LAKE COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION TO RECEIVE STATEWIDE PRO BONO AWARD
Lake County Bar Association
The Lake County Bar Association is the recipient of the 2024 Voluntary Bar Association Pro Bono Award, which will be presented by Chief Justice Carlos G. Muñiz in a Jan. 18 ceremony streamed live by the Supreme Court of Florida. The award recognizes a Florida voluntary bar that has demonstrated a significant contribution in the delivery of legal services to individuals or groups on a pro bono basis.
The Lake County Bar Association (LCBA), a small but influential voluntary bar association, plays a crucial role in its community through dedicated pro bono work and diverse outreach initiatives.
LCBA has partnered with Community Legal Services on numerous initiatives, helping the legal aid organization in its mission to deliver high quality and responsive legal services to Lake County’s most vulnerable citizens. This partnership provides legal education workshops and legal advice clinics to low-income residents of Lake County, and substantive legal advice training to local attorneys.
Among the most recent of these partnerships is the LCBA’s Sealing & Expungement Clinic, a groundbreaking effort that brings multiple agencies together to offer a “one-stop shop” for clients seeking sealing and expungement services. The annual event, first held in 2022, is supported by LCBA members’ volunteer work and an annual $1,000 contribution to cover indigent participants’ fees.
The clinic provided direct legal services to approximately 30 people in 2022 and 40 in 2023, resulting in nearly a dozen completed sealing or expungement applications. Together, members of the Lake County Bar Association donated well over 100 hours per event, per year, through this annual clinic alone.
The LCBA also serves the community more broadly through its back-to-school supplies and holiday toy drives, and an annual scholarship awarded to a deserving Lake County high school senior, reflecting the association’s commitment to nurturing future generations.
This year’s awards ceremony, which also honors Individual, Circuit, Law Firm, Young Lawyers Division, Distinguished Judicial Service, and Distinguished Federal Judicial Service pro bono efforts, takes place at the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday, Jan. 18, at 3:30 p.m. Watch it live on Facebook, WFSU: Gavel to Gavel and the Florida Channel.
EDITORS: Please note The Florida Bar is not an association and "Association" is not part of our name. Proper reference is "The Florida Bar." Local bar organizations are properly termed "associations."