Stephanie Fleenor has worked for our firm full time since 1991. She also worked for the firm part-time while earning her degrees. Stephanie holds an AA degree from Manatee Community College and a BA in Criminal Justice from the University of South Florida and has held the position of Office Administrator since 1992. Stephanie ensures that the financial and accounting functions at our firm run smoothly allowing the attorneys to focus on the success of our clients’ personal injury cases.

Katherine Noden began her career working for The Florida Bar in Tallahassee. After four years with the Bar and being steadily promoted until her last position as the manager of the Tampa branch office, she went to work for a prominent Tallahassee personal injury firm. Mrs. Noden has been working exclusively on personal injury cases for more than 30 years, and she has been with the firm of Heintz Law since 1992. Kathy is a paralegal member of the Florida Justice Association.

Christina Fava is a graduate of Katherine Gibbs College. She became a paralegal in 1988 and is recognized as a Florida Registered Paralegal through the Florida Bar Association. In the past, Ms. Fava has specialized in federal law, personal injury and wrongful death. Since coming to work for Heintz Law in 2004, Christina has worked exclusively in the area of personal injury and focuses on cases in litigation. She is a Certified Victim Advocate and in 2006 sat on the Florida State Board of Directors for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Veronica Barfield has been a certified legal assistant since 1995. After seven years as a legal secretary with an insurance company, she joined our firm in 2004. Her experience with insurance industry policies and practices is helpful in achieving a fair resolution of our clients’ claims. In order to stay current with legal issues, she regularly attends seminars. Mrs. Barfield has been married to Eric Barfield since 1986. They have 3 wonderful adult children and 4 fantastic granddaughters.  Mrs. Barfield attends Sarasota Baptist Church and periodically teaches bible studies to preschoolers.

Julie Williams began her legal career in 1987. She has experience in motor vehicle, wrongful death, slip-and-fall and dog bite cases. Since coming to the firm in 2010, she has become a Florida Registered Paralegal and she continues to enjoy working in the personal injury field.

Debra Townsend joined our team in 2013. She is now the Assistant Administrator. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Management from Florida State University. As a child she remembers she wanted to work in a law firm. She has performed in multiple office roles with other companies as well as working as a VPK teacher. Her opportunity to work in a law firm finally arose and she chose to pursue that career. She is married and has 2 children. She enjoys outdoor activities and watching her children play sports. Debra supports her husband, a local high school basketball coach, by cheering from the sidelines.

Rissa Waters, daughter of the office admin and niece of Mr. Heintz, has been working at the firm and gradually gaining responsibilities throughout the entirety of her life. This experience provided an educational background most don’t receive at such a young age. This aided Rissa in her field of studies at The University of South Florida. At age 22, Rissa received her master’s degree in Criminal Justice and is currently planning her future with her husband & their fur-babies. As the Operations Coordinator, she has several roles in our firm such as being our Marketing Specialist, assisting the Administrator, assisting paralegals, and is our on-call "Riss-ceptionist".

Shelly Hirons originally joined the firm as a receptionist while she was in high school. She left briefly to attend Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. She returned to Heintz Law in 1995 as a Legal Secretary and Assistant to the Office Administrator. She provides support in bookkeeping, marketing and file management. Shelly has over 30 years of experience in the legal field working with our firm.

Kayla B. Brown joined our firm March 2020 as a paralegal and was ready to hit the ground running to continue pursuing her legal career. She has prior experience in family law and general civil litigation, but she now specializes in personal injury and wrongful death cases. Ms. Brown is also a college student pursuing her Bachelor’s Degree in Finance and plans to attend law school in the future. Moving to Florida from her home-state of Virginia, Kayla enjoys kayaking, exploring new cuisines, and attending music and sporting events with her friends.