Attorney Profiles

Matt Schultz

• Shareholder
• Levin Papantonio Thomas Mitchell Rafferty & Proctor, P.A.
• Pensacola, Florida
• Phone (local): (850) 435-7000
• Phone (toll free): (888) 435-7001
• Fax: (850) 435-7020
  
  
• mschultz [at] levinlaw [dot] com

Mr. Schultz earned dual undergraduate degrees, one with honors, from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1992 and 1993. After working for several years as a litigation paralegal, and following the birth of two daughters, Mr. Schultz attended Florida State University College of Law, where he graduated with highest honors in 2002.

Mr. Schultz received 14 "book awards" during law school (conferred upon the student earning the highest grade in a given course). He worked as Professor Charles Ehrhardt's sole research assistant during all three years of law school, and he served as Senior Articles Editor for the FSU Law Review while working in private practice as well. Mr. Schultz has twice served as an adjunct professor to the FSU School of Criminology, teaching a graduate course on criminal law and individual rights. He has been elected to the Order of the Coif.

Upon graduation from law school Mr. Schultz served for two years as a law clerk to the Hon. Robert L. Hinkle, U.S. District Judge, Northern District of Florida, in Tallahassee.

Mr. Schultz resides in Pensacola with his wife and two daughters. He is a member of the Florida Bar and a former member of the Florida Bar's Federal Court Practice Committee. He is a Senior Writer for the national publication The American Trial Lawyer. For several years Mr. Schultz chaired the legal review panel for the ACLU of Northwest Florida and served as a Board Member of Emerald Coastkeeper, Inc.

Mr. Schultz is admitted to practice law in all Florida state courts as well as numerous federal district and appellate courts. His practice focuses on all manner of complex individual and class actions with a particular focus on tobacco litigation. He serves as the court-appionted plaintiffs' liaison counsel for all Engle progeny tobacco cases pending in Florida's First Judicial Circuit. He has been peer-nominated and selected as a Florida "Super Lawyer" every year since 2009. He is rated "AV" by Martindale-Hubbell.

Tobacco Litigation

Mass Torts

Year Joined Organization:

• 2004

Areas of Practice:

• Complex Individual and Class Actions
• Tobacco Litigation

Bar Admissions:

• Florida
• U.S. District Court Northern District of Florida
• U.S. District Court Southern District of Florida
• U.S. District Court District of Colorado
• U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit

Education:

• Florida State University College of Law, Tallahassee, Florida, 2002
  Honors: Graduated With Highest Honors
  Honors: Board Member, FSU College of Law ACLU
  Honors: Meritorious Service Award for his service to the Law Review
  Honors: Order of the Coif
  Honors: 14 Book Awards
  Law Review: FSU Law Review, Senior Articles Editor
• University of Southern Mississippi, 1992
  B.S.
  Major:  History
• University of Southern Mississippi, 1993
  B.S.
  Honors: With Honors
  Major:  Paralegal

Published Works:

• Senior Writer, The American Trial Lawyer
• Equitable Repudiation: Toward a Doctrine of Fallible Perfection in Statutory Interpretation, 29 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 303, 2001
• Bad Faith or No Faith? Finding a Place for Wrongful Refusal to Defend In Florida's Bad Faith Jurisprudence, 29 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 1389, 2002
• Public Hospitals Might Claim Total Immunity from Emergency Medicine Malpractice Claims, 472 AFTL J. 17, March/April, 2002
• Pulling Skeletons from the Closet: A Look Into the Work-Product Doctrine as Applied to Expert Witnesses, 31 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 67, 2003

Past Employment Positions:

• Hon. Robert L. Hinkle, U.S. District Judge, Northern District of Florida, Tallahassee, Law Clerk

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