S P E C I A L
F E A T U R E
2019 Florida Bar Pro Bono Service Awards
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HCBa Members recognized by
The Florida Bar for pro Bono service
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everal HCBA members were recently
recognized by The Florida Bar for their great
work in the community at its annual Pro Bono
Service awards ceremony on February 7, held
at the Supreme Court of Florida.
Tori Simmons of the Hill Ward Henderson Tampa
office received the 2019 Florida Bar Young Lawyers
Division Pro Bono Service Award. The award recognizes
public service or legal aid performed by a lawyer who is
35 or younger or who has not practiced for more than
five years.
Simmons consistently donates more than 150 hours
per year in pro bono legal services on matters such as
guardianship, eviction/landlord-tenant disputes, disso -
lution of marriage, child support, domestic violence,
general representation for nonprofit organizations, and
representing children in foster care.
In 2014, she began coordinating her firm’s involvement
in Project H.E.L.P., which offers free weekly legal clinics
at Metropolitan Ministries for people who are homeless
or impoverished. In 2015, Simmons became a volunteer
attorney for Crossroads For Florida Kids and became the
pro bono coordinator for Hill Ward Henderson.
Currently she represents two siblings in foster care.
In 2016, she began volunteering at the Domestic
Violence Injunction Clinic at the Hillsborough County
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courthouse. And last year, Simmons worked on the
merger of two nonprofits – Trinity Cafe, Inc., merging
into Feeding Tampa Bay as of Jan. 1, 2019.
Simmons is a member of the 13th Judicial Circuit’s Pro
Bono Committee and represented that committee to assist
in launching the Pro Bono Matters website in Tampa.
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The Tampa office of Foley & Lardner LLP also
was recognized at the Pro Bono Awards ceremony with
the Florida Bar’s 2019 Law Firm Commendation. From
2015 through 2017, Foley & Lardner’s Tampa attorneys
donated 5,598 hours of pro bono hours to countless
clients and projects. One-hundred percent of Foley &
Lardner attorneys participate in pro bono service. In its
nomination of the law firm, the Volunteer Lawyers
Program of Bay Area Legal Services praised the firm
for its help with VLP’s Case Referral Panel, Intake
Clinic and Mentor Panel as well as the Community
Counsel Program, which provides pro bono
transactional legal assistance to nonprofit organizations
that serve the poor. Foley attorneys have donated more
than 1,900 hours to the Volunteer Lawyers Program
and worked on at least 140 cases.
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MAR - APR 2019
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HCBA LAWYER