Leslie W. Langbein is a highly qualified ADR professional with a distinguished legal career. A member of the Florida Bar since 1980, she has been Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law since 2001. Ms. Langbein started her legal career as an Assistant City Attorney and then Deputy City Attorney for the City of Hollywood, Florida where she specialized in public sector labor law and routinely practiced before the Florida Public Employee Relations Commission.
In 1996, Ms. Langbein joined the Miami law firm of Valdes-Fauli, Cobb & Petrey (later Valdes-Fauli, Cobb Bischoff & Kriss) and was assigned to serve as the General Counsel of Florida International University. After nearly a decade of service at the University, Ms. Langbein joined her husband to form Langbein & Langbein, P.A. From then on, Ms. Langbein represented clients in federal and state courts and administrative proceedings, focusing on Administrative, Employment, Fair Housing, Title III, ADA, and Commercial law. She litigated and tried numerous employment and Fair Housing cases in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida while also representing clients before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Florida Commission on Human Relations, the Florida Reemployment Assistance Appeals Commission and local human rights agencies.
Ms. Langbein has maintained active membership in the Florida Bar’s Labor and Employment Section nearly her entire career. In 2016, she was elected as Chair of the Section after having held officer positions and membership on its Executive Council. Ms. Langbein has been a presenter at Section seminars and webinars and has written several articles on labor and employment topics. She also belongs to the Florida Bar’s ADR and City, County and Local Government Sections.
Ms. Langbein’s career as a neutral began in 1996 when she became a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit/Civil Mediator and was certified as a Florida Supreme Court Qualified Arbitrator at the same time. In 1998, she was accepted onto the American Arbitration Association’s (“AAA”) national panel of Labor Arbitrators and also became an arbitrator for the State University System. Shortly thereafter, Ms. Langbein also was accepted onto AAA’s Employment and Commercial panels of arbitrators. Ms. Langbein has served as a national trainer for AAA and has been a presenter at conferences and seminars. Ms. Langbein also formerly served as a labor panelist on State of Florida panels of labor arbitrators. She has held appointment as a Special Magistrate by the Florida Public Employee Relations Commission since 2011. In 2014, Ms. Langbein was accepted into membership of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. In 2019, she was accepted onto the labor panel of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. In 2023, Ms. Langbein was placed on the National Mediation Board Panel of Arbitrators. More information about Ms. Langbein’s neutral qualifications can be found under the “ADR” tab in the pull-down menu of Practice Areas.
Ms. Langbein describes her philosophy as “ Mediation is an opportunity for parties to test their positions before a neutral in a confidential setting and honestly reflect on the probability of a successful outcome if the dispute is not settled.” She views the role of a mediator as one who assists parties in analyzing issues, possible outcomes and settlement alternatives. Her mediation style tends to be active to assist the parties in ferreting out barriers to settlement.