Leesfield & Partners extends relief to Texas flood survivors
With a commitment to ‘generosity, warmth, and reassurance’, philanthropist-lawyer Ira Leesfield inspires through support efforts in Florida, the U.S., and abroad
'It’s heartbreaking to see the loss of lives and the destruction in Texas,' said Ira Leesfield, founder of Leesfield & Partners and co-chair of the Leesfield Family Foundation. 'When you have the ability and the resources to do something to help amid a tragedy like this, you must act. We stand with Texas.'
South Florida’s Leesfield & Partners and the Leesfield Family Foundation have once again joined with World Central Kitchen — this time to support disaster relief efforts in Texas following the tragic July 4 floods.
Philanthropist-lawyer Ira Leesfield says, 'It doesn’t take a million dollars to make a difference,' adding that contributions of $5,000 to $50,000 might seem insignificant to some of his peers, but 'to the people who need it, it means a whole lot.'
“It’s heartbreaking to see the loss of lives and the destruction in Texas,” said Ira Leesfield, founder of Leesfield & Partners and co-chair of the Leesfield Family Foundation (LFF). “When you have the ability and the resources to do something to help amid a tragedy like this, you must act. We stand with Texas.”
Leesfield said he quickly responded when he learned that World Central Kitchen was providing aid, immediately reaching out to his contacts at the charity and sending financial support “on the very first day.”
“The LFF made a sizeable contribution, which we continue to do, to Central Texas flood victims,” Leesfield told the News.
This is not the first time that Leesfield has joined the non-profit food relief service to support disaster response efforts.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the LFF supported the World Central Kitchen as it immediately rendered food assistance.
Leesfield initially connected with World Central Kitchen when he went to Puerto Rico to offer aid following Hurricane Maria in 2017. He was impressed by the food-based aid program’s founder, José Andrés, an award-winning chef and humanitarian, who had traveled to the island to lend his help, leading a team of chefs he recruited to feed people impacted by the disaster.
“I stayed in touch with him. He’s so impressive…He’s a real ‘do-er.’ I don’t know many people that get as much done,” said Leesfield, referring to Andrés. “He’s a no-red-tape guy.”
World Central Kitchen, with support from the Leesfield Family Foundation, immediately provided food, water and supplies to survivors of the July 4 floods in Central Texas.
Leesfield’s relationship with World Central Kitchen was cemented when he returned to the island in 2019 on a fact-finding mission with former President Bill Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative. As the island continued to grapple with hurricane recovery, Leesfield was impressed to see the non-profit was still there, working in local communities to enhance food security by teaching and supporting high-yield micro-farming techniques.
Leesfield says it’s important to move quickly to help people in disaster recovery. The LFF has a small governance team — Leesfield, his wife and their daughter make the decisions — allowing it to pivot immediately to help in the wake of a disaster, unlike some larger charities, which he says can sometimes be delayed by red tape.
“We get on the ground with monetary help — and any other help we can provide — in about a day. I just have to wire the money,” says Leesfield.
“That has been my enjoyment and what the practice of law has allowed me to do,” he says. “I know it’s trite, but the gift really is in the giving.”
Leesfield says he has been lucky over his 50-year career. Through hard work, he has had the opportunity to succeed, but “it is not success if you just keep it all for yourself. You get no gratification out of that.”
“I think what my colleagues are missing — those who have prospered — is how much you can do with so little. It doesn’t take a million dollars to make a difference,” says Leesfield, adding that contributions of $5,000, $10,000, $20,000, $50,000 might seem insignificant to some of his peers, but “to the people who need it, it means a whole lot.”
Leesfield & Partners and the LFF have been providing support in the aftermath of man-made and natural disasters more than a decade.
In addition to partnering with World Central Kitchen to help people in Texas, Ukraine, and Puerto Rico, Leesfield & Partners and the LFF have also provided relief to victims of the 2025 California wildfires, Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene in 2024, Hurricane Harvey in 2017, the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, and Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Locally, the LFF helps food banks in Key West, such as the Florida Keys Outreach Coalition and the Star of the Seas Foundation, in a bid to combat food insecurity in Monroe County.
Starting Leesfield & Partners in 1976, Leesfield said by 1990 he “had some good results” and he was able to create the LFF to help homeless women and children. Since then, the foundation has grown; and with it, so has Leesfield’s ability to help more people through the firm’s and the foundation’s benevolence.
“Philanthropy is the gift that keeps on giving. It’s really ‘casting your bread on the water.’ And every day that we are able to help others is a special day for us,” he has said previously.
The LFF continues to prioritize women’s and children’s initiatives and provides scholarships to students in need. Leesfield said the foundation has given approximately 70 law school scholarships to single mothers, and in May, Leesfield and Justin B. Shapiro, a partner at the firm, awarded a college scholarship to a Key West High School student in honor of local teacher and coach Dexter Butler.
The LFF also grants an annual scholarship through the Miami-Dade Chapter of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers and, since 1994, has partnered with the American Association for Justice to award the Leesfield/AAJ Law Student Scholarship at the organization’s annual convention.
Ira Leesfield was inspired to create the LFF by the values of the neighborhood in which he was raised, where people never hesitated to help one another. This is reflected in the LFF’s motto: “generosity, warmth, and reassurance.”
Through its commitment to public service, the LFF has received recognition from both local and national organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, the Florida Justice Association, and the American Jewish Committee.
Leesfield, who is now in his 50th year as a member of The Florida Bar, has no intention of slowing down. Speaking from a family vacation in Napa Valley, California, he says his law practice and the LFF have grown so well that he is able to increase his level of giving.
“I’m actively practicing law every day,” said Leesfield. “And I’m going to keep doing that because the active income allows me to do things that I couldn’t do if I wasn’t working.”
To learn more about the LFF, visit https://leesfieldfamilyfoundation.org/.
