the thirteenth JuDiciaL circuit 2018 pro Bono service awarD winners
Pro Bono Committee, Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Chair: Hon. Christopher C. Nash – Thirteenth Judicial Circuit
The Eleventh Annual Circuit Pro Bono Services Awards Ceremony was held on April 19, 2018. The following were honored for their outstanding contributions of pro bono legal services for the poor: attorneys Debra Smietanski, Jon Gatto, and Tori Simmons; paralegal Katherine Kobos; the law firm of Foley & Lardner; and Stetson University College of Law. Circuit practitioners who donated more than twenty hours of pro bono legal work were also recognized. The award nominations were submitted to the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee, chaired by Judge Christopher C. Nash and vice-chaired by Judge Wesley D. Tibbals. The ceremony was hosted by the Committee, the Bay Area Legal Services’ Volunteer Lawyers
Program( BAVLP), and the Hillsborough County Bar Association; and was sponsored by the law firms Foley & Lardner, Hill Ward Henderson, Shutts & Bowen, Carlton Fields, and Quarles & Brady.
The Hillsborough County Bar Association’ s Jimmy Kynes Pro Bono Service Award: Debra Smietanski
Over the course of her 35-year career, Debra Smietanski has made exemplary and extraordinary contributions to pro bono service. Admitted to the Florida Bar in 1983, Ms. Smietanski serves as Special Counsel with Foley & Lardner LLP, where she is a member of the firm’ s Estates & Trusts Practice section. Ms. Smietanski is board-certified by The Florida Bar in Wills, Trusts, and Estates and is also a licensed CPA. Her practice focuses primarily on complex estate planning techniques for high net worth individuals.
Ms. Smietanski’ s pro bono legal work and service to our com- munity exemplify her dedication, profession alism, high level of integrity, and compassion for those less fortunate. Ms. Smietanski has a lengthy history of not only providing pro bono legal services but also promoting and encouraging others to do the same. Ms. Smietanski’ s most noteworthy pro bono project has been the Wills for Heroes program. Wills for Heroes volunteer attorneys prepare estate planning documents for first responders of modest means who otherwise might not take the time to address their estate planning needs. In 2009, Ms. Smietanski heard about the Wills for Heroes program from Foley & Lardner’ s Wisconsin office and became determined to bring the program to the Tampa Bay area. She spent the next two years researching and developing a Tampa program, convincing LexisNexis and others to donate laptops and software, obtaining the approval and sponsorship of the Hillsborough County Bar Association, and recruiting volunteer attorneys. Wills for Heroes was launched in Tampa in October 2011. As a result, volunteer attorneys have provided hundreds of our community’ s first responders with free wills, health care advance directives, and durable powers of attorney.
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