The Art of Re-Invention
For more than 35 years, attorney Leslie Riviere has been re-inventing herself.
When she first began practicing law, Leslie was an insurance defense lawyer with a statewide practice. That all changed in 1989 when a rollover car accident broke her spine and left her paralyzed.
“I remember waking up in the hospital and thinking, How am I going to get back to work? But if there’s a saving grace here, it’s that you don’t need to walk to practice law. I was determined to go back to work right away—and I did. But in those days, my downtown office building wasn’t even wheelchair accessible. They had to retrofit the building for me. Despite the accommodations, working in insurance defense and trying to travel statewide just wasn’t the right fit. So I switched sides of the fence to a plaintiff’s practice and never looked back.”
Leslie joined Warren Harris in his Hyde Park practice in 1991. She became a principal in the law firm, forming Harris & Riviere, P.A., and became board certified in 1997.
“Now, it might seem counterintuitive to think of a lawyer in a wheelchair representing injured people in court, but it worked really well. Clients knew I understood what they were going through, and they confided in me. I got to play lawyer and counselor at the same time—rebuilding these people’s lives, often from the ground up.”
Leslie’s next venture was becoming certified as a mediator and launching Tampa Mediation Group. She is a graduate of the Warrington School of Business and the Levin College of Law at the University of Florida. She is a member of the Middle and Southern District Courts and the Workers’ Compensation, Trial Lawyers, ADR, and Administrative sections of the Florida Bar.
Outside of law, Leslie is an avid gamer—also known as “LitiGator.”
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