Coral Gables, Fort Lauderdale, Keys and Boca lawyers honored for free legal work
Four South Florida lawyers who put exceptional time and effort into their pro bono work were honored Thursday at the state Supreme Court with The Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Awards.
These individual awards figuratively give flowers to one lawyer based in each of Florida’s judicial districts and one Florida Bar member doing work outside of the state. Thursday’s ceremony also included honors for pro bono work by a law firm, a young lawyer, voluntary bar associations, as well as distinguished service by federal judges and other judges based in Florida.
In numerical order of the judicial district:
Maria Isabel Casablanca, 11th Judicial Circuit, Miami-Dade County
Almost since immigration attorney Maria Casablanca was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1989, three years after Georgia State College of Law graduation, she has been doing pro bono work in her bailiwick.
“Casablanca began her legal career at Catholic Social Services, representing indigent immigrants in deportation (removal) proceedings, and has been fighting for the rights of immigrants ever since,” the Florida Bar said. “Casablanca has fought multiple years-long battles on behalf of individual clients, helping refugees fleeing persecution and wars secure life-saving protections and services in the U.S.”
Casablanca is now Of Counsel at Coral Gables’ Kurzban Kurzban Tetzeli & Pratt.
Alan R. Crane, 15th Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County
Alan Crane, admitted to the Bar in 1992 after graduating Nova Southeastern College of Law earlier that year, puts in enough pro bono time on bankruptcy, family law and consumer debt that he also received this award in 2011.
“He zealously advocates on behalf of his clients and always finds a way to help the most vulnerable among us,” the Florida Bar said. “Crane accepts cases directly from the Legal Aid Society and from the Bankruptcy Bar Association of the Southern District of Florida through their partnership with the Legal Aid. He also serves as a mentor to the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County Bankruptcy Assistance Project (BAP).”
Crane is a partner at Boca Raton’s Furr Cohen.
Joseph S. Mack, 16th Judicial Circuit, Monroe County
Tavernier attorney Joseph Mack joined the Florida Bar in 2019 when he brought his expertise in fighting for tenant rights and proper credit reporting to the Keys from Baltimore. The University of Maryland Law School graduate maintains practices in Florida and Maryland.
“Mack’s service to clients in Key West is remarkable because Mack, who lives in the Upper Keys, routinely drives over 90 miles to provide services,” the Bar said.
Suzanne M. Busser, 17th Judicial Circuit, Broward County
Over the last two years, Suzanne Busser, a University of Miami Law School graduate who joined the Florida Bar in 2017, has put in over 625 of pro bono work.
Busser does pro bono work for active military through the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs GI LAW Program. She also handled the case of a Brazilian woman trying to get her daughter back after the woman’s ex-husband took the child out of the country.
“Busser’s team successfully filed a Hague Convention petition (filed for the return of a child illegally taken out of a country) on behalf the client, in a process that took nearly a year,” the Bar said. “Once the legal matters were resolved, the team worked with a nonprofit organization to house the child until flights could be scheduled and provided a social worker to escort the child on her flight to Brazil.”
Busser is a Holland & Knight partner working out of the Fort Lauderdale office.
Other honors
This year’s Law Firm Commendation went to The Law Firm of Pajcic & Pajcic of Jacksonville. Orlando’s Anne Piervil received the Young Lawyers Division Pro Bono Service Award for her work with farmworkers and immigrants, especially in the Haitian and Venezuelan communities.
Judge Darren Farfante of the 13th Judicial District, which covers Hillsborough County, and U.S. Middle District Judge Amanda Sansone were, resepctively, the Distinguished Judicial Service and Distinguised Federal Judicial Service honoree. The Bankruptcy Bar Association of the Southern District of Florida and the D.W. Perkins Bar Association shared the Voluntary Bar Association Pro Bono Award.
