Public Justice, a national nonprofit legal advocacy organization that takes on systemic threats to justice, has selected a team of Southern Legal Counsel and ACLU of Florida lawyers, together with pro bono attorney Andy Pozzuto, as finalists for the 2022 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award for their work on McArdle v. Ocala.

Director of SLC’s Transgender Rights Initiative, Simone Chriss, was recently selected by the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association as one of the “40 Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40” award recipients for 2022. Awardees will be recognized during the 2022 Lavender Law® Conference in Los Angeles, California.

The Supreme Court’s highest recognition of a private lawyer for pro bono service, the award was presented by Chief Justice Charles T. Canady.

Brady has been a pro bono volunteer with Three Rivers Legal Services since the early 1990s and has always been a strong advocate for the poor, in particular people without housing.

Matching grants are a great way to support Southern Legal Counsel (SLC). These grants, also known as volunteer grants or “Dollars for Doers” grants, generally involve a company donating to a nonprofit where it’s employees volunteer.

SLC Pro Bono Director Samantha Howell was chosen by the Florida Pro Bono Coordinators Association (FPBCA) to receive the 2022 Kay Meyers Pro Bono Coordinator Award. Florida Chief Justice Charles Canady announced the award Jan. 20 at the annual Pro Bono Service Awards at the Florida Supreme Court.

SLC Pro Bono Director Samantha Howell was chosen by the Florida Pro Bono Coordinators Association (FPBCA) to receive the 2022 Kay Meyers Pro Bono Coordinator Award. Florida Chief Justice Charles Canady announced the award Jan. 20 at the annual Pro Bono Service Awards at the Florida Supreme Court.

At its inaugural Pro Bono Recognition event Oct. 28, Southern Legal Counsel will present the Access Justice Impact Award to Akerman LLP. This award is given to a firm that embodies SLC's mission through its service to pro bono clients. Over the last two years, approximately 30 attorneys from Akerman have volunteered with SLC. Examples of their work include:

Abigail Adkins, an Equal Justice Works Fellow sponsored by McDermott Will & Emery and Darden Restaurants Inc., will complete her two-year fellowship at Southern Legal Counsel at the end of August 2021 and join the SLC staff as an attorney focused on education issues.

SLC attorney Simone Chriss was honored with Equality Florida’s 2021 Voice for Equality Award, which is “bestowed annually upon a person who, with courage, passion and unwavering commitment, moves Florida’s LGBTQ community closer to full equality.” Equality Florida (EQFL) is a civil rights organization dedicated to securing full equality for Florida's LGBTQ community through lobbying, grassroots organizing, and coalition building.

With a Pro Bono Transformation grant from The Florida Bar Foundation, Southern Legal Counsel established a formal pro bono program in 2019, hiring attorney Samantha Howell as its first pro bono director.

During the first two years of the pro bono program, SLC worked with more than 300 pro bono volunteers, including lawyers, law students, grad students, and undergraduate students. Collectively, this group provided about 9,000 hours of service. Our vision is to continue to increase the number of volunteers and the scope of their work to integrate pro bono across all areas of legal advocacy.

It is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of former SLC Litigation Director Neil Chonin this past April. Neil joined SLC in spring of 2006 and retired from SLC in 2016. He was a board certified civil trial advocate, having been a trial lawyer spanning a legal career of more than 50 years. Neil was also a prominent, board-certified labor and employment lawyer. He obtained his law and undergraduate degrees from the University of Florida. Neil enjoyed his return to Gainesville to cap off an illustrious legal career with a decade of service to SLC. He was often seen attending UF sporting events and wearing orange and blue to show his school spirit.

As 2019 comes to a close, we at Southern Legal Counsel remain hard at work writing briefs, preparing for upcoming litigation and doing what we do day in and day out to defend your constitutional rights – our constitutional rights – against assault and erosion.

This year we have made progress in several important cases, including the continued defense of the right to share food in public places as a form of protected First Amendment expression, as supported by the federal Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in a landmark opinion.

Southern Legal Counsel attorney Simone Chriss presented about SLC’s innovative transgender services delivery model, FloridaNameChange.org, at the July 24-27 Mazzoni Trans Wellness Conference in Philadelphia, the largest trans-specific conference in the world. Developed by SLC and the Florida Justice Technology Center, FloridaNameChange.org provides online access to the legal name change process in each of Florida’s 67 counties, as well as the process for updating the name and gender marker on all government-issued identification documents.

Abigail Adkins, an Equal Justice Works Fellow sponsored by McDermott Will & Emery and Darden Restaurants Inc., in September began a two-year fellowship at Southern Legal Counsel to expand student mental health services.

Southern Legal Counsel May 29 launched The Hon. William A. Van Nortwick, Jr. Impact for Justice Fund at an event honoring the late Jacksonville lawyer, jurist and renowned champion of statewide civil legal aid and pro bono efforts.

With a goal of raising $500,000 by the end of 2020, SLC will use the fund to ensure it has the legal resources, national experts, litigation expenses, and needed technology to continue providing high-quality representation for the most vulnerable citizens.

With a $98,127 Pro Bono Transformation grant from The Florida Bar Foundation, Southern Legal Counsel has hired Samantha Howell as its first pro bono director and tasked her with integrating pro bono lawyers, law students, psychologists, social workers and other professionals into all aspects of SLC’s litigation and advocacy.

A member of the New York State Bar and the federal bar of the Southern District of New York, Howell most recently served as executive director of the NYS Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. She previously served as pro bono director at Prisoners’ Legal Services, a statewide organization based in Albany, N.Y., where she developed the nation’s only pro bono program tasked specifically with referring civil legal cases involving conditions of confinement for indigent New Yorkers.

Southern Legal Counsel (SLC) seeks an attorney for a newly established position of Pro Bono Director at SLC. The Pro Bono Director will work closely with SLC’s Executive Director, Litigation Director and a Guiding Coalition to establish best practices for and launch a new Pro Bono Impact Team. The Team will be a unique model in Florida with a cadre of lawyers and law firms that are committed to co-counseling with SLC in high impact cases.