Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton's Maria D. Garcia has always known what she wanted. As a child growing up in Miami, she'd tell her parents, exiled from Cuba, that one day she'd be una abogada: an attorney.

Garcia's first paychecks came from her father's small glass and mirror business in Coral Gables, where she says she learned the value of hard work and diligence.

Garcia's family had owned a business in Santiago de Cuba, one of the island's largest cities, until Fidel Castro's government took it and imprisoned him for speaking out in 1961. For Garcia's father Jose Antonio Garcia, disagreeing with Castro's communist ideas and policies meant 12 years behind bars.

“Everything they worked for, they gave it up, even their freedom,” Garcia said. “Because they couldn't stand for something that they knew was wrong, and they were OK making those sacrifices if it was going to help better the system for everybody in Cuba.”

That family motto endured, imprinting a sense of urgency in Garcia, who felt that a free society is something that must be actively protected, not taken for granted.

“The experience that [my family] went through in Cuba really made me realize, since I was a child, how important the rule of law is and having a stable society and country,” Garcia said. “Because as an attorney, you learn about all those things and you are a keeper of that law, you're a keeper of how this country was built and how the rule of law should be for all of us.”

At Florida International University College of Law, Garcia was an all-or-nothing kind of student, seeking to make the most of every campus activity that aligned with her goals. She became president of FIU's moot court and joined its Cuban American Bar Association chapter, aimed at pairing novices with mentors in the legal community.

Those connections helped Garcia land her first job at Miami maritime and admiralty law firm Houck Anderson. And now, in her “dream” role as CABA's 2019 president, Garcia seeks to open doors for the next generation of lawyers.

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'Beacon of light'

CABA is a nonprofit voluntary bar association founded in 1974 by attorneys with Cuban roots. Its lawyers, judges and law student members work to defend human rights for Cubans,  promote a peaceful transition to democracy in the country and tackle broader legal issues for minority communities in the U.S.

CABA's early members suffered plenty of discrimination when they came to the U.S. as exiles, according to Garcia.

“We've grown so much through this organization of minorities who really felt that they needed to band together and make a place for themselves in this community, to one of the largest bar associations in Florida with a very diverse membership,” Garcia said. “I think CABA tries to be kind of a beacon of light. Where we see an injustice, we try to make a difference there.”

Closest to Garcia's heart is CABA's work in Cuba's health care sector, where she says doctors are often separated from their families and denied basic freedoms.

Garcia at CABA's Annual Marlins Night, where they raised $24,000 for pro bono work. Courtesy photo. Garcia at CABA's Annual Marlins Night, where they raised $24,000 for pro bono work. Courtesy photo.

“We have been seeing in the past few years such abuses by the Cuban government where these really highly educated doctors are sent abroad and the Cuban government keeps the vast majority of their salaries to fill their coffers,” Garcia said.

Garcia helped create CABA's new veterans program, offering free legal help with issues like foreclosure and family disputes to those who can't afford it.

“I felt that's a really underserved population, our veterans that have sacrificed so much for our country,” Garcia said.

CABA also provides law school scholarships and offers legal services to the general public, serving more than 1,000 clients a year facing domestic abuse and custody disputes. To help pay for those projects, CABA holds an annual fundraiser with the Miami Marlins baseball team and this year raised a record $24,000.

At Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton, Garcia co-chairs the health care practice—a realm in which clients don't like their attorneys to talk about what they do, constrained by confidentiality agreements and arbitration clauses. Garcia specializes in complex high stakes managed health care litigation, and represents all manner of health care providers from Baptist Health South Florida, one of the largest hospitals in the state, to small medical centers and individual doctors.

Garcia is used to operating under a veil of secrecy, quietly negotiating contracts with and litigating against insurance companies reluctant to pay up. So far, she's recovered more than $100 million for clients.

“There are certain trends to limit the reimbursements that providers receive from the insurance company,” Garcia said. “And we try to mitigate those trends because we've found that oftentimes those actions that insurance companies take are violating agreements between the parties, or they violate specific federal or state statutes.”

When asked about her work, Garcia will pause for a moment to lawyer her words, constructing careful, measured responses.

In May, she negotiated a confidential settlement for several Baptist hospitals with insurer Sunshine State Health Plan Inc. over claims that her client was owed millions in managed care reimbursements that the defendant had underpaid or not paid at all.

Unlike many other states, Garcia says Florida has robust and evolving statutes and guidance around health plan coverage and reimbursements, which means there's a lot to keep up with. Much of Garcia's client base are on tenterhooks waiting to see how courts rule on various parts of the Affordable Care Act, which faces constitutional challenges.

Garcia's job is to figure out how to apply those legal changes to the needs of clients, serving a diverse Florida population with more baby boomers reaching 75 every day.

“What we do goes all the way down to helping those patients that are going before that doctor or that hospital, or to that center to get a diagnostic test done,” Garcia said.

Read more profiles: How Miami Attorney Curtis Osceola's 'Crazy Plan' Made Him the Miccosukee Tribe's First Lawyer

Maria Garcia, co-chair of Kozyak Tropin and Trockmorton's healthcare practice and president of the Cuban American Bar Association, with her husband Miami maritime lawyer Ryon Little, and children Conrad and James. Courtesy photo. Maria Garcia, husband Ryon Little, and children Conrad and James. Courtesy photo.

Garcia is married to Miami maritime attorney Ryon Little of De Leo & Kuylenstierna, who she says makes it possible to keep up with demanding community work and professional leadership roles.

Garcia brings their sons Conrad and James to work meetings and events so they can spend time together.

“This is a decision we've made as a family, that I have these goals, and I have a lot of support,”

Following through on ambition wasn't easy, but the effort and sacrifice was a no-brainer, the way Garcia sees it, because “we have so much to offer as attorneys.”

“I work hard, so I believe I've earned where I've gotten,” she said. “I've found that hard work and keeping at something and a little bit of luck get you where you want to go if you just keep trying.”

Maria D. Garcia

Born: May 1982, Miami

Spouse: Ryon Little

Children: Conrad and James

Education: Florida International University College of Law, J.D., 2008 ; Florida International University, B.A., 2005

Experience: Of counsel and co-chair of health care practice, Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton, 2018-present; Partner, Zumpano Patricios, 2011-2017; Attorney, Houck Anderson, 2008-2010

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