Five South Florida attorneys were honored for their volunteer legal work
Contrary to the old saying, time isn’t money — money can be replaced. Time can’t. And awards lauded five South Florida attorneys Thursday for the time they give with free legal work.
Four attorneys — Coral Gables’ Mary Lou Rodon, Fort Lauderdale’s Jill Ginsburg, Tavernier’s Joseph Mack, Boca Raton’s Jay Mussman — each will receive a Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award, which is given to one attorney in each Florida judicial district and one Florida Bar member practicing outside the state.
Hallandale Beach’s Anthony Musto will get the state’s highest pro bono honor, the 2021 Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award, from state Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles T. Canady.
In order of district:
From the 11th Judicial District (Miami-Dade County), Coral Gables’ Mary Lou Rodon. The Bar says Rodon does most of her pro bono work through Dade Legal Aid/Put Something Back, which offers free legal help to eligible people on issues from domestic violence to bankruptcy to patents.
“Beyond the Put Something Back Project, Rodon has volunteered 515 hours on matters in Dependency Court, where she handled home studies, home visits, hospital and mental health hospital visits and juvenile detention visits,” the Bar says. “Protecting children is Rodon’s life’s work.”
Rodon went to the University of Miami School of Law and was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1982.
From the 15th Judicial District (Palm Beach County), Boca Raton’s Jay Mussman. Many of Mussman’s pro bono clients need his help with one of the scariest legal monsters around.
Mussman, the Bar says, does most of his pro bono work through the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County’s Low Income Taxpayer Clinic and Florida Rural Legal Services’ Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, “each of which assists individuals involved in tax controversies with the IRS.”
The Bar says while with Dade Legal Aid, Mussman developed a mentoring program to draw other attorneys to pro bono work.
“For Mussman, ensuring equal access to justice is at the core of what it means to be an attorney,” the Bar says.
Mussman graduated form the University of Miami School of Law and was admitted to the Bar in 1988.
From the 16th Judicial District (Monroe County), Tavernier’s Joseph Mack. Mack began practicing law in Maryland in 2005 and was doing pro bono work in Florida under another attorney’s supervision before joining the Bar.
“When COVID-19 paralyzed the rural communities of Monroe County,” the Bar said, “Mack assisted with Section 8 housing cases, landlord tenant cases, family law matters including child custody disputes, and assisting individuals with sealing/expungement and restoration of civil rights so that they can secure gainful employment.”
Mack went to the University of Maryland Law School and joined the Florida Bar in 2019.
From the 17th Judicial District (Broward County), Fort Lauderdale’s Jill Ginsberg. Most of Ginsberg’s work with Legal Aid of Broward County is with the Mission United Veterans Pro Bono Legal Project, which helps veterans in civil legal matters. Ginsberg was the 2015 Mission United Star Attorney Award.
Ginsberg went to Brooklyn Law School and joined the Florida Bar in 1989.
Musto has recorded more than 1,200 hours of pro bono service, much of it handling juvenile dependency and delinquency appeals
The Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award goes to Hallandale Beach’s Anthony Musto. When the American Bar Association wanted training videos for attorneys doing pro bono work in the Rio Grande Valley border area representing adults and unaccompanied children in federal custody, the ABA came to Musto.
That indicates the respect Musto, an adjunct professor at St. Thomas School of Law, has gained for his pro bono work since joining the Florida Bar in 1975.
His work with the Florida Guardian ad Litem Program earned him their Children’s Champion Award. The Bar credits Musto with creating the Broward County Attorney’s Office pro bono program, which it says became a model for similar programs around the country. In an ABA website interview, Musto ranks the creation of that program as one of his two biggest career highlights.
“Musto also created two statewide pro bono programs,” the Bar says, “one to address the legal needs of teenagers aging out of the foster care system and one to help human trafficking victims obtain sealing and expunction of records for crimes committed while under the influence of their traffickers.”
This story was originally published January 28, 2021 at 3:55 PM.
