FFLA President Ashley N. Sybesma took office July 1, 2025. She is an attorney at The Smith Law Firm in Key West. A graduate of the University of Miami School of Law, she was honored with The Florida Bar’s President’s Pro Bono Service Award for the 16th Judicial Circuit in 2018. She has previously served as chair of the 16th Circuit Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee and as a longtime member of the 16th Judicial Circuit’s Professionalism Committee. In 2020, she was appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis to the 16th Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission. Sybesma has been recognized for her civic involvement and leadership throughout Monroe County, having served as president of the Monroe County Bar Association and a board member of Florida Keys Healthy Start Coalition.
FFLA is actively pursuing new strategies that will significantly strengthen the impact of our grants and create new pathways for our grantees’ success.
For instance, our Operations Reserve Fund, created last year, uses investment income rather than IOTA collections to fund our operations budget. This allows FFLA to increase the amount of IOTA distributions to grantees.
FFLA is also working to convert all of our IOTA-funded grants to Calendar Year grants to reduce applications, streamline reporting and ease administrative burden on both staff and grantees.
We have also established a special work group to explore the possibility of providing IOTA grantees with a three- to five-year projected minimum annual distribution amount. The goal is to give grantees more information for their planning and budgeting purposes, which will help them achieve greater stability, commit to new staff positions and enhance and expand client services.
In addition, we are developing an Elder Law grants program to address legal issues specific to Florida’s rapidly growing elderly population.
Finally, we are in the process of researching organizations throughout Florida that may be eligible to become IOTA grantees. FFLA hopes to increase the number of legal aid providers in our network, especially in underserved areas (legal deserts), ultimately growing the infrastructure that supports the many Floridians who need legal help.
