Scott J. Silverman has been a full-time neutral since 2012 and has acted as mediator, arbitrator, special magistrate or neutral evaluator in hundreds of matters spanning numerous practice areas, both domestically and internationally. 

Known for his keen intellect, down to earth manner, and pragmatic approach to problem solving, Mr. Silverman fosters an atmosphere that is conducive to achieving positive results.  His determination and creative approaches to settlement have proven invaluable to parties seeking resolution.

Prior to joining JAMS, Mr. Silverman spent nearly 22 years as a Judge on the 11th Judicial Circuit, during which time he presided over thousands of cases.  While proud of his work on the bench, Mr. Silverman believes ADR is a faster and more cost-effective way to resolve disputes. 

As follows is a selection of Mr. Silverman's successfully resolved mediations and arbitrations:

Representative Matters

• Business Commercial
• Successfully mediated a dispute between a national railroad (host) and a railroad transportation company arising under the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 and the parties’ contract; the dispute pertained to PTC (positive train control) systems and resulted in a $41 million settlement
• Successfully mediated a dispute between a national railroad company and an adjacent property owner that allegedly encroached upon the railroad’s right of way; subsequent mediated negotiations resulted in the successful sale of the subject property to the alleged encroaching party
• Complicated closely held corporate dissolution which resulted in a buy-out from one corporate officer to another
• Claim for damages brought by the client of well-known accounting firm who alleged that she loaned the firm's partner a large sum of money and the partner defaulted. The claimant alleged a breach of a fiduciary duty and negligent supervision/hiring in part because the loan violated the firm's ethics code
• Commercial loan default by an institutional lender against a well-known physician
• Dispute between the FDIC, as receiver, and the officers and directors of a failed bank
• Successfully mediated claims made by a well known rapper and adult actress over their “sex tape” which was posted on a popular website, without their alleged consent
• Successfully mediated a claim made by the winner of a major state beauty pageant who was later disqualified for allegedly violating the pageant’s rules 
• Employment Law
• Dispute between a hospital and a professional recruiter over a claimed commission
• Dispute in which an officer was allegedly denied the opportunity by a city to make payments from his IRC 457(b) deferred compensation plan to the city's defined benefit plan, to purchase service credits
• International labor arbitration in which a multi-national corporation allegedly engaged in unlawful age and sex discrimination
• Entertainment & Sports
• Settled a dispute between an internationally known hip-hop star and a business involving claims of defamation, conversion and civil theft
• Mediated breach of contract case between professional athlete and clothing designer hired for collaboration on clothing line
• Mediated claims of copyright infringement between recording artists, producers and record labels  (x2)
• Mediated slander suit brought by adult film star against popular video sharing website
• Family Law
• Petition to modify a judgment of dissolution of marriage which sought to increase one parent's time sharing with the divorced couple's minor children
• Health Care
• Claim by a major for-profit hospital chain against an international insurance company regarding alleged monies owed to it by the insurance company for medical services provided to its insureds
• Dispute between a hospital and a professional recruiter over a claimed commission
• International & Cross Border
• International labor arbitration in which a multi-national corporation allegedly engaged in unlawful age and sex discrimination
• Maritime Admiralty
• Numerous international maritime/admiralty arbitrations in which seafarers claimed serious personal injuries under the Jones Act and sought monetary damages for maintenance and cure
• Personal Injury
• South Florida aviation accident which resulted in the deaths of a father and son
• Wrongful death of a woman who perished during a snorkeling trip in the Florida Keys
• Wrongful death claim brought by a survivor against a major aircraft manufacturer in which the cargo pilot died while flying in Asia
• Personal injury case in which a propane gas grill, sold by a national retailer, exploded causing the plaintiff third and second degree burns
• Claim for injuries resulting from exposure to asbestos
• Personal injury claim in which a plaintiff was seriously injured after coming into contact with a power line
• Served as an umpire between an insurance company and homeowners for losses arising from a storm
• Professional Liability
• Legal malpractice claim in which an attorney purportedly created a legally defective will
• Legal malpractice and spoliation case in which a prominent attorney allegedly lost an integral piece of evidence, which resulted in an adverse result for a plaintiff in an underlying lawsuit
• Real Property
• Commercial landlord-tenant dispute between a large well-known Florida law firm and its lessor over a security deposit
• Served as an umpire between an insurance company and homeowners for losses arising from a storm
• Half-million dollar corporate mortgage foreclosure deficiency dispute between a guarantor and the lender bank

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

Honors 

• Rated by Chambers and Partners in its USA Guide for Labor & Employment (Florida): Mediators (Band 2), 2024
• Daily Business Review Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree, 2023
• Rated by Chambers and Partners in its USA Guide for Mediation and as an International Arbitrator, 2016-2019
• Top Mediator for 2017 (Legal Luminary),  Dade County Bar Association, Miami, Florida
• “Lawyer of the Year” 2017 in Miami for mediation, The Best Lawyers in America
• Recognized as an ADR Champion by the National Law Journal & Legal Times, 2017
• Recognized by Best Lawyers as one of the Best Lawyers in America for ADR, 2015-2024
• Rated the #1 "Alternative Dispute Individual Mediator" in The Daily Business Review's "Best of" survey four years in a row, 2012-2015
• Manny Crespo Award, Miami-Dade Justice Association, 2012 
• Justice Award, League of Prosecutors, 2011
• David C. Brotemarkle Award, Florida Historical Society, 2011
• Pro Bono Service Award, Put Something Back, 2005, 2011 
• Miami Beach Senior High School, Hall of Fame, 2010
• Public Service Award, Greater Miami Jewish Federation, Attorneys’ Division, 2010
• First recipient of the Judge Scott J. Silverman Award in Judicial History and Preservation, Eleventh Judicial Circuit Historical Society, 2007
• Meritorious Public Service Award for service on the Rules of Judicial Administration Committee from 1999 to 2005, presented by The Florida Bar, 2005
• Distinguished Community Service Award, Dade Heritage Trust, 2004
• Presidential Merit Citation, Florida Historical Confederation, 2003 
• Nominated by the Judicial Nominating Commission for service on Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal, 2002
• Herbert Harley Award (premiere state honor), American Judicature Society, 2000

