Josefsberg wins Simon Pro bono service award: Pro bono service is in his genes.

To explain how he ended up center stage at the Florida Supreme Court to receive the state's highest public service award, 71-year-old Robert Josefsberg reached back a century to his grandfather's three-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn.

Within its walls, for a decade, grandfather Jake invited hundreds of refugees from Russia and Germany to stay with him when they first arrived in America.

"My father, his two brothers, and sister never knew who would be sleeping on the floor or on a cot next to them when they woke up in the morning. My grandfather never got recognition. He never got an award--until today."

Josefsberg--a senior partner handling commercial and white-collar criminal litigation at Podhurst, Orseck in Miami, and this year's recipient of the Tobias Simon Award on January 28--went on to describe a family tree laden with charitable souls.

His father, a lawyer, spent countless hours working for charity. His mother contributed her energy to charity. One daughter works at Put Something Back Pro Bono Project at the Dade County Bar Legal Aid Society; another daughter serves the public as an assistant state attorney.

"My sons, they work for a living. They are very charitable. They golf. They give me strokes. They ski, and they lift me up when I have fallen down, which is what we are supposed to be doing for each other."

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And his wife, Marlene, founded an organization where she works full-time for drug-free youth.

"So by way of explanation, the genetics environment from where I came is such that I really didn't have much of a choice about doing pro bono," said Josefsberg, who has volunteered about 1,800 hours of free legal service, including complex pro bono work that others shy away from.

After graduating from Yale Law School in 1962, Josefsberg wound up in Miami, soon working for U.S. Attorney Bill Meadows, who was also a lay leader of a Methodist church, and then prominent Miami attorney and community worker Bill Colson.

He named a long list of inspirational friends that included Chesterfield Smith, John Kozyak, Sandy D'Alemberte, Bob Graham, Herman Russomanno, David Rothman, Arthur England, Vance Salter, Richard Milstein, and Steve Zack.

"I didn't get up one morning and say, 'I want to do pro bono.' I had so much peer pressure that I had no choice," Josefsberg said.

He was also friends with the award's namesake.

"When I was on the [Florida Bar] Board of Governors, there was a crazy who came up from Dade County named Toby Simon. My main function was to be a liaison between him and the rest of the board. And it was a wonderful three years translating for him and for them and working things out," Josefsberg said.

It's not a coincidence, he said, that he's the third person from his firm to receive the Tobias Simon Award, after Victor Diaz, Jr., (2000), Katherine Ezell (2006), as well as a former law clerk Jacqueline Valdespino (2003).

"The reason why? Aaron Podhurst has created an atmosphere where we are expected to work with the community," Josefsberg said.

Bar President Jesse Diner said that during fiscal year 2008-09, Florida lawyers contributed more than $4.4 million to legal aid and more than 1.5 million hours of pro bono service.

Chief Justice Peggy Quince began the ceremonial session honoring many lawyers, saying, "I know of no other profession that gives more freely and unselfishly of their services. This is work deserving of public recognition, which is why we are here today."

She then asked for a round of applause for the thousands of Florida lawyers who earnestly carry out free legal service for the poor every day.

While Josefsberg was the star standing in the pro bono spotlight, he said: "I don't own this award. I'm just symbolic. They had to select one of all of us to get the award. And they picked me, because maybe I'm the oldest, the last friend of Toby's, or the tallest. But every one ofyou deserves it just as much, as do many other people who aren't even here today.

"But I'll accept on behalf of all of you, if you'll make this commitment to me as to what you can do. As I get older and I'm able to do less, I find that mentoring, role-modeling, and coaching is just as worthwhile and maybe even more worthwhile.

"Because, you see, if each of you puts in 200 hours, in 10 years you can get 2,000 hours in community service. But if each of you inspires 10 other people to do this, you can figure out the math. That's 20,000 hours you can give to the community in the next 10 years."

Just as Chesterfield Smith and Bill Meadows mentored many lawyers who then, in turn, multiplied their pro bono service hours by the thousands, Josefsberg asked those in the audience to do the same.

