Miami to Palm Beach lawyers lauded for representing vulnerable clients with free work
Giving an overabundance of something for nothing financial earned five attorneys from the Florida Keys to Palm Beach, three South Florida judges and a Hollywood law firm laudatory notice at The Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Awards.
Though the Florida Bar requires its members to report annually the amount of pro bono work done, there is no actual minimum requirement. The Bar considers 20 hours of work done pro bono — “short for “pro bono publico,” a Latin term that means “for the public good,” as Georgetown Law explains — or $350 given to legal aid organizations’ “aspirational” goals for a year.
Free work can be good work. For example, the Miami-Dade civil court summary judgment in December against Fort Lauderdale mover Shawn Thompson, who’s been accused of extorting numerous customers, came from a case worked pro bono by Rasheed Nader of Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton.
READ MORE: Mover added $3,000 of fraudulent charges, then hid a Miami woman’s furniture and clothes
Here in alphabetical order are this year’s honorees from South Florida, who received their awards during a Jan. 18 ceremony.
U.S. Southern District of Florida Judge Beth Bloom and Judge Robin Rosenberg
The Distinguished Federal Judicial Service Award spotlights a judge — or, in this case, judges — for “outstanding and sustained service to the public especially as it relates to support of pro bono legal services.”
The bar honors Miami federal court Judge Beth Bloom and West Palm Beach federal court Judge Robin Rosenberg, joint creators of the Civil Discourse and Difficult Decisions Program (CD3).
The U.S. federal courts website describes the program as “a national initiative of the federal courts that brings high school and college students into federal courthouses for legal proceedings that arise from situations in which law-abiding young people can find themselves.”
The Bar says students from more than 30 high schools and colleges have participated in CD3, and it now includes first-year students at Duke Law School, Rosenberg’s alma mater (Bloom’s a University of Miami School of Law graduate).
Gedeon & Morales Law Group
Nadine Gedeon and Cristina Morales, a pair of 2014 St. Thomas University School of Law graduates, founded Gedeon & Morales Law Group in 2017. Their Hollywood firm received the 2014 Law Firm Commendation after putting in “more than a thousand” pro bono hours in 2023.
“In the past year, Gedeon has provided pro bono representation for five cases and low-fee (low bono) representation for eight cases,” the Florida Bar said. “She also devotes time each week to visit Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center, where she meets with recent immigrants, recognizing the challenges many of them face because they can’t afford a lawyer.”
Meanwhile, Morales “provided pro bono representation to a Cuban political activist in a 2019 case and handled six pro bono asylum cases between 2022 and 2023 — a combined 900 hours of pro bono service.”
Alvin Lodish, Miami
Alvin Lodish, a bar member since 1986, was the circuit honoree for Florida’s 11th Judicial Circuit, Miami-Dade County.
Lodish works for pay as a partner at the Duane Morris law firm. The Bar says that he “has dedicated more than 500 hours to pro bono services, helping countless underprivileged children who have been abused, abandoned or neglected.”
Lodish volunteers at the Children’s Legal Collaborative, a joint effort of the state’s Guardian ad Litem program and Dade Legal Aid that says its role is “to ensure that every child’s voice is heard in Dependency, Delinquency, Family, Immigration, Probate, and Domestic Violence Court.”
A Duane Morris representative emailed a statement from Lodish, “I went through a difficult time, and if it weren’t for my family and a high school teacher who saw my value, I could have easily been on the other side of the law.”
Michaèl’s Déborah Saint-Vil, Miami
To be eligible for the Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division Pro Bono Service award, the lawyer must have been in practice five years or less and be under 35. Michaèl’s Déborah Saint-Vil joined the Bar in 2018. She was born in December 1988 in Brooklyn and was raised in Haiti before the family moved to North Carolina.
Saint-Vil manages the Office of New Americans of Miami-Dade’s Immigration Legal Services and has done significant work with the Florida Immigrant Coalition, Legal Services of Greater Miami and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.
