First our first luncheon of the year, we are celebrating pro bono work. Our esteemed panelists are The Honorable Suzanne Van Wyk, Immediate Past President of the Florida Bar Foundation, Aaron Irving, Director of Pro Bono and Family Law Low Bono (FLARE) at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, Krizia Gonzalez-Colon, Pro Bono Coordinator at Three Rivers Legal Services, Kathy Pannell, Missing Link Co-Founder, Melina Buncome, 2023 Florida Bar Pro Bono Award Winner, and our moderator will be the inspirational Kathy Para. This program will emphasize the importance of pro bono work and explore the benefits of fulling your pro bono service with a legal aid organization. Pro bono is a professional responsibility and an individual ethical commitment of each lawyer. Legal aid organizations make access to justice possible for those who would otherwise fall through the cracks. For this important panel discussion, we are joined by pro bono trailblazers to discuss their journeys and ways to give back through legal aid organizations.  

This year, JWLA is continuing its efforts of community outreach and giving back to the local community.  For each luncheon, we will spotlight a local charity or other nonprofit organization and will conduct a donation drive, to be collected at that month’s luncheon. This luncheon, we will be spotlighting and collecting donations for JWLA Kathy Para Student Internship at JALA!

JWLA’s mission is to actively promote gender equality in the legal profession, judiciary, and community at large. Through the creation and funding of this internship, JWLA seeks to promote access to justice, provide substantive legal experience for JWLA’s student membership, and foster a lifelong dedication to pro bono. This internship offers critical legal experience for a law student, while also providing needed legal services in our local community. This internship will fund at least one paid part-time position for a law student intern each summer to do the important work of JALA. 

You can click this link to donate: http://www.jaxlegalaid.org/JWLA/

We hope you will join in on our effort to give back to our local community.  Any questions can be directed to Sarah Morris at [email protected].