Professional Activities

• Completed Virtual ADR training conducted by the JAMS Institute, the training arm of JAMS
• Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
• Founder, member, board of trustees, Eleventh Judicial Circuit Historical Society, 2006-present
• Board of Trustees, Florida Supreme Court Historical Society, 2009-present
• Admiralty Law Committee, Florida Bar, 2013-2014
• Rules of Judicial Administration, Florida Bar 2013-2015
• Court Historian, Eleventh Judicial Circuit, 2004-2012
  • Led the effort to restore courtroom 6-1 of the Dade County Courthouse, 2003-2008
  • Led the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in its centennial celebration, 2011
• Member, Miami International Arbitration Society, 2014
• Board of Trustees, History Miami (f/k/a Historical Museum of Southern Florida), 2004-2010, 2012-present
• Member, Rules of Judicial Administration, Florida Bar, 1997-2005; 2012-present
• Member, Florida Supreme Court Technology Commission, 1996-2003
  • Trial Court Technology Subcommittee, 2000-2003
  • Drug Court Subcommittee, 2001-2003
  • Chair, 2001-2003
• Faculty, Florida New Judges College, 2000
• Member, The Florida Bar, 1983-present
• Member, Oklahoma Bar Association, 1983-present
• Member, Cuban American Bar Association, 1999-present

Selected Publications and Writings

• Author, "Birth of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit," Tequesta, The Journal of History, Miami, 2012: 32-53 
• Author, "Mediation Well on its way to Becoming the New Trial," Daily Business Review, Miami, May 11, 2012: 1A and 8A
• Author, “Time for Buildings to Reflect Vibrant Justice System,” The Miami Herald, December 29, 2011
• Author, “A South Florida Legal Brief,” The Green Bag - An Entertaining Journal of Law, 14 Green Bag 2d 467, 2011
• Author, “The 1904 Dade County Courthouse,” Eleventh Judicial Circuit Historical Society, Fall 2007
• Co-Author, “Living with the Death Penalty,” Judicature, March 2006
• Co-Author, “Judge Henry Fulton Atkinson – One of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Greatest Judges,” South Florida History, 2006 
• Author “Separate, but Equal’ by Design,” The Miami Herald, June 16, 2005

Selected Lectures and Presentations

• Panelist, “Judicial Ethics and the Media,”  The Center for Ethics, St. Thomas University School of Law, Miami, Florida, September 30, 2016
• Panelist, “Navigating a Career in Maritime Law,” University of Miami School of Law, Miami, Florida, March 15, 2016
• Panelist, “World-Leading International Arbitration Institutions,” International Litigation, Arbitration & Transactions (ILAT) Conference, The Florida Bar, Miami, Florida, February 26, 2016
• Panelist, “Maritime and Cruieship Arbitration: Making Waves,” 4th Annual Arbitration and Investment Summit - Caribbean, Latin America and Other Emerging Markets, Nassau, Bahamas, January 22, 2016
• Lecturer, "ADR Issues for Circuit Court Judges:  What you can't see may help you," Conference of Circuit Court Judges of Florida, Tampa, Florida, August 5, 2015
• Panelist, “Experts in the Sunshine State:  Universal Issues in the Context of Resort, Tourism, and Cruise Line Cases,” American Bar Association, Boca Raton, Florida, May 16, 2014
• Lecturer, “Being a Better Advocate in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit,” University of Miami School of Law, November 2011
• Facilitator, “Maritime Law-A Primer, or How to be the Captain of Your Own Ship While Avoiding Motion Sickness,” Florida Advanced College of Judicial Studies, 2010

Background and Education

• Judge, Eleventh Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County, Florida, 1991-2012
• Judge, Circuit Court (Civil, Criminal, and Family Divisions), 1999-2012
• Judge, Miami-Dade County Court (Civil and Criminal), 1991-1999
• Associate Administrative Judge for Traffic Related Matters, 1996-1999
• Judge, Appellate Division of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, 1999-2012
• Associate Judge, Florida’s First District Court of Appeal, by designation, Tallahassee, Florida, 2006
• Associate Judge, Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal, by designation, West Palm Beach, Florida, 2001 and 2004
• Florida Supreme Court appointed referee, 1993, 1996, 2011
• Presided over the Miami-Dade County Grand Jury, 2009
• Private Practice, Law offices of Scott J. Silverman, 1985-1991
• Private Practice, Marlow, Connell, Smith, DeMahy, and Valerius, 1983-1985 
• Law Clerk, Fredericka G. Smith, Circuit Court Judge, Eleventh Judicial Circuit, 1982-1983
• Assistant Attorney General, State of Oklahoma, 1981-1982 
• Law Clerk, Getty Refining and Marketing Company, 1980-1981
• J.D., University of Tulsa College of Law, 1981
  • Concentration, Energy law
  • Phi Delta Phi
• B.B.A., University of Miami, 1978
  • Magna Cum Laude graduate, finance major and economics minor
  • Phi Kappa Phi National Collegiate Academic Honor Society (the nation’s oldest and most selective for all academic disciplines)
  • Beta Gamma Sigma (Business Honor Society)
  • Omicron Delta Epsilon (International Economic Honor Society) 
  • Alpha Lambda Delta (Freshman Honor Society)
  • President’s Honor Roll
  • Dean’s List