Pro Bono Awards: Law Firm Commendation April 1, 2002 Regular News THE LAW FIRM COMMENDATIONPresented by Chief Justice Charles Wells The purpose of the Law Firm Commendation is to recognize, when appropriate, a law firm which has demonstrated a significant contribution in the delivery of legal services to individuals or groups on a pro bono basis. Unlike the Tobias Simon and Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Awards, the Law Firm Commendation is not an annual award. Markowitz, Davis, Ringel & Trusty, P.A. Miami The law firm of Markowitz, Davis, Ringel & Trusty, P.A. was established in 1980 by longtime friends Jerry M. Markowitz, Joseph I. Davis, Jr., and Thomas Ringel. This union has resulted in the growth of a multi-disciplinary, mid-sized civil practice law firm with a remarkable devotion to community service, dedication to the needs of employees, knowledge of the law and commitment to its clients. The lawyers are passionate about their pro bono work, a labor of love that has touched the lives of thousands — single mothers, working families and senior citizens facing financial difficulties; immigrants unable to communicate in their own language; grieving families and clergy facing ‘end of life’ decisions; the victims of domestic violence; and the elderly, poor and disadvantaged in need of legal counsel and advice. In 2001, the firm’s partners and associates devoted more than 2,200 hours to pro bono work, and for many years, 100 percent of the firm’s lawyers have delivered pro bono legal services. This statistic is merely the most recent manifestation of a deeply held belief that the grant of a license to practice law comes with the responsibility to serve those who do not have the financial ability to hire a lawyer. Each of the firm’s five shareholders are active community leaders, some serving as officers and directors of some of South Florida’s leading civic and charitable organizations. Since its inception, the firm has received any number of pro bono clients through referrals from the federal and state trial and appellate courts. For over a decade, individual lawyers have worked thousands of hours on pro bono cases. In the early 1990s the firm formalized a relationship with Put Something Back, a joint pro bono project of the 11th Judicial Circuit and Dade County Bar Association, to provide the indigent with access to the civil court system in Miami-Dade County and regularly takes pro bono cases to provide representation to the indigent community in the Southern District of Florida. Jerry M. Markowitz, managing shareholder, is one of South Florida’s leading business and bankruptcy reorganization law practitioners. Markowitz is listed in the directory of Best Lawyers in America. He is a founding member and treasurer of the Florida Receivers Forum, past vice chair of The Florida Bar 11th Judicial Circuit “J” Grievance Committee, and founding sponsor of the Bankruptcy Bar Association of the Southern District of Florida. As the founder of the Annual Bankruptcy Skills Workshop, he gives his time each year as a program co-chair and serves as volunteer, mentor and lecturer at the Bankruptcy Assistance Clinic, a joint program of the Bankruptcy Bar Foundation of the Southern District of Florida, Put Something Back, and the St. Thomas University School of Law. The Bankruptcy Assistance Clinic is the first of its kind in Florida and only one of several such programs nationwide. Currently, the clinic is comprised of 12 law students who, under the guidance of lawyers from the association, including Markowitz, provide free legal services to indigent clients. In addition, he is among a handful of local attorneys who have agreed to act as mentors in the Mentoring Attorney Professionalism Program (MAPP) that provides guidance to newly admitted members of The Florida Bar and instills the importance of professionalism. Founding shareholder Joseph I. Davis, Jr., is a distinguished litigation attorney and is active in the Jewish community. He serves as co-chair of the Holocaust Survivors Committee of Jewish Community Services of South Florida, is a board member of Jewish Community Services, is a member of its legal issues committee and is also co-chair of its Food Service Committee. Davis is a founding member of the University of Florida Hillel Alumni Council and has served as a committee chair for the Maccabi Games hosted by the Dave and Mary Alper Jewish Community Center. Thomas Ringel, an accomplished real estate practitioner for almost a quarter of a century, has served in leadership roles on many of South Florida’s civic, cultural and religious charities. Most recently, he has been named one of the five founding members of the Charter Commission for the Village of Palmetto Bay. The Charter Commission is charged with the responsibility of drafting the first municipal charter in order to balance the needs of area residents’ desire for local government with