Seminole County Legal Aid partners with library to serve more veterans
More than 43 years ago Juan Silva, 60, served in the U.S. Army in Korea, but today he is fighting an ongoing battle to gain custody of his grandchildren. His ally in this struggle is Silvia McLain, executive director of the Seminole County Bar Association Legal Aid Society, who has
Pro bono help brings a mother’s six-year wait to a joyful end
For six years, Kimberly Conyers did everything in her power to regain custody of her son, writing letter after letter to the judge in her case, but it wasn’t until she got pro bono help – both from a lawyer and a psychologist – that she was able to
Foundation-funded project protects the rights of chronically ill children to specialty care
When Jennifer Rodriguez got a call from a nurse case manager last May asking her to take a survey about her son Alex, 11, she had no idea that her responses could get him tossed from a Medicaid specialty managed care program for chronically ill and disabled kids. “I answered
A decade of partnership puts an end to 275 years behind bars
When James Bain embraced his sisters on the steps of the Polk County, Fla., courthouse on Dec. 17, 2009, as a free man for the first time in 35 years, he had served more time in prison than anyone ever exonerated through DNA testing. On March 4, 2016, 42 years
Foundation CEO Bruce Blackwell to receive 2016 Tobias Simon Pro Bono Award
Florida Bar news story Attorney Bruce B. Blackwell of Winter Park, a founding partner of King, Blackwell, Zehnder & Wermuth, P.A., in Orlando and now CEO/executive director of The Florida Bar Foundation, is the recipient of the 2016 Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award, the highest statewide pro bono award.
A long legal road leads to a permanent home for Brittney
Brittney Carroll, 11, smiles broadly and extends her hand in greeting to welcome a visitor to her family’s Tallahassee farm, where she and her six siblings help care for a menagerie that includes dogs, cats, ponies, goats, chickens, rabbits, a donkey and a cow named Buttercream. Born prematurely and
Laid off legal aid attorney continued pro bono on case ending with $17.4 million verdict
by Nancy Kinnally To most Floridians the town of Felda in Hendry County is little more than an overlooked dot on a state map, but to five women who worked in the Moreno Farms packing house there it became their own little corner of Hell. Maria del Carmen Aguilar, one
Pro bono attorney helps families struggling with debt
Frank Eaton has been practicing large, complex Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases around the country since 1990, based first in New York and now in Miami. While attending a bankruptcy conference where the Chief Bankruptcy Judge extolled the importance of pro bono assistance for general consumers who need — but can
Crossing Borders—My Experience as a First Time Juvenile Immigration Lawyer
When Dade Legal Aid/Put Something Back first asked for attorneys to take unaccompanied minor cases, I wasn’t sure I was the right lawyer for the job. Despite my history of public interest work, including early roots as a Federal Public Defender and a consistent pro bono practice over my thirty
Winning freedom from domestic violence
After 18 years of feeling like a prisoner in her own home and suffering – along with her six children – her husband’s constant abuse, Natasha De Synegub finally managed to leave after pro bono attorney Natalie Weech helped her devise a plan. Weech, herself a domestic violence survivor, represented
ACTL Fellows provide trial skills training for legal aid attorneys
by Doug Sachs Linda Smith, 48, her elderly mother and two teenage sons stood to lose their federally subsidized apartment after Jacksonville police found a marijuana plant on the family’s back patio, but before they would be evicted they would have their day in court. Such were the facts of
Garcia joins Foundation as director of pro bono
Former legal aid attorney Ericka Garcia has joined The Florida Bar Foundation staff to support local and statewide efforts to expand pro bono partnerships with bar associations, law firms, courts, law schools and legal aid organizations. As director of pro bono partnerships, Garcia will collaborate with The Florida Bar Standing