Lawrence J. Dougherty

Larry Dougherty (“Dock-er-tee”) focuses his practice on disputes between business partners, receiverships, and securities matters.  Larry’s clients include executives, investors, and corporations in the fields of financial services, real estate, and other industries.  He has litigated securities, breach-of-contract, white-collar fraud, and other complex matters in direct and derivative actions in federal and state courts.  Larry joined the firm in 2020 after seven years practicing with the Tampa office of a respected nationwide law firm.  As a former investigative journalist and former federal appellate law clerk, Larry assembles the facts and the law into compelling narratives that persuade decision-makers to rule in favor of his clients.

Larry’s litigation skills have earned him the highest peer review rating of AV Preeminent® by Martindale-Hubbell.  He has tried cases as lead counsel, argued appeals in federal and state courts, managed discovery teams analyzing large volumes of electronic records, and resolved cases through negotiation, mediation, and arbitration.  Larry helped a client win a groundbreaking appellate opinion concerning arbitration.  He also has litigated intellectual property matters.

Larry clerked for the Honorable Charles R. Wilson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.  Before law school, Larry worked as a newspaper reporter for the St. Petersburg Times.  He covered business and diplomatic news in Tokyo for The Japan Times.  Larry graduated in the top 2% of his class at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he served as editor in chief of the Florida Law Review.  He earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton University.

Larry is a founding member of the William Reece Smith, Jr. Litigation American Inn of Court, and is serving as its president in 2020-2021. His service to the Tampa Bay Chapter of the Federal Bar Association includes organizing a presentation in connection with the U.S. Eleventh Circuit’s first oral argument in Tampa in 15 years.  He has contributed hundreds of pro bono hours on court-appointed appeals, including arguing successfully in the Florida Supreme Court for a new trial for a client serving a life sentence for murder.  Larry also successfully defended an Iraq war widow’s property tax exemption before the Florida Second District Court of Appeal.