“Saint-Vil is a passionate advocate for fellow immigrants, serving as supervising attorney for Catholic Legal Services, ADOM Inc.,” the Bar said. “CLS provides legal services to immigrants of any faith or national origin who cannot otherwise afford representation. In her role at CLS, Saint-Vil trains newer attorneys, provides legal services, and educates the vulnerable immigrant population about their rights.”
Judge Bertila Soto, Miami-Dade County
Judge Bertila Soto, of the 11th Judicial Circuit serving Miami-Dade County, is the recipient of the 2024 Distinguished Judicial Service Award for “outstanding and sustained service to the public especially as it relates to support of pro bono legal services.”
During Soto’s seven years as the 11th Judicial Circuit Chief Judge, the circuit started the G.R.A.C.E. Court – Growth Renewed through Acceptance, Change and Empowerment.
“According to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, G.R.A.C.E. Court is the first specialized court in the nation devoted to the needs of children who have been identified as victims of commercial sexual exploitation and labor trafficking,” the court said.
(Florida is perennially among the leaders in calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, ranking third behind No. 1 California and No. 2 Texas, accordint to the most recent statistics.)
Also during those years, the Bar says, Soto helped recruit more than 3,000 new attorneys for the Dade Legal Aid Put Something Back pro bono project. She also helped create the Unified Children’s Court, which created one place for family law cases that fell under multiple court jurisdictions.
Jonathan Taylor, Fort Lauderdale
Jonathan Taylor, an associate at Moffa, Sutton, & Donnini, and a Bar member since 2011, was the lawyer honored from Florida’s 17th Judicial Circuit, Broward County.
The Bar said since 2021, Taylor’s donated 135 hours to the Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office’s Defending Best Interest Project, which the office says “recruits pro bono attorneys who write answer briefs in appeals of cases where a judge has determined (termination of parental rights) is in the child’s best interests.”
Taylor recently helped a pair of sisters get adopted by the family caring for them.
Tom Woods, Islamorada
Islamorada’s Tom Woods, a Bar member since 2001, was honored for his work in Monroe County, Florida’s 16th Judicial Circuit, particularly with the Guardian ad Litem program.
In cases involving kids who have suffered abuse, a Guardian ad Litem attorney will represent that child or children.
“In his two decades with GAL, Woods has acquired a reputation as a dependable volunteer who can be available at a moment’s notice to appear in court and provide the high-quality representation GAL’s children depend on,” the Bar said.
Matthew Zimmerman, West Palm Beach
Matthew Zimmerman, a Bar member since 2005 and partner in Holland & Knight’s West Palm Beach office, was the honoree from Palm Beach County, Florida’s 15th Judicial Circuit.
The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeal confirmed that sexual harassment is a form of gender discrimination because of a case Zimmerman, other HK attorneys and the Legal Aid Society handled on a pro bono basis for Rita Fox, a single mother.
Fox said Jupiter apartment complex manager Dana Gaines, the complex owner’s son, required not only rent for her to remain in her apartment, but sexual favors. Limited housing options cajoled Fox into submitting to Gaines’ extortion. When she stopped, Gaines said she was late on rent, violated her lease and started the eviction process.
“At trial, Ms. Fox’s trial team emphasized that a landlord cannot take away a tenant’s place to sleep because the tenant would not sleep with the landlord,” Holland & Knight stated.
The attorneys won compensatory and punitive damages for Fox as well as $125,000 in attorney’s fees that were donated to the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County.
In another team-up with the Legal Aid Society, Zimmerman led a team that represented owners at North Palm Beach’s Sandpiper Village.
“They successfully defended against bulk buyer Piper Ventures, which sought to terminate the condo agreement and force remaining owners out with low-ball offers,” Holland & Knight stated. “A Palm Beach County Circuit Court judge ruled in favor of the residents, affirming their rights under Florida law to fair market value for their properties and protecting minority condominium owners from the influence of bulk owners.”
