in 2000, leving was a lawyer in the case of 6-year-old elián gonzález, who was rescued after being found tied to an inner tube off the coast of ft. lauderdale, florida. gonzalez's mother drowned in her attempt to flee cuba to the united states, and the child's presence in the u.s. involved contentious court proceedings. when the case was considered by the u.s. supreme court, leving had previously spearheaded the amicus brief, which set the foundation of the custody case to reunite elian gonzalez with his father, juan miguel, in cuba. manuel gonzalez, elian gonzalez’s great uncle, later retained leving to reunite elian with his father. leving appeared as an expert on "cnn", "cnbc", "msnbc", "fox national news" and "court tv" to analyze the elian gonzalez case.