15th Circuit recognizes pro bono excellence – The Florida Bar

15th Circuit recognizes pro bono excellence

The 15th Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee hosted its second Pro Bono Awards Pinning Ceremony and Ice Cream Social in March.

The pinning ceremony is held to recognize attorneys who have gone “above and beyond” to provide pro bono legal services in conjunction with the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County.

After being unable to host this event for the past two years due to the pandemic, the committee made sure that this year’s event recognized those attorneys who had provided pro bono hours in 2019 as well as in 2020. Award recipients for 2021 will be honored at the “We’re Still Standing” 32nd Pro Bono Recognition Evening on May 7 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center. The pinning ceremony and ice cream social, once again, took place in the ceremonial courtroom of the main courthouse in West Palm Beach with more than 100 guests, including judges, retired Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente, and Florida Bar President-elect Gary Lesser.

Several speakers expressed gratitude to the award winners for their selfless dedication to pro bono advocacy and encouraged others to handle pro bono cases.

Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Glenn Kelley said, “willingness that we have by attorneys like you to give your time and talents in order to make sure that people are represented is in line with the principles of being a lawyer” as he addressed the honorees.

Justice Pariente spoke about the importance of coming together as a circuit and helping the community through pro bono service and how personally rewarding giving back can be, saying that she has “spoken in the past of our moral obligation to help realize the promise of equal justice for all — but the truth is that through contributing your valuable time-as well as money, you will feel better — you will be making a real difference — you will know how much you are appreciated.”

Lesser participated in the ceremony by placing the pins on each honoree as their name was called and praised the attorneys across the state who contributed approximately “1.5 million hours of pro bono work and $6.7 million to legal aid organizations” in the fiscal year of 2020-2021. Still, Lesser stressed the importance of doing more, as did Abigail Beebe, one of the attorneys who was recognized for giving over 50 hours of pro bono services and who said, “the truth is that we should be making in pro bono hours and dollars far more than The Florida Bar is already requiring.

Circuit Court Judge Samantha Schosberg, chair of the bono committee, said she is “proud of the work of the Pro Bono Circuit Committee as it continues to strive to support Legal Aid and recognize the many attorneys who generously volunteer their time to assist those less fortunate who need it most.”

The Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County also recognized one of its retiring volunteers, 95-year-old retired attorney, Lawrence Moncrief, who over the course of 17 years of pro bono service, has helped recover over $1 million in Social Security disability benefits for the disabled poor. While Moncrief expressed his regret in having to retire from his pro bono work due to health limitations, he encouraged the attendees to do even more pro bono work and shared his favorite quote: “A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; blessed is he who is generous to the poor.”

Several local voluntary bar associations sponsored the event, including the Palm Beach County Bar Association, the Palm Beach County Hispanic Bar Association, the Malcolm Cunningham Bar Association, the Palm Beach County Justice Association, Florida Association of Women Lawyers Palm Beach County, the South Palm Beach County Bar Association, the South Palm Beach County Florida Association for Women Lawyers, the Federal Bar Association, as well the newly-formed Palm Beach County Sheree Davis Cunningham Black Women Lawyers Association. The event also had the support of Carlton Fields, Legal Graphicworks, and Sloan’s Ice Cream.

The pro bono awards pin recipients, included:

Gold (100+ hours) 2019: Gary Betensky, Robert Blank (retired), Jorge Cestero, Amy Hickman, Anne Hinds, Keith Park, Brooks Ricca, Jr., Michael Stern (retired), Alicia Trinley, and Sheryl Wood.

Gold (100+ hours) 2020: Robert Blank (retired), Lawrence Moncrief, Jay Mussman, and Michael Stern (retired).

Silver (50-99 hours) 2019: Jo Ann Abrams, Dodger Arp, Abigail Beebe, Gary Brandenburg (deceased), Susan Brotman, Chandler Finley, Amanda Jesteadt, Wayne Levine, Penny Martin, Michael J. Napoleone, and Paul Shalhoub.

Silver (50-99 hours) 2020: Kathryn Beamer, Manuel Farach, Mark Hektner, Phillip H. Hutchinson, Jared Quartell, James Telepman.

Bronze (20-49 hours) 2019: Alex Alijewicz, Warren Brams, Richard Dedell (deceased), Harrison DuBosar, Manuel Farach, Kimberlee Fowler, Timothy Gaskill, Grant Gisondo, Mark Greenberg, Robert Guerrier, Amanda Klopp, Howard Kroops, Brandon Leon, Andrew Loewenstein, Brian O’Connell, Erin O’Neal, Kimberly Rommel-Enright, Stephen Seftenberg (retired), Paul Sullivan, Jr., Charles Thompson, Peter Trombadore, Jeffrey Wasserman, Henry S. Wulf, and Daniel Wurtenberger.

Bronze (20-49 hours) 2020: Patricia Alexander, Sherry Cooper, Carl Domino, Cynthia Pyfrom, Kimberly Rommel-Enright, and Daniel Zuniga.