Attorney Harley E. Riedel

Harley E. Riedel joined Stichter, Riedel, Blain & Postler, P.A. at its inception in 1974 after graduating from the University of Florida College of Law (with high honors), where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the University of Florida Law Review and was a member of the Order of the Coif. Mentored by the late Don M. Stichter, Harley tried his first state court case in Polk County Circuit Court only weeks after his admission to the bar and, in his early years, handled virtually every type of case and transaction. Insolvency law, however, with its unique combination of litigation and negotiation over a wide range of legal and business areas, particularly interested him.

Over his career, he has served as lead counsel for debtors in possession and other key constituencies in many of the largest Chapter 11 cases ever filed in the State of Florida. He was appointed by the United States District Court to serve as the Special Master in litigation involving extensive farming appointed in Florida and Michigan. He also has an active bankruptcy, state, and federal court mediation practice and has achieved a high rate of successful settlements for parties in those matters.

Few lawyers in Florida have achieved the rankings in independent peer review surveys that Harley has. He has been ranked by Super Lawyers as the best lawyer in the entire State of Florida in five different years and has been in its Top Ten list for 15 consecutive years. He is in the Florida Legal Elite “Hall of Fame,” and is rated as one of only three “Star Performers” in insolvency law in the state by Chambers USA. Other recognitions include “Who’s Who-Legal.” In 1994, at age forty-four, he was inducted as a Fellow into The American College of Bankruptcy. In 2007, he was honored by the Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association for “outstanding effectiveness, thorough preparation, civility, courtesy, and professionalism at the highest level.” He has been repeatedly recognized by Tampa Magazine as one of the best mediators in Tampa.

Harley is active in bar activities. He was a founder of the Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association and served as its president. He has spoken and written on bankruptcy-related topics for the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, the American Bar Association, the American Bankruptcy Institute, The Florida Bar, and numerous other legal and business groups. In 2023, he received the Judge Don Castor Justice Award from Bay Area Legal Services, presented to “an individual who has dedicated time and energy to ensure equal access to justice for all, and not just to those who can afford it, and has shown a commitment to Bay Area Legal Services and the provision of legal aid.”

In addition to his active representation of clients and mediation practice, Harley has served as the managing or co-managing shareholder of the firm for more than 40 years. But it has not been a hard task. Often named one of the best places to work, SRBP enjoys extraordinary loyalty from its professionals and staff, almost all of whom have worked at the firm for more than ten years – and many of whom have celebrated their twenty, thirty and even forty-year anniversaries with the firm.