Duane Harold Kaizer

Mr. Kaizer is a managing shareholder and director of LaVoie & Kaizer, P.A. Mr. Kaizer and his family moved to Florida, and specifically, the Tampa Bay area in 1990.  He attended East Lake High School where he graduated third in his class.  He then went on to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida where he obtained a Bachelor's degree in Marketing and a minor in Economics.  He graduated from the Warrington College of Business in December 1998 in the top 10% of his class.  

After graduating from the University of Florida, Mr. Kaizer returned to the Tampa Bay area and began working for the Pinellas County School District as a substitute teacher.  He later became a full-time employee of the school district working as a secondary mathematics teacher, teaching Algebra and Pre-algebra at Osceola High School and Tarpon Springs Middle School.  During his time with the Pinellas County School District, Mr. Kaizer also served on a special team charged with developing curriculum to boost student FCAT (Florida's then standardized test for primary and secondary education) scores in mathematics.

After a few years working as a mathematics teacher for the Pinellas County School District, Mr. Kaizer returned to the University of Florida where he attended the Levin College of Law.  During law school, Mr. Kaizer served as a teacher's assistant for the college's Legal Research & Writing Department.  Mr. Kaizer also participated in the college's Mediation Clinic where he conducted local (supervised) county court mediations, ultimately enabling him to gain state certification as a Florida Supreme Court Certified County Court Mediator.  

Mr. Kaizer graduated from law school in December 2005, and earned his graduation with Honors. He then took the Bar Exam in February 2006, and was subsequently admitted to the Florida Bar in May 2006.  He has been a member of the Florida Bar in good standing since that time, and he is currently also admitted to practice before the United States District Court for Southern District of Florida.

Prior to graduating law school, Mr. Kaizer spent the summers of 2004 and 2005 working as a summer associate in the Tampa office of the international law firm Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP.  There, he gained significant litigation experience working on products liability cases involving tobacco, pharmaceutical drugs, and medical devices.  He also worked on cases involving commercial litigation.    

In the fall of 2006, Mr. Kaizer moved to South Florida where he began working for the law firm Walton Lantaff Schoeder & Carson LLP, primarily practicing in the area of workers' compensation.  After a couple years doing workers' compensation, Mr. Kaizer transitioned over to general liability and worked for the Boca Raton office of the law firm Gibson & Behman, PC, where he gained significant experience representing and negotiating settlements on behalf of insurance carriers and hospitality industry clients (restaurants, bars, clubs, etc.) in personal injury cases involving automobile liability, premises liability, and liquor/dram shop liability.  Mr. Kaizer became very experienced in all phases of litigation including written discovery, depositions, mediations, and drafting and arguing motions before the court, including motions for summary judgment.  In 2011, Mr. Kaizer even sat first chair for a premises liability jury trial in the 11th Judicial Circuit (Miami) before the Honorable Pedro Echarte, Jr.  

In 2011, Mr. Kaizer returned to Tampa, and from 2011 through 2013, he worked for two small insurance defense firms where he managed his own personal caseloads of matters involving both automobile liability (BI and UM) and premises liability.  During that time, Mr. Kaizer also served as defense counsel for a Fortune 500 restaurant chain.  

In December 2013, Mr. Kaizer partnered with attorney Lara LaVoie to form the law firm LaVoie & Kaizer, PA.  Now, Mr. Kaizer is committed to using the skills and knowledge that he gained throughout his career representing the insurance companies and their insureds to fight on behalf of the injured.  Mr. Kaizer takes great pride in representing his clients and delivering personalized service.  Clients are able to communicate freely with him on his personal cell phone, and clients can rest assured that they will have regular communications with him, the attorney, versus a paralegal or case manager, during the course of his representation.