By: Kristina Murray
When unexpected adversity strikes, the line between professional expertise and personal vulnerability disappears. For attorney Dolina Lascaze, that shift arrived during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Faced with an uncertain future at a time when hospital restrictions kept loved ones from sitting by her side, she found that her perspective on estate planning had not changed; it had simply acquired a fierce, immediate urgency. While nearly everything that year felt entirely out of control, one truth anchored her: her family’s legal and financial protections were completely settled. Today, as the founder of Lascaze Law, that sense of unwavering peace is the true foundation of what she offers her clients: one fewer thing to fear when life changes in an instant.
Roots, Adaptability, and Purpose
Lascaze’s enduring resolve began during her childhood in Haiti, where financial resources were scarce but community and mutual support were abundant. Raised on relentless hard work, she embraced the classic immigrant ambition not as a burden of pressure, but as a defined purpose: to move further than the generation before her.
That purpose was tested when she arrived in the United States, where she quickly discovered that people often judged capability by speech and accent. Rather than being deterred, Lascaze developed a habit of thorough over-preparation, gaining an adaptable range and the skill to navigate multiple cultural worlds with ease. Today, she channels that same background into Lascaze Law, serving a diverse community by offering counsel in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole to ensure vital legal protections are accessible to all. Guided by the philosophy that her goal is never to be the smartest person in the room, but rather the person who leaves it better than she found it, she built a career anchored in service and preparation.
The Edge of Experience: From Courtrooms to Corporate Leadership
Her legal foundation began at Florida International University, followed by earning her Juris Doctor at the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law. Stepping into the courtroom as a prosecutor in Broward County, Lascaze tried more than forty criminal cases and twenty civil matters to verdict. This trial by fire taught her how judges, juries, and the judicial system function under pressure.
From public service, she transitioned to corporate America, spending nineteen years in the private sector, including twelve years in management at Allstate. Leading teams reinforced that true advocacy starts with active listening, while giving her an intimate look into how large systems evaluate risk, defend claims, and manage people. Yet, as corporate demands grew, the work she valued most, translating complex legal jargon into clear, practical roadmaps for ordinary people, became an afterthought. She founded Lascaze Law to place her own name and core values at the center of her practice.
Today, Lascaze Law unites two complementary areas under a single mission:
- Personal Injury: Representing families navigating the aftermath of car crashes, truck collisions, slip-and-falls, and catastrophic injuries, armed with the distinct strategic edge of an attorney who spent over a decade understanding how insurance companies build their defenses.
- Estate Planning: Protecting multi-generational wealth and security where the law meets people at their most vulnerable. Lascaze regularly sees families land in costly probate battles not because they lacked financial resources, but because they lacked crucial information. Without proper guidance, estates are drained by court fees and delays, often forcing families to sell generational homes, an outcome a comprehensive plan would have prevented.
Redefining Resilience
The true power of that protection became tangible during Lascaze’s personal cancer battle. Cut off from having family physically alongside her at treatment visits due to strict pandemic protocols, she relied on her faith and the fierce backing of her family. Her sisters acted as protective guardians, filtering out horror stories and unwanted noise so she could maintain focus.
For Lascaze, surviving that chapter revealed what resilience genuinely means: not grandiose courage, but the quiet determination to get up, attend the appointment, and take the next necessary step with no guarantees. Her motivation was rooted in the ordinary, profound milestones of family, refusing to miss a graduation or the chance to watch her children grow into adults.
Empowering the Community: The Three Laws of Legacy
Lascaze extends her advocacy beyond her office walls, hosting estate planning seminars at local churches, coaching high school students in mock trial competitions, and conducting community workshops on emerging tools like AI literacy. Her leadership in South Florida business and civic circles also earned her the role of Chair of Corporate Sponsors for the South Florida chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners.
In her estate planning work, she demystifies common misconceptions through what she terms the Three Laws of Legacy:
- Beneficiary Designations Overrule Wills: Contractual designations on retirement accounts, life insurance, and bank policies take precedence over instructions in a will, meaning an outdated form can unintentionally direct funds to an ex-spouse.
- Never Name Minors Directly as Beneficiaries: Without a trust structure in place, life insurance proceeds left directly to a minor child will remain frozen under court oversight until their eighteenth birthday.
- Asset Titling Decides Asset Ownership: The legal title of real estate or joint bank accounts controls who inherits the property upon death, often overriding the broader intentions expressed in a written plan.
As Lascaze reminds the families she advocates for, a will by itself does not prevent court intervention. By pairing battle-tested trial insight, corporate defense knowledge, and hard-earned personal empathy, Lascaze Law ensures that families do not simply leave behind intentions, but an ironclad legacy that stands firm no matter what moves against it.
