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Founder & Managing Partner, William R. Scherer, Jr. Featured In Fort Lauderdale Magazine

Our Founder & Managing Partner, William R. Scherer, Jr., with Executive Partner, John J. Scherer, and Of Counsel, William R. Scherer III, were recently featured in Fort Lauderdale Magazine’s April Issue. Their Q&A advertorial provides insight into their respective areas of focus within the firm and how their vast experience outside of the firm has continued to set the standard of legal excellence for nearly 50 years. William R. Scherer, Jr. co-founded the firm in 1974 with his late partner Rex Conrad. During that time he has successfully litigated numerous high-profile cases in South Florida, most notably he served as lead counsel for victims of the infamous multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Scott Rothstein. Mr. Scherer is based out of Conrad & Scherer’s Fort Lauderdale, FL office where his practice primarily focuses on commercial litigation, complex business litigation, class actions and commercial fraud litigation.

Mr. Scherer is a seasoned trial attorney. He has litigated over 100 trials in both jury and non-jury cases before state, appellate, and federal courts. Mr. Scherer’s cases and legal accomplishments have received coverage by major television networks such as CNN, CNBC, MSNBC and FNN and national and local newspapers such as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, South Florida Business Journal, the Daily Business Review, the Sun-Sentinel and the Miami Herald.

William R. Scherer, Jr.

What is the top quality that you’ve used to succeed in the profession?
“One of the few things that you can control in this profession is your level of preparation. That is the one area where you can gain an advantage over your opposition through sheer will. I always tell my associate attorneys that they may not be able to control whether their opposing counsel has more experience, but they can control whether they are more prepared. By focusing on the details of each case, we will always outwork the competition.”

John J. Scherer

How has your experience owning and operating Gulf Building LLC helped you in your role at Conrad & Scherer?
“My experience as President and CEO of Gulf Building LLC, one of the fastest growing construction firms in South Florida, provides me with a unique understanding of the procurement process and government contract issues encountered by Conrad & Scherer clients. This allows me to lend my expertise on matters relating to construction and land use litigation and serve the firm’s clients either as special counsel or as an expert witness on large complex commercial and residential construction cases.”

William R. Scherer III

What is your most memorable case?
“In 2005, I represented a man named Stevens Weiss who was legendary entertainment lawyer in the music business in the 60’s through the early 90’s. He was the guy that could walk your band’s demo into Atlantic Records and leave with a recording contract.

One of the bands he represented was Led Zeppelin, and I represented Stevens in a dispute with Atlantic over payment of his share of royalties from sales of the Led Zeppelin DVD and the live album How the West Was Won. At one point, I found myself sitting in a court reporter’s office in London cross examining one of my guitar idols, Jimmy Page, in a video deposition and sitting in a pub afterwards thinking, “did that really just happen?”