Academy Member Inducted 2005

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W. Andrew Clayton Jr., Mediator, Sarasota, Florida.

W. Andrew Clayton Jr.

Diplomate member
Clayton ADR
P.O. Box 52017
Sarasota, FL 34232
Tel: 941.265.1123
Website: claytonadr.com
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Recognized to Florida Chapter for Mediation
Video Conferencing
Available
  • Practice Commenced2001
  • # of MEDS (as of 19/3/24)300
  • # of ARBS (as of 19/3/24)50
Current Practice
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Biographical

Drew Clayton is a full-time mediator providing mediation, arbitration, and alternative dispute resolution services with a focus on business, financial, and securities disputes.

For 36 years, Drew’s legal practice centered on securities arbitration and business litigation. He worked in the securities industry in mutual fund marketing and as a registered representative in New York and New Jersey for five years before he became an attorney. Drew held a number of securities and insurance licenses as a result of that work. He was also the vice president of operations for a New York based company that drilled oil and gas wells for investment partnerships in various states throughout the U.S. in the mid-1980s.

Drew has been involved in hundreds of securities-related disputes during his career and has not only represented customers in cases against financial advisors and brokerage firms, but investors in closely held businesses, securities industry employees in disputes with their former employers, and in regulatory proceedings initiated by state and federal regulators as well as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. He has also engaged in numerous and high-stakes complex business litigation cases in state and federal courts.

Prior to joining Icard Merrill as a shareholder in 2016, Drew was the founder and owner of The Clayton Law Firm, P.A. in Sarasota, Florida for 20 years. Before that, he worked for highly regarded law firms in Florida and New Jersey. Throughout his many years of practice, he has been engaged in securities and business-related litigation and arbitration.

He has been retained as an expert witness regarding attorney's fee issues for plaintiffs and defendants in securities and business disputes and appointed by the court to act as a receiver in complex trust litigation. He has represented a bankruptcy trustee in complex corporate liquidation proceedings and related litigation. He acted as a guest speaker and panel member in annual meetings of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association.

During law school, Drew was vice president in charge of operations for an oil and gas operating company, managing 57 oil and gas wells throughout the United States from 1985 to 1987. He was also a registered representative with L.F. Rothschild, Unterberg Towbin (1983-1984), and Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co. (1984-1985). Prior to that, Drew was in mutual fund marketing with Oppenheimer Management Co. in New York from 1982-1983.

Drew has received the Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rating since 1998, has been designated one of Florida’s Super Lawyers by Thomson Reuters (2012-2018, 2020-2023), Best Lawyers in America (2023), and was recognized by Florida Trend magazine as one of Florida’s Legal Elite (2013, 2014). In 2012, he received the Professionalism Award from the Judge John M. Scheb American Inn of Court.

Drew does in-person mediations based on request. Please reach out to his Case Manager to schedule a call with Drew to discuss in-person possibilities.


Case Experience

  • Appellate
  • Aviation
  • Banking & Finance
  • Bankruptcy/Creditors
  • Business Dissolution
  • Commercial/Business
  • Community Associations
  • Construction
  • Contract Disputes
  • Debt Collections
  • Elder Abuse
  • Eminent Domain
  • Employment
  • Insurance
  • Libel & Slander
  • Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Military
  • Partnerships
  • Personal Injury
  • Premises Liability
  • Probate
  • Professional Fees
  • Professional Liability
  • Professional Malpractice
  • Professional Negligence
  • Real Estate
  • Securities
  • Shareholder Disputes
  • Title Disputes
  • Torts
  • Trusts / Estates
  • Venture Capital
  • Wage & Hour/FMLA

Education

  • Seton Hall University School of Law, J.D., Newark, NJ, 1987
  • Seton Hall University, B.A., 1982, South Orange, NJ
  • Washington and Lee University, 1978-1980, Lexington, VA

Memberships & Affiliations

BAR ADMISSIONS

  • New Jersey, 1987
  • New York, 1987
  • Florida, 1988
  • U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, 1988
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit, 1988
  • U.S. Court of Military Appeals, 1989
  • U.S. District Court, District of Florida, 1992
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, 1992
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit, 2014

 

HONORS

  • AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated, Martindale-Hubbell®
  • Best Lawyers in America, 2023
  • Elite Top Attorneys, Sarasota Magazine, 2020, 2021, 2022
  • Florida Super Lawyers, 2012-2017, 2019-2022
  • Legal Elite, Florida Trend Magazine, 2013-2014
  • Professionalism Award, Judge John M. Scheb American Inn of Court, 2012
  • Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator, 2001-present

 

PROFESSIONAL & COMMUNITY AFFILIATIONS

  • President, Judge John M. Scheb American Inn of Court, 2010-2011
  • Member, Judge John M. Scheb American Inn of Court, 1993-2013
  • Sarasota County Bar Association
    • President, 2019-2020
    • President-Elect, 2019
    • Director, 2013-2017
  • Public Investors Bar Association, 1992-present
  • Major, United States Army Reserve, Judge Advocate General’s Corps, 1989-2003
  • President, The Players Theater, Sarasota 1998-2003
  • Founding Scoutmaster, Troop 895, Sarasota, FL 1995-1998
  • Member, Sarasota County Human Services Advisory Council, 2003-2007, 2022-present
  • Chairman, Sarasota Transitional Housing Committee, 2008-2010
  • Supervisor, University Place Community Development District, 2008-2011
  • President, Sarasota Westwind Flyers, Inc. flying club, 2015-present
  • President, Sherwood Forest Homeowners Association, 2016–2019

 

PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS

 

NEWS

 


Rates Information

$3,000 - half day [Two Party]
$6,000 - full day [Two Party]

This includes all prep time, pre-mediation conferences with counsel, and post-mediation administrative matters.

Split evenly between parties unless otherwise noted.

For each additional party, it will be an additional $500 for a half day and $1,000 for a full day.

Academy Members Only