INDIAN ROCKS BEACH ATTORNEY RECEIVES TOP LEGAL SERVICES HONOR FROM FLORIDA SUPREME COURT
|
April 7, 2005
TALLAHASSEE -- Indian Rocks Beach attorney James M. "Van" Vanderplas has been selected to receive the Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award from Chief Justice Barbara Pariente on Thursday, April 7. The award is Florida's highest public honor conferred by the Supreme Court on a private lawyer.
The Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award commemorates Miami civil rights lawyer Tobias Simon, who died in February 1982. Each year the award is bestowed upon an attorney to encourage and recognize extraordinary contributions by Florida lawyers in making legal services available to persons who otherwise could not afford them, and to focus public awareness on the substantial voluntary services rendered by Florida lawyers in this area. The term "pro bono," derived from the Latin phrase "pro bono publico" means "for the good of the public."
Vanderplas received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in psychology and mathematics from the University of Texas in 1948, 1949, and 1951, respectively. He served as a research psychologist at the Aero Medical Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, OH, from 1951 to 1955. He then served as assistant associate and professor of psychology at Washington University, St. Louis, MO, from 1955 to 1983. During his tenure as professor, he attended the Washington University School of Law on a part-time basis from 1973 to 1980, where he was awarded his J.D. degree. He was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1981 and joined the Clearwater Bar Association that same year. He has carried on a solo practice in Indian Rocks Beach since 1981.
Since 1982, Vanderplas has donated a minimum of four hours per week to the Gulfcoast Legal Services’ Clearwater office. He conducts interviews of prospective clients, obtaining all information necessary for adequate evaluation for possible — and appropriate — representation by the staff attorneys. Vanderplas applies his experience in real property, probate, family, landlord/tenant, collections, consumer, and Social Security law to offer advice and counseling. In all, Vanderplas has donated approximately 4,500 hours to pro bono activity in 22 years of volunteer service.
He has taken an active role in local municipal affairs, both in St. Louis and Indian Rocks Beach, where he has resided since 1983, serving on the city’s Budget Review Committee during the 1980s and aiding in the distribution of support materials during the hurricane of 1985. He also served on the Governor’s Human Rights Advocacy Committee for about fiveyears.
Vanderplas has two grown children and eight grandchildren. He presently resides with his wife, Dr. Jean Vanderplas, in Indian Rocks Beach.
CONTACT: Jennifer Krell Davis, The Florida Bar
DATE: April 7, 2005
TELEPHONE: 850/561-5669
|
|
|
|
|
.. |
 |
.. |
MIAMI ATTORNEY RECEIVES THE FLORIDA BAR YOUNG LAWYERS DIVISION PRO BONO AWARD
|
April 7, 2005
TALLAHASSEE -- Miami attorney Melanie E. Damian was selected to receive The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division Pro Bono Award for her contributions to those in need of free legal services. The award will be presented to Damian by Young Lawyers Division President Michael Faehner at the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday, April 7. The award was instituted in 1991 by the Young Lawyers Division and is presented in conjunction with the Supreme Court of Florida and The Florida Bar's Pro Bono Service Awards. Generally, pro bono refers to legal services provided free of charge to those who cannot pay for them. The term "pro bono," derived from the Latin phrase "pro bono publico," means "for the good of the public."
Melanie Damian is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, receiving her B.A. in 1991. She received her J.D. in 1996 from the University of Miami Law School, where she was a member of the University of Miami Law Review. She was also a Fulbright Junior Research Fellow in Mexico.
Damian is a partner with Damian and Valori, LLP, and practices business litigation including officer and director liability, corporate governance litigation, securities litigation, professional negligence litigation, and employment litigation. Damian is AV rated and admitted to practice in all Florida state courts, as well as the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. Damian is a member of The Florida Bar and The Florida Bar’s Business Law and Labor and Employment Law sections. She is also a member of the American Bar Association and the American Bar Association’s Litigation, Business Law, and Labor and Employment Sections, as well as the Dade County Bar Association.
Since her final year of law school when she did her clinical placement at the guardian ad litem office, Damian has donated hundreds of hours per year advocating for children in the foster care system through the guardian ad litem office and Lawyers for Children America. For example, from 1997 to the present, she represented five brothers who had been in and out of foster care since birth and needed advocacy for all aspects of their lives, from home placement and health care services to educational planning. One of the brothers is now in college and the others are also doing well in high school. In another matter, Damian represented at trial a mentally and physically handicapped child who was severely abused by his mother so that the child could be adopted into a safe and loving home.
In 2003, Damian founded a nonprofit organization called Educate Tomorrow, dedicated to helping foster children or otherwise disadvantaged students to attain post secondary education by matching the foster children with volunteers who assist them in researching and applying for post secondary education and obtaining financial aid and, in some cases, providing scholarships. In addition, the organization provides SAT and FCAT tutoring and assists children in graduating from high school and obtaining admission to post-secondary education. This organization now helps hundreds of children make post secondary education possible.
Damian is also the educational planning chair for the Miami-Dade “Its Your Life Program,” a life skills training program developed for foster children who will soon turn 18 and age out of the foster care system. The program’s purpose is to provide specific services in the areas of money management, educational and employment opportunities, consumer issues, and housing.
CONTACT: Jennifer Krell Davis, The Florida Bar
DATE: April 7, 2005
TELEPHONE: 850/561-5669
|
