THOMAS W. CAREY–is the founding partner of the Clearwater firm of Carey & Leisure, Co- Founder, CEO of Client Legal Funding. Mr. Carey received his A.B. degree from Georgetown University, his Juris Doctorate degree, cum laude, from Suffolk University in 1977, and his L.L.M. degree from New York University Law School in 1979 on full Academic Fellowship. In 1977 he was admitted to the Rhode Island Bar and the Massachusetts Bar, and in 1978 he was admitted to the Florida Bar. He is Board Certified as a Civil Trial Lawyer by the Florida Bar Board of Legal Specialization and Education and as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers (currently known as The Florida Justice Association) from 1987 to 1997. He served as a State Representative for the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (currently known as The American Association for Justice) from 1991 to 1994 and was the former Litigation Chair of Funeral Services and Cemetery Malpractice.

Following the tragic loss of his wife, Joni, to a drunk driver, Mr. Carey served as the State Chairman for Mothers Against Drunk Driving in 1986 and was the Pinellas County President from 1984 to 1985. He continues to be actively involved in the organization and was co-founder of RID (Remove Intoxicated Drivers) in the Tampa Bay area. Mr. Carey served on the Board Committee of Morton Plant Hospital from 1992 to 1994, on the Board of Directors of the Pinellas/Pasco Boy Scouts of America from 1992 to 1994, on the Pinellas County Civil Service Board in 1991, and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Pinellas County Center for Crime Victims.

Mr. Carey has been an adjunct professor of Trial Practice at Stetson University College of Law and has lectured on Funeral Home and Cemetery Malpractice, the Dram Shop Act, and other topics. He is the author of Florida Personal Injury Practice Forms, 1994, West Publishing Co. and Co- Author of “A Conversation With Our Clients”, 2012 (self-Published). Mr. Carey has litigated complex liability and medical issues in courts throughout west Florida and has been lead counsel in a large number of cases involving victims of drunk driving. He practices primarily in the areas of personal injury, wrongful death, and cemetery and funeral home malpractice.

Certifications
Board Certified in civil trial law by The Florida Bar (since 1988)
Board Certified in Civil Trial Practice by the National
Board of Trial Advocacy (since 1992)
Board Certified Civil Pretrial Practice Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (since 2013)

Accomplishments
Listed in the Miami Herald’s Super Lawyers 2006 – 2014

Editions:
Listed in the 2007- 2014 Editions of The Best Lawyers in America
Listed in the 2006 – 2014 Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers

Named #1 in the July/August 2008 edition of Tampa Bay Magazine under Tampa Bay’s Best Lawyer Personal Injury Litigation
AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell — Recognition for highest professional legal standards and ethics.
Selected for the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in Florida in 2011 by The National Trial Lawyers Association Firm named #1 in Pinellas County by the Tampa Bay Tribune in October 2013