Scott Ilgenfritz is a securities arbitration and litigation lawyer, and in 1997, was designated by The Florida Bar as a Board Certified Business Litigation Attorney. Since 1999, Scott has had an AV® rating in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory – the very highest peer-review rating in the legal profession, for professional ability and adherence to professional standards of conduct and ethics, reliability, and diligence.
For over 30 years, Scott has been representing investors in securities arbitration and litigation proceedings against stockbrokers, broker/dealers, and investment advisors. Since 1992, representing investors as their securities litigation lawyer has become a principal focus of Scott’s practice.
In 1997, Scott became a member of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association (“PIABA”), an international association of claimants’ arbitration attorneys, which is dedicated to protecting investor rights and to improving the fairness of the arbitration process for investors. From 2008 through 2017, he was a member of PIABA’s Board of Directors. Scott is a past President of PIABA.
He has presented lectures at a number of securities arbitration seminars, including the Practicing Law Institute’s Securities Arbitration Seminar and at PIABA annual and mid-year meetings. His lecture topics include:
- “Closing Argument: Convincing the Arbitrators that your Client Should Win”
- “Florida Securities and Investor Protection Act: Liability, Secondary Liability and Statutes of Limitations”
- “Issues with Investment Advisors – Causes of Action, Arbitrability, and Brokerage Firm Liability”
- “The Securities Arbitration Practice”
- “A Fresh Look at Suitability”
- “Non-Traded REITs: A Disaster for Investors”
- Arbitration Hearing Techniques: Proving Liability and Damages and Avoiding Common Defenses
Scott has spent his entire legal career with Johnson, Pope, Bokor, Ruppel & Burns, LLP where his business litigation experience includes representing individuals, corporations, partnerships, and other entities in securities, contract, corporate, limited liability company, real estate, real estate commission, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and legal and accounting malpractice disputes. In addition to his practice representing investors in securities arbitration and litigation matters, Scott continues his business litigation practice.
Licensing & Admissions
- The Florida Bar
- U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
Memberships & Designations
- Board Certified Business Litigation Attorney – The Florida Bar
- Member of the Board of PIABA, 2008-2017
- Member of PIABA, 1997-Present
- Member of the Hillsborough County Bar Association, 1990-Present
- President of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association (“PIABA”), November, 2012-October, 2013
- AV® rating in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, 1999-Present
- Peer selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America in the practice area of Commercial Litigation, 2012 and the practice areas of Litigation-Securities, Commercial Litigation, and Litigation-Trusts & Estates, 2013-2022
- Peer selected for recognition by Best Lawyers in America as the 2020 ‘Lawyer of the Year’ in the practice area of Litigation-Securities for Tampa, Florida
Education
- University of Florida, College of Law – Juris Doctor, with honors, 1983
- College: Vanderbilt University – B.A. in English, cum laude, 1979
Press
- Finra panel orders Morgan Stanley to pay $34 million to estate of former Home Shopping Network chief – Investment News, Mar 22, 2016
- Widow’s Trust of Former Buc Leads to Huge Financial loss – Tampa Bay Times, August 22, 2014
- Expungement Granted in High Percentage Of Broker-Dealer Arbitration Settlements – Bloomberg BNA, October 18, 2003
- Alleged wrongdoing by stockbrokers often erased from public records, study finds – Los Angeles Times, October 16, 2013
- Group Says Finra Rubber-Stamping Requests To Clean Up Broker Records – Financial Advisor, October 16, 2013
- 10 Power Players for 2013 – Onwallstreet, January, 2013
- Finra Seeks to Tighten Arbitrator Rule – InvestmentNews, January, 2013
- Purging Wall Street from FINRA’s public arbitrator list – Reuters, January, 2013