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Pro Bono Attorney of the Month Suzanne Judas receives The Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award

01/23/2012
By Kathy Para, The JBA Pro Bono Committee Chairwoman

Suzanne Judas is the recipient of the 2012 Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award for the Fourth Judicial Circuit.
Ms. Judas is extremely passionate about pro bono work and has been depicting that passion for many years. As chair of the Committee for the Public Good in Holland & Knight’s Jacksonville office, she has organized and put structure to the office’s pro bono work, and has promoted that work as an important part of the values on which the firm was founded, resulting in the Jacksonville office of Holland & Knight winning a firmwide contest with 100 percent of the office’s attorneys participating in pro bono work in our community.

Ms. Judas practices in the area of general civil litigation with a focus on admiralty and maritime law, media and communications and personal injury. She also practices in the area of general corporation transactions, including formation, contract matters and advising on issues related to insurance, non-competes, pensions, and sales and marketing.

Ms. Judas has spent 486 hours working on pro bono matters and helping coordinate projects in the office. She also has challenged other local attorneys to participate as well. Ms. Judas lends her talents to many local nonprofit businesses and organizations. For example, she helped solve an immigration problem for the wife of an Air Force sergeant through the ABA’s military pro bono program. She also helped coordinate and assign legal health checkups for Florida’s Children First and she helped find a guardian for a developmentally disabled foster child through the Guardian ad Litem Program.

Pro Bono is derived from the phrase pro bono publico, meaning “for the good of the public,” according to the award instructions.

“The purpose of these awards is to encourage more Florida lawyers to freely contribute their time and expertise in providing legal services to people in their community who cannot otherwise afford those services,” the instructions stated. The awards are intended to provide recognition to lawyers who have made an outstanding contribution in this area.

Suzanne Judas will attend the awards ceremony on Jan. 26 in Tallahassee at the Florida Supreme Court. Her colleagues in the Fourth Judicial Circuit applaud her pro bono contributions and this well-earned recognition.

Attorneys interested in pro bono opportunities throughout the Circuit are encouraged to contact Kathy Para, Chairperson, Pro Bono Committee for The Jacksonville Bar Association, Kathy.para@jaxlegalaid.org.

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Alexia Nechayev

FYS Events & Meeting Chair
(Palm Beach/Miami)

Alexia Nechayev, from Miami, Florida, is a dedicated advocate for youth with lived experience in foster care and with homelessness. After being placed in foster care as a teenager, Alexia experienced firsthand the stigma surrounding the system, as well as the challenges of navigating a system that didn’t provide support for her to advocate for herself. This experience motivated her to create change, ensuring that other youth in care have the tools and resources she lacked.

She graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Florida International University, and upon graduation worked as a Hope Navigator with the Department of Children and Families which allowed her to assist clients through individualized care plans, further deepening her commitment to improving the lives of marginalized youth. Alexia is now applying to law schools with the goal of advancing her advocacy work through a legal career. As the Events and Meetings Chair for Florida Youth SHINE (FYS), she creates opportunities for foster and homeless youth to collaborate and push for meaningful change. She is also an active member of the Policy and Initiative Team for Florida Youth SHINE, where she helps create and shape policies that directly impact youth in foster care. One of her proudest accomplishments is helping to develop the Foster Care Bill of Rights, a law that she feels would have made a difference during her own time in care.

In addition to her work with FYS, Alexia serves on the Board of Directors for the parent organization of FYS, Florida’s Children First. In this role, she contributes to strategic decision-making while advocating for the rights and welfare of children statewide.

Every year, she travels to the state capitol to advocate for bills she and her peers have helped shape, including key pieces of legislation that benefit foster and homeless youth. However her advocacy extends beyond her state, as she represents Florida Youth SHINE at national conferences such as the National Leaders 4 Change Conference.

Through her internship with the National Foster Youth Institute, Alexia continues to refine her advocacy skills, preparing for a future where she can contribute meaningfully to both policymaking and the legal system. Guided by the belief that “the blue sky is always there,” she remains committed to ensuring that every youth in foster care has the power and support to advocate for themselves.

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