the need not to unduly harm the remainder of the unincorporated county. Candis Trusty, a probate, guardianship and elder law attorney, is a longtime champion of pro bono legal services to the poor and disadvantaged. Trusty is repeatedly called upon by the probate court for the 11th Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County to represent, on a pro bono basis, incapacitated indigent persons. For years, in situations where, because of insufficient resources, the Public Guardian is statutorily prohibited from accepting additional appointments, Trusty has accepted court appointments as a pro bono guardian ad litem to investigate, report and recommend to the court on ‘end of life’ decisions. For many years, Ms. Trusty has played a major role in educating other lawyers about probate and guardianship law. Through the Dade County Bar Association Guardianship and Probate Committee and in conjunction with Put Something Back, Trusty has helped organize, develop and establish ongoing seminars. During her tenure as the president of the South Miami Kendall Bar Association, Trusty helped organize and create a free legal help table. Staffed by lawyers, the effort was organized to reach people who would not ordinarily seek the counsel of lawyers, but who nevertheless have questions about the law. In 1992 and 1994, Trusty received the South Miami-Kendall Bar Association Pro Bono Volunteer of the Year Award. Thomas Messana, a noted bankruptcy attorney, was the 2000 President of the Bankruptcy Bar Association of the Southern District of Florida. He has spearheaded the effort to create the Bankruptcy Bar Foundation of the Southern District of Florida whose goal is to raise $500,000 within five years. To date, the foundation has raised in excess of $100,000. One of the foundation’s inaugural programs is to underwrite a Bankruptcy Assistance Clinic. Messana has worked with other attorneys on a consumer education project which helps educate indigent pro se debtors about their rights in bankruptcy. Through Messana’s effort, the consumer information guide has been translated into Spanish and Creole and distributed to these underserved communities who reside in large numbers throughout the state of Florida. Inspired by its shareholders, the law firm’s philosophy inculcates all attorneys into a culture committed to providing pro bono legal services. For example, in 1999, the firm’s lawyers led the charge to meet a critical unmet need for volunteer lawyers in emergency domestic violence situations by creating domestic violence training seminars. Since the initial seminar conducted in their offices, Mark Gatica, an attorney with the firm, has distinguished himself in providing hundreds of volunteer hours to clients referred by Put Something Back. Typically, a client will appear on short notice before a scheduled hearing on a victim’s request for a permanent injunction against domestic violence. Gatica has obtained many injunctions in spousal and domestic abuse cases to protect victims who do not have the ability to pay attorneys’ fees. For the past three years, firm lawyers Darrel T. King and Jonathan S. Leiderman have conducted clinics on small claims court. These clinics are designed to help pro se litigants understand the court process and to assist them in advancing their claims. jurisdiction, all of these matters are less than $2,500 in controversy, and experience shows most of these matters are less than $1,000; however, to the aggrieved party, who are often on the verge of poverty, every dollar is significant. Gerald W. Pierre, an attorney with the firm, mentored a high school student enrolled in a legal magnet program at Miami Senior High School. Rachel Lopate Rubio, a law clerk awaiting admission to the Bar, serves as a guardian ad litem and works on cases for Lawyers for Children. The firm’s practice areas focus on bankruptcy and workouts, receiverships, creditors’ rights, mediation-arbitration services, commercial litigation, probate and guardianship, elder law, civil litigation, family and real estate law. The firm was the 2000 recipient of the Dade County Bar Association Put Something Back Pro Bono Award as the “Exceptional Law Firm,” and in 1999 was honored with a Certificate of Appreciation from Metropolitan Dade County for its pro bono contributions to the community. In 1998, the firm received the DadeCounty Bar Association “Put Something Back” Pro BonoAward for Probate and Guardianship. Markowitz, Davis, Ringel & Trusty, P.A. is guided by a different spirit, a rare kind of caring for the needs of others matched by an abiding respect for professional excellence and the law. any measure, the lawyers of Markowitz, Davis, Ringel & Trusty, P.A. demonstrate the finest tradition of volunteer service to the poor and disadvantaged that the Bar has to offer. Click here for more Pro Bono Awards Ceremony coverage.
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