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Sheldon J. Schlesinger

Sheldon J. Schlesinger
Status: Deceased

(1930 - 2015)

Shelly Schlesinger was one of the most successful and respected personal injury and medical malpractice attorneys in the United States. For over 50 years, he represented individuals and consumers in landmark cases across the nation. He was listed in every edition of The Best Lawyers in America. He had, and deserved, a reputation for being one of the best trial attorneys in the United States. The Miami Herald described Shelly as The Dean of Broward Civil Litigators. The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel described him as a "Bulldog for the Underdog," a super-lawyer in every sense of the word, and one of the most powerful personal injury attorneys in the country.

Shelly received two million-plus verdicts in 1976 qualifying him for membership in the Inner Circle. The first was a $1.75 million auto accident verdict said to be the largest personal injury award in Broward County at the time, and the second was $2.5 million in a case against Ford on behalf of his paraplegic client. He went on to win many more. He was also one of the nine Florida lawyers appointed by the late Governor Lawton Chiles who successfully sued the tobacco companies on behalf of the State of Florida, resulting in the remarkable settlement of more than $13 billion in 1997

Shelly was the consummate professional. When once asked "How did you make money in the practice of law," Shelly immediately replied, "I never practiced law to make money, I made money practicing law."

Paul Luvera relayed, "Out of the many unique members of this organization, Shelly was a rare find and a one-of-a-kind wonderful human being. For all the many years we were friends there was one thing I knew would be constant and that was his total honesty and genuine character. What you saw was what you got and it was invaluable."
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