Scott Maucere
Meet Attorney
all-american lawyer
Seven-Time SuperLawyer® and Rising Star®, Scott Maucere is a veteran trial attorney with multi-million wins from Los Angeles to Texas to Maine.
I sit down with Scott and find out why he is an American Force to be reckoned with .
By Stephanie Ledford
Photographed by Casey Yoshida
I WAIT FOR TRIAL ATTORNEY SCOTT MAUCERE AT UNIVERSAL JOINT, a local hole-in-the-wall immediately next to the imposing stone pillars of the courthouse in this very southern town. Like something out of a Grisham Novel.
It’s haunted by local lawyers and judges—word is, it’s so popular during trials that lawyers for the different sides have to be sat in opposite section of the cafe so they don’t overhear their lunchtime strategy sessions.
He arrives a few minutes late, perpetually busy but still immaculately put together, even at the end of the day
As he approaches me, the first thing I notice- beyond the bright gone-grey too early hair and the easy smile, is that he commands your attention.
I am struck by the thought—this is a man who knows what he wants. And you’re going to give it to him.
When I point this out he flashes that smile again.
“Lots of practice with juries. If you want a million dollars you have to act like it.”
This is the man that turned down a $60,000 final offer from the guys that defrauded his clients, an elderly woman and her son cheated out of their retirement money, instead winning $2,000,000 jury verdict for them right across the street behind those looming courthouse pillars.
Again, Grisham-esque, I thought.
“Vanderbilt for law school?” He calls it Vandy.
“And Lee University undergrad.”
“But you didn’t start in trial law” I probe.
He kicks back in the wrought-iron chair.
“Sort of. I tried my first case when I was 24. Same year I hung out my first shingle. We settled after the judge ruled in our favor on the main points of law. First Million-Dollar trucking case at 26.”
Still, he explained that his expertise took him on a different path for the next fifteen years.
“I represented businesses all over the world in a bunch of dealings—structuring finance deals, contracts, lots of commercial litigation. Really complex stuff. Which was great—I loved my clients. But burnout is real.” But then, a shift in practice relationships gave him an unexpected break.
“I had the opportunity for the first time to really rethink things. What did I really want to do with the rest of my career? I have all this experience, all this success. How was I giving back?”
His eyes narrow, smile lost in a moment of seriousness.
“For the past 20 years practicing law, I saw over and over again people—ordinary Americans, like you, like me—being taken advantage of. Mostly by insurance companies and Big Business run out of control. There’s no accountability, no brakes on the truck. I wanted to fix that. I wanted to give those folks a voice, to stand beside them when they were up against something bigger than they could take on alone.”
That turn in his career, Scott says, marked the beginning of something bigger.
He’s since parlayed his courtroom prowess into demand as a trial attorney across the country, trying cases across California, a multi-million dollar win in the Northern District of Texas, and closer to home in the Southeast. He’s currently licensed in Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin, and a multitude of federal admissions from the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Federal Court of International Trade, as well as district courts in the Northern District of Ohio, Western District of New York. His credentials are extensive and dizzying.
But across from me, his smile returning, rolling up his sleeves in the summer heat, I don’t feel the weight of his successes. I feel a keen interest in regular people, ordinary Americans. and he feels quintessentially American himself. He’s bold, independent, and someone who wants to win. And he feels like aWinner.
After an hour, he waves over the check. His son has a little league game and he doesn’t want to be late. “Faith and family,” he says as he pushes back from the table. “That’s why we do this. That’s the only reason any of this is worth doing.”