
  
• Senior Editor, Florida Law Review
  
• Fellowship Instructor, Legal Research and Writing
• B.S. (Finance), University of Florida, with honors, 1985
• Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society
  
• Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity

Publications

• Smartphones and the Fair Labor Standards Act, (2011)


• Book - Fight the Good Fight:  A Battle Plan for Life, (2010)


• Don’t Get Mad, Get Even: Practical Strategies for Dealing with Retaliation Claims By the Plaintiff-Employee, 75 Defense Counsel Journal 388 (2008)


• Utilizing Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 35 to Conduct a Vocational Assessment of the Plaintiff in Employment Discrimination Cases, IADC Employment Law Committee Newsletter (Feb. 2007)


• Appearance Discrimination, DRI Employment Law Seminar (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 2006)


• Component Part and Bulk Supplier Liability Under Restatement (Third) of Torts, IADC Product Liability Committee Newsletter (Nov. 2006)


• Closing Argument, The Defense Speaks (2006)


• Burning the Ships, 24 Trial Advocate Quarterly 3 (2005)


• Self-Made Man, 24 Trial Advocate Quarterly 2 (2005)


• Of Pigs and Democracy, 24 Trial Advocate Quarterly 1 (2005)


• What Are You Waiting For?, 23 Trial Advocate Quarterly 34 (2004)


• You Can’t Score from the Bench, 23 Trial Advocate Quarterly 4 (2004)


• Lost in the Woods, The Professional (Spring 2003)


• The Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability—The Tension Between Product Design and Product Warning, 75 The Florida Bar Journal 10 (2001); 21 Trial Advocate Quarterly 32 (2002)


• The Federal Offer of Judgment Rule In Employment Discrimination Cases, 19 Trial Advocate Quarterly 7 (2000)

Presentations

• Let’s Play Offense: Electronic Investigations and Discovery by Defendants, RIMS Conference, Naples FL (July 2012)
• Minimizing Exposure in a Wired World, Association of Corporate Counsel of America’s South Florida In-house Counsel Conference (October 2011)
• Practical Strategies for Dealing with Discrimination Claims, Association of Corporate Counsel, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (September 2010)
• Faculty, IADC Trial Academy Faculty, Stanford University (July 2009)
• Daily Business Review Labor and Employment Law Roundtable, “Practical Strategies for Dealing with Retaliation Claims by the Plaintiff-Employee” (October 2008)
• Trial Superstars Seminar, Opening Statements, Palm Beach County Bar Association (March 2008)
• Don’t Get Mad, Get Even:  Practical Strategies for Dealing with Retaliation Claims by the Plaintiff-Employee, DRI Employment Law Seminar, Chicago, Ill. (May 2008)
• Faculty, IADC Satellite Trial Academy, Miami (January 2008)
• Appearance Discrimination, DRI Employment Law Seminar (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 2006)
• Faculty, Florida Defense Lawyers Association Trial Seminar (Tampa, Florida 2004)
• The Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability, the Tension Between Product Design and Product Warning, Fifth Annual Liability Claims Conference (Orlando, Florida 2002)
• 2001 A Tort Odyssey: The Florida Supreme Court Opens the Floodgates in a Trilogy of Personal Injury Decisions, Florida Defense Lawyers Association Winter Seminar (Park City, Utah 2002)
• Faculty, Florida Defense Lawyers Association Trial Seminar (Jacksonville, Florida 2002)