William J. “Bill” Schifino, Jr.

Advisory Board & Investment Committee Member

Bill is managing shareholder of Gunster law firm’s Tampa office and is a board-certified specialist in the area of business litigation. His practice focuses on litigation and trial practice, including securities litigation and arbitration, professional malpractice litigation, director and officer litigation, employment litigation and intellectual property litigation.

Bill served as President of the Florida Bar for the 2016-2017 term. He is also a member of the board of trustees for the University of Florida Levin College of Law. Bill was selected by Senate President Joe Negron to serve on the Florida Constitution Revision Commission as one of 37 commissioners responsible for studying, researching and making recommendations for revising Florida’s Constitution. Presently, Bill is a member of the State of Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission.

Bill previously served eight years as a member of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission, appointed by both Governors Jeb Bush and Charlie Crist, and served as its chairman.

Bill is a frequent speaker and lecturer on a number of litigation and trial topics, including deposition strategies and techniques, expert witness procedures and discovery, and trial issues in Florida.

After law school, Bill worked for Taub & Williams, P.A., subsequently establishing Williams, Schifino, Mangione & Steady, P.A. in 1991, where he was a founding shareholder, president and then managing director before the firm combined with Alabama-based Burr & Forman in 2012. In 2018, Bill joined Gunster and assumed the role of managing shareholder of the firm’s Tampa office.

In addition to his law practice, Bill serves on the board of directors for Quantum Capital Partners, a Tampa based venture capital firm and on the Advisory Board of Plutus Capital Partners.

Education:  University of Florida Levin College of Law, J.D., 1985 and Tulane University, B.A., 1982.

Bar & Court Admissions:  Florida Bar, 1986