Valerie Shea
Partner
Valerie Shea is a partner in the firm’s Miami office and a leader of the GIS Florida Team, with a focus on insurance coverage counsel and litigation. Valerie defends insurers in coverage and bad faith actions, and advises them on a wide variety of coverage policies, including directors and officers, employment practices, professional liability, pollution and other environmental issues, and property liability. Her practice also includes employment and labor matters, professional liability, product liability, and complex, multi-party commercial litigation. As a trial attorney, Valerie has represented insurers as well as automotive dealers and product manufacturers in high-value tort actions, employers in discrimination actions, and professionals sued for both professional liability and commercial claims. Valerie has tried more than 20 cases to a jury in state and federal courts and has represented clients in more than 50 appellate matters.
Valerie is very active in her legal and local communities, recognized for her leadership efforts in several legal and civic organizations. As president of the Florida Defense Lawyers Association Valerie spearheaded diversity efforts that garnered the DRI Diversity Award in 2003. She has been recognized numerous times for her work with Election Protection, a non-partisan voting rights initiative. She is also a Certified Diversity Awareness Trainer, providing diversity training to law firms and other clients.
Related Areas
Industries
Honors & Awards
Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating: AV Preeminent
Best Lawyers in America
- Insurance Law, 2013–23
- Litigation – Insurance, 2023
Florida Trend Legal Elite (top one percent of Florida lawyers)
Florida Super Lawyers, 2008–10, 2014–16
South Florida Legal Guide, 2010–18
Florida Bar Outstanding President of Voluntary Association
DRI Service Award
Admissions
- Florida
- U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Florida
- U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Eighth and Eleventh Circuits
Education
- Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad Law Center, J.D., summa cum laude, 1984
- Nova Law Review: Editor in Chief
- National Moot Court Competition Winner
- Florida Atlantic University, B.A., cum laude
Professional Affiliations
- Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
- Board of Directors, 2004 to present
- Southeast Regional Co-Chair, 2012 to present
- Florida Defense Lawyers Association
- President, 2002
- Defense Research Institute
- Board of Directors, 2004–07
- Professional Liability Underwriting Society
Community Involvement
- Election Protection
Publications & Events
- Contributor, “Insureds in Bankruptcy,” Timely Notice, March 19, 2019
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