Drew Clayton

Drew Clayton is a full-time mediator providing mediation, arbitration, and alternative dispute resolution services with a focus on business, financial, and securities disputes.

For 36 years, Drew’s legal practice centered on securities arbitration and business litigation. He worked in the securities industry in mutual fund marketing and as a registered representative in New York and New Jersey for five years before he became an attorney. Drew held a number of securities and insurance licenses as a result of that work. He was also the vice president of operations for a New York based company that drilled oil and gas wells for investment partnerships in various states throughout the U.S. in the mid-1980s.

Drew has been involved in hundreds of securities-related disputes during his career and has not only represented customers in cases against financial advisors and brokerage firms, but investors in closely held businesses, securities industry employees in disputes with their former employers, and in regulatory proceedings initiated by state and federal regulators as well as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. He has also engaged in numerous and high-stakes complex business litigation cases in state and federal courts.

Prior to joining Icard Merrill as a shareholder in 2016, Drew was the founder and owner of The Clayton Law Firm, P.A. in Sarasota, Florida for 20 years. Before that, he worked for highly regarded law firms in Florida and New Jersey. Throughout his many years of practice, he has been engaged in securities and business-related litigation and arbitration.

He has been retained as an expert witness regarding attorney’s fee issues for plaintiffs and defendants in securities and business disputes and appointed by the court to act as a receiver in complex trust litigation. He has represented a bankruptcy trustee in complex corporate liquidation proceedings and related litigation. He acted as a guest speaker and panel member in annual meetings of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association.

During law school, Drew was vice president in charge of operations for an oil and gas operating company, managing 57 oil and gas wells throughout the United States from 1985 to 1987. He was also a registered representative with L.F. Rothschild, Unterberg Towbin (1983-1984), and Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co. (1984-1985). Prior to that, Drew was in mutual fund marketing with Oppenheimer Management Co. in New York from 1982-1983.

Drew has received the Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rating since 1998, has been designated one of Florida’s Super Lawyers by Thomson Reuters (2012-2018, 2020-2023), Best Lawyers in America (2023), and was recognized by Florida Trend magazine as one of Florida’s Legal Elite (2013, 2014). In 2012, he received the Professionalism Award from the Judge John M. Scheb American Inn of Court.

• Florida Super Lawyers, 2012-2018, 2020-2023
• The Best Lawyers in America, 2023, 2024
• Elite Top Attorneys, Sarasota Magazine, 2020, 2021, 2022
• AV^® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated, Martindale-Hubbell
• Legal Elite, Florida Trend Magazine, 2013-2014
• Professionalism Award, Judge John M. Scheb American Inn of Court, 2012
• Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator, 2001-present

• President, Judge John M. Scheb American Inn of Court, 2010-2011
• Member, Judge John M. Scheb American Inn of Court, 1993-2013
• Sarasota County Bar Association
  • President, 2019
  • President-Elect, 2019
  • Director, 2013-2017
• Public Investors Bar Association, 1992-present
• Major, United States Army Reserve, Judge Advocate General’s Corps, 1989-2003
• President, The Players Theater, Sarasota 1998-2003
• Founding Scoutmaster, Troop 895, Sarasota, FL 1995-1998
• Member, Sarasota County Human Services Advisory Council, 2003-2007
• Chairman, Sarasota Transitional Housing Committee, 2008-2010
• Supervisor, University Place Community Development District, 2008-2011
• Treasurer, Sarasota Westwind Flyers, Inc. flying club, 2015-present
• President, Sherwood Forest Homeowners Association, 2016-2019

• How to Assess and Prosecute a Potential Investment-Related Case, Course Presenter, 2021
• Why Civility Continues to Matter, The Docket, Sarasota County Bar Association (SCBA), April 2019
• Understanding Finance – It’s More than Money Financial Series (webinar), Hot Button Issues in Investment Disputes, 2010
• Charlotte Estate Planning Council – Current Issues in Investment Disputes, 2010
• Venice Estate Planners – Current topics in investment-related disputes, 2009
• Sarasota Estate Planners – Current topics in investment-related disputes, 2009
• PIABA Annual meeting – Duties after the sale, 2009
• Analyzing Cases in Good and Bad Investment Markets
• The Securities Arbitration Process