"I'm not going to tell you to do pro bono. You do it. You do it as much and more than I do. What I am going to ask you to do is publicize it. Let everyone know how happy you are, how fulfilled you are, that they can do the same thing. By doing that, eventually, we'll achieve our goals in getting justice for everyone."

The distinguished judicial service award

A judge is in a unique position to contribute to the improvement of the law, the legal system and the administration ofjustice. The support of pro bono services improves the judicial system as a whole. This award is for outstanding and sustained service to the public, especially as it relates to support of pro bono legal services.

Judge Nikki Ann Clark First District Court of Appeal Tallahassee

Judge Nikki Ann Clark is a pacesetter. She's the first black woman to serve on the First District Court of Appeal and the first and only black to serve as a judge on the Second Judicial Circuit Court.

From the time her legal career began with the Office of the Public Defender, Judge Clark has been dedicated to public service. After serving as an assistant public defender, she went to work for Legal Services of North Florida and then the Tallahassee Housing Authority. Later she worked as an assistant attorney general for 10 years. Judge Clark also served as the director of Legislative and Policy Development for the Department of Environmental Regulation.

In 1993, while serving as the chief Cabinet adviser to the late Gov. Lawton Chiles, Judge Clark was appointed to the Second Judicial Circuit Court bench. Gov. Chiles described her as "an accomplished attorney with a reputation of fairness and record of outstanding service."

Following a 15-year stint as a circuit court judge, in January 2009, Gov. Charlie Crist appointed Judge Clark to the First District Court of Appeal to fill a vacancy. According to Gov. Crist, "Judge Clark has demonstrated dedication to public service and the utmost respect and admiration for ethics and the law, as well as a strong commitment to mentoring young attorneys toward becoming effective advocates. She has the highest regard for all individuals who come through her courtroom and carefully analyzes each case that comes before her."

Judge Clark has presided over numerous high profile cases--including the 2000 Bush-Gore absentee ballot issue--earning her the reputation of a no-nonsense, formidable jurist, highly respected by her peers and the attorneys who appear before her. However, her most notable work recently has been in the improvement of justice in the areas of family law, juvenile delinquency, and juvenile dependency. She helped to implement, and presided over, the Second Circuit's Unified Family Court Crossover Docket. In 2006, Judge Clark was appointed as chair of the Steering Committee on Families and Children in the Court.

In 2008, Judge Clark again demonstrated her commitment to improving the administration of justice in the juvenile system. She was the driving force behind the creation of the Independent Living Docket in the Second Judicial Circuit. The purpose of the docket is to enable older foster care children to make the transition to self-sufficiency as adults. Before this initiative, juveniles who had "aged out" of the system were left to fend for themselves with little to no guidance. In an effort to better assist in developing a plan, Judge Clark spoke with foster children to become better acquainted with their issues.

Additionally, Judge Clark served on the Florida Juvenile Advisory Board and was appointed to serve on the ad hoc committee for the implementation of the Kayla McKean Child Protection Act. This law resulted from a case involving a 6-year-old Florida child who was beaten to death by her father after child-protection workers failed to remove her from her home following significant signs of abuse in the household. The law toughened mandatory reporting laws and required Department of Children and Families workers to follow up on each and every abuse allegation they received, including calls received on the DCF tip line.

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Judge Clark's contributions to public service are not limited to the Second Circuit or the State of Florida, but extend beyond the nation's borders. Partly as a result of her involvement in the 2000 election cases, Judge Clark has been dedicated to educating foreign nations on election dispute adjudication. She has been invited three times by the International Foundation for Election Systems to assist West African democracies in conducting their own free elections. She spent many hours developing course outlines and materials before initial visits, as well as developing evaluation instruments for followup observations of the foreign tribunals' progress. Judge Clark's team also shared various tools of efficient case management. Her accomplishments and dedication to those most in need have been recognized throughout Florida and nationwide. Most recently, Judge Clark was honored by the Florida Association for Women Lawyers with the esteemed Rosemary Barkett Outstanding Achievement Award.

Judge Clark continuously encourages women to pursue legal careers through her work and participation in Tallahassee Women Lawyers' Legacy of Excellence...