Lawyers and judges honored for extraordinary pro bono service
Tobias Simon Award recipient Stephen R. Senn cites fight against injustice as a lifelong mission
Stephen R. Senn is the recipient of the 2026 Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award. In the past five years alone, Senn has donated more than 1,000 pro bono hours; however, this represents only a fraction of the cumulative pro bono work Senn has done over decades. Senn has been involved with pro bono work at this high level as far back as the 1990s, starting almost as soon as he became a lawyer in 1990.
“Lawyers fight for justice; we fight against injustice,” said Stephen R. Senn, recipient of the 2026 Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award, the Florida Supreme Court’s highest recognition of a private lawyer for pro bono service.
The Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award commemorates Miami lawyer Tobias Simon, a Harvard educated civil rights attorney known for defending Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in the 1960s. Simon also served as an appellate authority and crusaded for prison reform before passing away in 1982. The award is intended to encourage and recognize extraordinary contributions by Florida lawyers in making legal services available to people who otherwise could not afford them, and to focus public awareness on the substantial voluntary services rendered by Florida lawyers.
“[T]he American system of justice is one of the highest achievements of humanity. But it can be very complex, and the truth is that justice is not always evenly distributed,” said Senn, adding that having a “fair and equal” day in court requires professional help.
“There's always been a justice gap... This court has helped diminish that gap dramatically,” said Senn pointing to the increased IOTA funding to legal aid programs.
Senn was honored with other pro bono award recipients January 22 during the Annual Pro Bono Awards Ceremony at the Supreme Court in Tallahassee.
Chief Justice Carlos G. Muñiz who presented Senn’s award, opened by acknowledging the court’s newest member, Justice Adam Tanenbaum, who joined the court on January 14.
In his introductory remarks, Chief Justice Muñiz pointed out that Florida attorneys provided more than 1.6 million hours of free legal services and contributed $9.6 million to legal aid groups in the most recent reporting period and offered resolution number 18 from David Hoffman's 50 Resolutions in Regard to Professional Deportment as the focus of the ceremony.
“To my clients I will be faithful; and in their cause zealous and industrious. Those who can afford to compensate me, must do so; but I shall never close my ear or heart because my client’s means are low. Those who have none, and who have just causes are, of all others, the best entitled to sue, or be defended; and they shall receive a due portion of my services, cheerfully given,” quoted Muñiz.
Judge Darren D. Farfante
The Chief Justice’s Distinguished Judicial Service Award was presented to Judge Darren D. Farfante of the 13th Judicial Circuit. Among his many volunteer activities, Judge Farfante serves as committee co-chair of the annual 5K Pro Bono River Run; he supports the Volunteer Lawyers Program at Bay Area Legal Services, participating in the Judges Joining Forces effort; he serves as executive chair of the 13th Judicial Circuit Professionalism Committee, as an executive committee member of the Wm. Reese Smith, Jr., Inn of Court, and as past president of the Stan Gibbons Family Law Inn of Court.
Farfante observed that pro bono clients “have legal issues that are intertwined often with difficult, personal family issues, and other issues, which need to be delicately unpacked to give them the legal advice they desperately need. It takes a special individual to do that. And I thank everyone in Hillsborough County for continuing to do that and helping our community through very stressful and overwhelming episodes in their lives,” he said, adding the award will serve as an inspiration in his circuit for future pro bono efforts.
Magistrate Judge Amanda Arnold Sansone
The Distinguished Federal Judicial Service Award, recognizing outstanding and sustained service to the public, especially in support of pro bono legal services, was given to Magistrate Judge Amanda Arnold Sansone, who has served the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa since 2016.
As volunteer judicial liaison overseeing pro se law clinic programs, Judge Sansone has updated and invigorated pro se law clinic programs, led training sessions, and organized a pro bono appreciation and award luncheon. She encourages accountability and structure through her work in the federal reentry program, holding hearings where participants report progress; and she has developed a district-wide review program, said Chief Justice Muñiz.
“You get some, you give some back,” said Judge Sansone, lightheartedly quoting the late Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia. She credits her parents — especially her father, attorney Lynwood Arnold — with instilling that commitment. “For him, it was never a matter of if an attorney does pro bono; it was a matter of maximizing how much pro bono work you can do,” she said.
Padjic & Padjic in Jacksonville received the Law Firm Commendation. The firm has raised more than $1 million for Jacksonville Area Legal Aid through its annual Padjic Yard Golf Tournament, and Jacksonville Area Legal Aid has recognized the firm for 100% pro bono participation multiple times. Chief Justice Muniz recognized the firm’s Bob Link, for his service as lead counsel on an Innocence Project case, and firm partner Tom Slater, who serves on the board of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, including two terms as board president.
