Daily Business Review Honors Carlton Fields Attorneys With On the Rise Awards

Carlton Fields Shareholders M. Derek Harris and Olga Suarez Vieira each won the Daily Business Review’s 2017 On the Rise Awards. They were among 28 attorneys under age 40, who were chosen for their legal achievements, leadership, pro bono, and community service.

The Daily Business Review recognized Harris for his successful defense of a car manufacturer in an alleged defective seatbelt case and for obtaining a final judgment in favor of a bank client in a creditors’ rights case. He was commended for his pro bono work representing more than a dozen youth ages six to 16 in delinquency, early intervention and educational neglect proceedings; and his leadership as a fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, and as a member of Leadership Florida’s Connect Florida Leadership Institute.

The Daily Business Review recognized Vieira for her work in smoking and health litigation, in particular, her role in coordinating the defense of more than 1,000 individual claims pending in Miami-Dade County. She was commended for her pro bono work representing abused and neglected children as a guardian ad litem with Lawyers for Children America, and her leadership as a former president of Dade Heritage Trust and a board member of Amor en Acción, a Catholic lay missionary group.

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