Firm to establish a Coral Gables office to handle medical malpractice and catastrophic injury cases
Deborah J. Gander, a heavyweight trial attorney who has secured more than a $100 million dollars in verdicts and settlements for her clients, has joined the prominent medical malpractice and personal injury firm Freedland Harwin Valori as a named partner. Going forward, the firm will be known as Freedland Harwin Valori Gander, PL.
Gander previously served as partner at Colson Hicks Eidson in Coral Gables, where she practiced law for more than 23 years. She will remain based in Coral Gables and lead a new office at 999 Ponce de Leon Blvd., Suite 1030.
“I look forward to continuing to passionately represent seriously injured victims of injustice, and heading up the Coral Gables office of the firm.” Gander said.
Gander is a Board-Certified Civil Trial attorney with nearly 30 years of experience in the legal profession. She focuses her practice on catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, medical negligence, products liability and bad faith claims against insurance companies.
Gander has consistently obtained multimillion dollar verdicts and settlements for clients throughout her career. In 2005, Gander won a landmark $60 million award for medical malpractice at a U.S. Naval Hospital, the first time the U.S. government was held liable for the acts of a physician it alleged was an independent contractor. She also secured a $20.3 million verdict against Royal Caribbean on behalf of a crewmember who was seriously injured on board, and a $8 million award for the parents of two pedestrians killed while crossing a street at dusk. Several weeks ago she secured a jury verdict in excess of $5 million for a victim of medical malpractice. In total, she has secured over 20 favorable verdicts in which each exceeded $1 million.
In 2023, Gander was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers. She’s also a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), an organization for which she served as the Miami-Dade chapter president. She has an AV ® Peer Rating by Martindale Hubbell, which also recognizes her in its select list of Preeminent Women Attorneys, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from America’s Top 100 Attorneys.
“We are pleased to welcome Deborah to our firm,” said founding partner Michael Freedland. “Highly respected by her colleagues, judges and clients, she has proven herself in a courtroom time and time again.”
Added partner Raymond Valori, “Deborah is a highly skilled, respected and experienced trial lawyer with the ability to take on large corporations and insurance companies to fight for what’s right. She will not hesitate to take a case to trial for her client if that is necessary to make sure her clients are fully and fairly compensated.”
Partner Dan Harwin said, “Gander joins us at a time when the firm plans on accepting more birth injury cases involving hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (brain injury and cerebral palsy), Erb’s Palsy (brachial plexus injury), and other serious conditions caused when a newborn is not delivered within the required standard of care. Her extensive expertise and experience representing these catastrophically injured children is a welcome addition to our longstanding birth injury practice.”
Freedland Harwin Valori Gander is one of the few South Florida firms that still focuses a substantial part of its practice on medical malpractice claims, while also handling catastrophic personal injury matters and cases involving mass torts such as clients harmed by pharmaceuticals, medical devices and products. The firm has secured over $2.5 billion in jury verdicts and settlements.
About Freedland Harwin Valori Gander, PL
Freedland Harwin Valori Gander, PL is a personal injury and consumer justice law firm that has been involved in some of the nation’s most significant litigation. The firm is committed to seeking justice for clients through the court system and fighting for just compensation. The firm’s main Florida office is in Ft. Lauderdale with a second location in Coral Gables. For more information, visit fhvlegal.com