Steve Pajcic
Accepting on behalf of the firm was former six-term Florida representative and gubernatorial nominee Steve Pacjic, who recognized many colleagues, friends, and family present for the honor, notably paying homage to his late brother, Gary, with whom he started Padjic & Padjic 50 years ago.
There were two recipients of the Voluntary Bar Association Pro Bono Award: the Bankruptcy Bar Association (BBA) of the Southern District of Florida and The D.W. Perkins Bar Association.
The BBA offers a pro se bankruptcy clinic in partnership with the Southern District Bankruptcy Court and helps clients through a joint pro bono program with Dade Legal Aid and the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County. It has also created a financial literacy committee that offers presentations on responsible credit use and financial management skills for seniors.
Alan Rosenberg
In accepting the award, BBA President Alan Rosenberg recognized the many pro bono volunteers, among them South Florida law students, in presenting monthly pro bono clinics, maintaining a pro bono online scheduling website, and working with nonprofit organizations and schools throughout South Florida to present financial literacy programming. Rosenberg gave special recognition to attendee Tara Trevorrow, who leads the BBA's financial literacy program.
Naphtalie Azor
D.W. Perkins Bar Association President Naphtalie Azor thanked the many contributors to pro bono efforts, saying, “The service recognized today has been faithfully and consistently executed by the presidents who came before me, each building upon the work of their predecessors and ensuring that pro bono service remains central to our mission.”
Bar President Rosalyn Sia Baker-Barnes presented The Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Awards, recognizing one lawyer from each of Florida’s 20 circuits and one out-of-state member for their work on behalf of low-income and disadvantaged clients.
“Florida lawyers have provided millions of pro bono hours to people in need, and more than $9.6 million to legal services organizations,” said Baker-Barnes.
Baker-Barnes offered two examples of the contributions made by the honorees: one of whom dedicated 33 of her 35 years practicing law to advocating for children through the Guardian ad Litem, “representing 84 children across 46 cases, including one case that spanned 15 years,” and a county clerk’s office staffer who was able to establish a self-help center and housing clinic in the courthouse, dramatically improving access to justice for hundreds of people.
“I wish that I could tell you about each and every one of them,” she said.
The honorees include:
- Douglas Alan Bates, First Judicial Circuit
- Randy Murrell, Second Judicial Circuit
- Elizabeth Rosado Brinson, Third Judicial Circuit
- Alexandra Underkofler, Fourth Judicial Circuit
- Reuben S. Williams IV, Fifth Judicial Circuit
- Russell “Jake” Dewberry, Sixth Judicial Circuit
- Dayanna Lopez, Seventh Judicial Circuit
- Elyot Xia-Zhu, Eighth Judicial Circuit
- Mary Doty Solik, Ninth Judicial Circuit
- John Liguori, 10th Judicial Circuit
- Maria Isabel Casablanca, 11th Judicial Circuit
- Katherine M. Fall, 12th Judicial Circuit
- Daniela Estefany Mendez, 13th Judicial Circuit
- Richard D. Ogburn, 14th Judicial Circuit
- Alan Roy Crane, 15th Judicial Circuit
- Joseph S. Mack, 16th Judicial Circuit
- Suzanne M. Busser, 17th Judicial Circuit
- John N. Knutton, 18th Judicial Circuit
- Jennifer N. White, 19th Judicial Circuit
- Kristianna Rodriguez Soto, 20th Judicial Circuit
- Amy Thome, out-of-state
Bar President Rosalyn Sia Baker-Barnes with The Florida Bar President's Pro Bono Service Award winners at the Florida Supreme Court in Tallahassee.
More information about each of the 2026 Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award recipients can be found in the January 20 News article, “21 Florida lawyers to receive Pro Bono Service Awards in Supreme Court ceremony Thursday.”
YLD President Arti Hirani, right, presents the YLD Pro Bono Service Award to Anne V. Piervil of Orlando.
Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division President Arti Hirani presented the YLD Pro Bono Service Award to Anne V. Piervil of Orlando, commending her work with Florida Legal Services as an Equal Justice Works fellow where she represented more than 60 clients during her fellowship.
Working in partnership with a local health clinic, Piervil established a medical-legal partnership to serve farm workers, coordinating support to ensure that every person had access to representation. Piervil is also immediate past president of the Haitian Lawyers Association.
“Anne shows up. What is not on her resume, nor on a sheet fact, is that when she was faced with situations where she could not personally represent every individual at a clinic, Anne made it her mission to ensure that no one walked away without help,” Hirani said.
“My life and my career are rooted in service,” Piervil said. “From a very young age, I knew that I wanted to help people; to pursue a career where I could make a meaningful difference in the lives of others, and especially my local community. Becoming an attorney has allowed me to do exactly that.”
