Annual Recognition Awards

Presented to an attorney who has gone above and beyond to support our mission and those we serve.

Given annually to an advocate whose actions exemplify a personal and professional commitment to making justice available to the poor and disadvantaged. The Award was named after its first (1998) recipient, Mr. Carlisle himself. He is a lifelong champion of the rights of the poor and disadvantaged and was the first chairperson of the LAS Board of Directors in 1974.

Browse below to learn more about the different Award categories and previous honorees.

The Attorney of the Year award is presented to an attorney who has gone above and beyond to support our mission and those who we serve.

Past recipients of the award include: Charles L. Simon, Esq. (2002) | Joanne Fanizza, Esq. (2003) | Theodore Kaufman, Esq. (2004) | Richard Hussey, Esq. (2005) | Marian A. Lindquist, Esq. (2006) | Elias L. D’Souza, Esq. (2007) | Jorge E. Hurtado, Esq. (2008) | Robert Murphy, Esq. (2010) | Lawrence G. Marin, Esq. (2011) | Professor Michael Richmond (2012) | David Bazerman, Esq. (2013) | Jay Kim, Esq.(2014) | Michele K. Cummings, Esq. (2015) | Russell M. Thompson, Esq. (2016) | Chad T. Van Horn, Esq. (2017) | Dale Webner, Esq. (2018) | Annabella Barboza, Esq. (2019) | Edward O’Sheehan, Esq. (2020) | Lauren Alperstein, Esq. (2021) | Jay Cohen, Esq. (2022) | Patricia Preciado, Esq. (2023)

The Commitment to Justice Award was established by Coast to Coast Legal Aid of South Florida (CCLA) in 2011. The award honors members of the community whose work reflects and embodies the mission of CCLA to improve the lives of low income persons in our community through advocacy, education, representation and empowerment. 

Past recipients of the Award include: Elizabeth G. Daugherty, Esq.(2011) | The Honorable Ronald J. Rothschild (2012) | Lisa Goldberg, Esq.(2013) | Edith Schaffer Lederberg (2014) | Samuel S. Goren, Esq. (2015) | Stephen Ferrante, MSW (2016) | Steven Jaffe, Esq. (2017) | Joshua Levenson, Esq. (2018) | Somy Ali (2019) | Juliette Lippman, Esq. (2020) | Theresa Edwards, Esq. (2021) | Kathleen Pugh, Esq. (2022) | Delanor Ulysse (2023)

The Law Firm of the Year Award is presented annually to a firm that has shown their overall commitment to the work Legal Aid Programs in Broward does and the clients we serve.

Past recipients of the Award include: Gunster Yoakley (2002) | Billing, Cochran, Heath, Lyles and Mauro (2003) | Weis Serota Helfman Pastoriza Guedes Cole and Boniske (2004) | Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson, P.A. (2005) | Law Offices of Sheldon J. Schlesinger, P.A. (2006) | Shutts & Bowen LLP (2007) | Atkinson, Diner, Stone, Mankuta & Ploucha, P.A. (2008) | Kirschbaum, Birnbaum, Lippman & Gregoire, PLLC (2009) | Kelley/Uustal (2010) | Colodny, Fass, Talenfeld, Karlinsky & Abate, P.A. (2011) | Ward Kim Vaughan & Lerner LLP (2012) GrayRobinson, P.A. (2013) Holland & Knight (2014) Kirschbaum, Birnbaum, Lippman & Gregoire, PLLC (2015) | Farmer, Jaffe, Weissing, Edwards, Fistos, & Lehrman, P.L. (2016) | Talenfeld Law (2017) Weiss Serota Helfman Cole and Bierman, PL (2018) | Shutts (2019) | Kelley Kronenberg, Attorneys at Law (2020) | Van Horn Law Group (2021) | Tripp Scott, Attorneys at Law (2022) | Shmucher Law, PL (2023)

Nominations and selection for this award is done internally. This award seeks to recognize the amazing work and efforts made by notable staff members of Legal Aid Programs in Broward (LASBC 0r CCLA). 

Past award recipients for LAS include: Ramamurti Venkataramani – LAS (2013) | Delores Gilmore – LAS (2014) | Gladys Gerson – CCLA (2015) | Lorrie Schwartz – LAS (2016) | Heidi Vainio – CCLA (2017) | James Heaton – LAS (2018) | Debra Koprowski – LAS (2019) | Corrine Lincoln, Esq. – CCLA (2020) | Edwin Cordova, Esq. – LAS (2021) | Laurie Yadoff, Esq. – CCLA (2022) | Coletter Kienle, Esq. (2023)

The Russell E. Carlisle Advocacy Award is given annually to an advocate whose actions exemplify a personal and professional commitment to making justice available to the poor and disadvantaged. The Award was named after its first (1998) recipient, Mr. Carlisle himself. He is a lifelong champion of the rights of the poor and disadvantaged and was the first chairperson of the LAS Board of Directors in 1974.

Past recipients of the Award include: Bruce Rogow, Esq. (1999) | Don A. Wich, Jr., Esq. (2000) | Henry Latimer, Esq. (2001) | Sharon Bourassa, Esq. (2002) | Jerome Ira Solkoff, Esq. (2003) | Howard Talenfeld, Esq. (2004) | Nancy W. Gregoire, Esq. (2005) | Levi G. Williams, Esq. (2006) | Terrence Russell, Esq. (2007) | Andrea L. Moore, Esq. (2008) | Adele I. Stone, Esq. (2009) | Belinda Keiser (2010) | Walter Honaman, Esq. (2011) Roy Rogers (2012) The Honorable Arthur J. England, Jr. (2013) The Honorable Mel Grossman (2014) | Jane Curran (2015) | Stephen B. Moss, Esq. (2016) | Jesse H. Diner, Esq. (2017) | Robin Moselle, Esq. (2018) | Douglas Reynolds, Esq. (2019) | Chad Van Horn, Esq. (2020) | Tony Karrat, Esq. (2021) | Lorna Brown, Esq. (2022) | Hon. Stacy M. Ross (2023)

The Spirit of Justice Award was created in 2014 to recognize those who embody the “spirit” of the work done by CCLA and LAS and to commemorate the 40th and 10th anniversaries of each respectively.

Past recipients of the Award include: Bernard R. Appleman, Esq. (2014) | Young Lawyers Section of the Broward County Bar Association (2015) | Scott D. Owens, Esq. (2016) | Paul Regensdorf, Esq. (2017) | Kathleen Cannon (2018) | JM Family Enterprises, Inc. (2019) | Anthony Adelson, Esq. (2020) | Ofer Shmucher, Esq. & Shera Anderson, Esq. (2021) | Chad Van Horn, Esq. (2022) | Bob and Grace Manne (2023)

The Hon. Thomas Lynch Excellence in Justice Award was created by CCLA to celebrate those who have demonstrated a life-long dedication to ensuring access to justice for all.

Past recipients of the award include: 2021 Hon. Thomas Lynch I 2022 Edward Zebersky, Esq. I 2023 Broward County Bar Association

The Tony Karrat Excellence in Community Service Award was created to honor those who have demonstrated a lifelong commitment to serving the community and making the Broward County area a better and more just place to live for all.

Past recipients of the award include: 2021 Tony Karrat, Esq. I 2022 Belinda Keiser I 2023 Broward County and the Broward County Commission