Scott E. Gwartney graduated from Liberty University in Virginia in 1985 with a degree in political science and human resource management. The Tallahassee native then returned home to attend Florida State University College of Law, graduating in 1991 and has remained in Tallahassee since. After working with the first attorney to successfully submit a nursing home case to verdict in the State of Florida, renowned trial lawyer Kenneth L. Connor, the two went on to create The Connor & Gwartney law firm. The firm eventually joined the Tampa-based nursing home litigation firm of Wilkes & McHugh, becoming its Tallahassee office, where Mr. Gwartney continued to work until he joined Brooks, LeBoeuf, Foster & Gwartney in 2002, becoming a firm partner in 2003.