Legal Aid of Manasota, Inc.

Attention, attorneys! You have until August to report your pro bono or make an "in lieu of" contribution to Legal Aid of Manasota. We'll make it easy (and more affordable!): simply click the button below. Please consider a recurring $30 monthly donation, honoring what the Florida Supreme Court suggests each attorney contribute annually to promote legal assistance. That's just $1 a day—and every single dollar given to Legal Aid of Manasota generates $7.19 in local economic impact for our most vulnerable neighbors. In 2023, we answered 22,000 calls from people seeking help—and the need continues this year. Your time and talent are essential to justice. Thank you for making your mark on our community!

This is why we do what we do. We recently received this thank-you letter from a client who received assistance from one of our dedicated pro bono attorneys. We’re so glad we were able to step in and provide the client with the legal support they needed.

Congratulations to Dickinson & Gibbons, P.A. attorney and Legal Aid of Manasota board member Deborah Blue for being named to the 2024 Florida Super Lawyers list!

From all of us at Legal Aid of Manasota, happy Fourth of July! Wishing you a safe and festive holiday.

Thank you so much to the Sarasota Chapter of the Florida Association For Women Lawyers for inviting Legal Aid of Manasota to present our pro bono awards at their recent judicial reception! The Hon. Charles Williams presented the awards, with Gold Pins going to the attorneys who gave more than 100 hours of pro bono service: Tyler Brown (Outstanding Service by a Young Lawyer), Neil Lyons (Pro Bono Innovation Award), and Allison Archbold (Judge Robert B. Bennett, Jr. Pro Bono Excellence Award). We are so grateful to our local attorneys for their pro bono work!

Congratulations to Shutts & Bowen LLP partner John Patterson, a longtime Legal Aid of Manasota volunteer, who was recently presented with the G. Kirk Haas Award for meritorious service to the legal profession. Outgoing The Florida Bar President Scott Westheimer selected John as the award recipient and then presented the award at the bar's 2024 Convention. Award recipients select a Florida law school, which then awards a scholarship to a second-year student who demonstrates an exceptionally high degree of integrity, ethics, professionalism, and a concern for others. John will select the Levin College of Law at the University of Florida as the law school recipient. John has served as the president and a director of Funding Florida Legal Aid. He is a former member of the Board of Governors of The Florida Bar, served on the Bar’s Investment Committee and Certification Plan Appeals Committee, and chaired the Strategic Planning Committee. He currently serves on the Pro Bono Legal Services Committee. He is a past president of the Sarasota County Bar Association, served on the board of Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinics, and now serves on the finance committee of Sarasota Memorial Hospital. Congratulations on this much-deserved recognition, John!

Attention, Sarasota County homeowners affected by Hurricane Ian! You are invited to apply for the Resilient SRQ Housing Recovery Program. The county has been awarded $201.5 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program. Of this, $55 million is allocated to the Housing Recovery Program (HRP), which offers rehabilitation, reconstruction and reimbursement to eligible homeowners. The HRP prioritizes low-to-moderate-income individuals, serving as a crucial funding source to address unmet needs resulting from Hurricane Ian. Homeowners can read more about the program and begin the application process by completing an interest survey online at https://lnkd.in/gb3uS4Y2

On last week’s episode of WSLR+Fogartyville's “Peace & Justice Report,” former Sarasota County commissioner and Gulf Coast Community Foundation Director of Community Investment Jon Thaxton spoke to a topic that’s on all of our minds: affordable housing in Sarasota and Manatee counties. In the conversation, Thaxton, a longtime affordable housing advocate, advocated for a local funding source for affordable housing and for putting the onus on luxury developers. In 2023, nearly 40 percent of the pro bono cases our team took on were related to housing. We encourage you to listen to this conversation to learn more about the challenges local residents are facing: https://lnkd.in/eB7T8ZdE

Like many of his fellow young attorneys, Tyler Brand Stall is passionate about giving back to the community. Tyler graduated from The George Washington University and he received his J.D. from Emory University School of Law. He is now a partner at Sarasota’s HUTTON & DOMINKO, PLLC, where he specializes in complex commercial litigation. His cases span the gamut from business and real estate disputes to trust and estate litigation and more. In addition to his day job, Stall is currently a director and slated to become the next President of the Sarasota County Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division, was selected as a fellow in The Florida Bar Business Law Section’s Fellows Program for 2022-2024, and volunteers with Legal Aid of Manasota, where his pro bono work—he’s dedicated more than 100 hours to Legal Aid clients—was recognized by the Florida Supreme Court. Stall says he loves working in Sarasota because of the camaraderie he’s found here. Despite the city’s growth, he says, it retains its small-town feel and sense of connectedness. Click to read more about his commitment to helping our community through volunteering with Legal Aid of Manasota——and why he feels all young attorneys can benefit from doing so. https://lnkd.in/eZvTwRQU

Last week, you read our interview with Assistant State Attorney Forest Sutton—and this week, we want to share his wonderful article about the power of pro bono and the work we do at Legal Aid of Manasota in the Sarasota County Bar Association's Docket newsletter. “Pro bono fills both an ethical and professional requirement set out by the Florida Bar. But beyond that, pro bono provides us with invaluable opportunities for professional growth and development,” Forest writes. “It allows lawyers to expand their skill set, gain courtroom experience, and tackle legal issues outside their usual practice areas. [...] It’s true – we have obligations to ourselves, our loved ones, and our clients. But every now and then, consider whether you have the ability to stretch just a little for the community in which we live. Consider donating your time, energy, or financial resources to LAM and other local nonprofits that have a meaningful impact on the world around us – an impact that billable hours could never achieve.” Read the full Docket article here: https://joom.ag/Aptd/p30