Lelia Schleier

Lelia Schleier is a Practice Group Partner in Kelley Kronenberg’s Justice for Kids division, the firm’s national practice dedicated to providing legal services to abused, disabled, and catastrophically injured children harmed in foster care, shelters, residential treatment centers, group homes, and other child welfare settings, as well as all children harmed by the acts of others.

Before joining Kelley Kronenberg, Lelia spent the first nine years of her legal career working for several prominent defense firms in the areas of professional liability, insurance coverage, bad faith, property damage, general liability, disability, and ERISA, as well as the defense of other types of casualty and commercial litigation claims and first-party and third-party insurance claims. Lelia also has significant experience with all pre-and post-trial phases of litigation, including providing litigation support and appellate services. Lelia’s professional background as a lawyer and former educator provides her with unique insight to assess both sides of cases involving child welfare issues.

Prior to becoming an attorney, Lelia served as an adjunct professor at Bryant University, as well as a high school English teacher. She also attended graduate school at Brown University where she received a Master of Arts degree in English, advanced to doctoral candidacy, and taught courses in literary and cultural studies and academic writing while specializing in late 19th and early 20th century U.S. and Latin American hemispheric studies.

Lelia received her Bachelor of Arts in English and History, magna cum laude, from the University of Miami, where her academic excellence was also acknowledged by induction into the Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies. Lelia began acquiring legal experience as a legal and medical researcher and consultant prior to law school, providing support to expert witnesses and plaintiff attorneys in the areas of toxic torts and products liability. While attending law school, she gained additional experience as a Judicial Extern to the Honorable Jose E. Martinez of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida and as a Certified Prosecutor Intern for the Washington County Attorney’s Office in Washington County, Iowa.

Lelia is fluent in Spanish.