William T. Dzurilla

Partner
Fort Lauderdale

t: 954 356 0011
f: 954 356 0022

wdzurilla@bsfllp.com

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Area of Practice

Litigation

Education

Tulane University, J.D., summa cum laude, 1981

University of Louisiana at Lafayette, B.A., magna cum laude, History, 1978

Language Spoken

Slovak

Clerkships

Associate Justice Byron R. White, United States Supreme Court, 1982-1983

Hon. Albert Tate, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 1981-82

Admissions

Florida

United States Supreme Court

United States Courts of Appeals: Fifth and Eleventh Circuits

United States District Courts: Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana, Southern District of Mississippi, and Southern District of California

Bill Dzurilla has extensive experience in prosecuting and defending complex civil matters. He represents clients in commercial cases, including securities, RICO, antitrust, banking, construction, and insurance. He has tried and mediated cases in federal and state courts and has served as an arbitrator and mediator. He also has handled several of the largest and most complicated mergers, acquisitions and privatizations in the history of the Slovak Republic.

After graduating law school and completing clerkships with the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Mr. Dzurilla joined the litigation section of the New Orleans firm of Gordon Arata McCollam & Duplantis, where he stayed for 15 years. He advised both plaintiffs and defendants in all types of major commercial litigation, including class actions, on matters ranging from cable television franchises to oil and gas investments. His successful defense of a First Amendment challenge to the constitutionality of seven federal, state, and local school aid programs culminated with a U.S. Supreme Court decision overruling previous authority. His advocacy also led to a unanimous Louisiana Supreme Court decision finding Louisiana's forum non conveniens statute contrary to the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, an appellate decision striking down Louisiana's Any Willing Provider statute as preempted by ERISA, and a U.S. Fifth Circuit opinion overturning a criminal mail fraud conviction on Double Jeopardy grounds. In view of his expertise on constitutional issues, in 1990 he became an advisor to Boris Yeltsin and the Russian Constitutional Commission in the drafting of Russia's first non-communist constitution.

In 1998, Mr. Dzurilla accepted a Fulbright Scholarship to teach law at the Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. While in Slovakia, he joined White & Case and stayed with that firm for four years, handling the most sensitive and important deals in the Slovak Republic's transition from a Soviet satellite to a full member of the European Union. Mr. Dzurilla played a key role in the privatization of the Slovak Savings Bank and the General Credit Bank, the two largest Slovak banks. He represented Electricite de France International in its acquisition of the Central Slovak Electric Company, Williams Energy in a potential bid for the Slovak Gas Company and Allianz in its purchase of the Slovak Insurance Company. He advised the Slovak government in the sale of 49% of the shares of the Transpetrol oil pipeline company.

Selected Professional Awards and Associations

Fulbright Professor, Comenius University Faculty of Law, 1998

Selected Publications

Reflections of a Dalkon Shield Arbitrator, 53 Dispute Resolution Journal 13 (1998)

Farewell to Lenin, 38 Federal Bar News & Journal 410 (1991)