Valdespino wins Simon Award.

Approaching pro bono work as a "calling rather than an obligation," Jacqueline Marie Valdespino has been a tireless advocate for ensuring children have a voice in the courtroom and is committed to the proposition that "no one ever enter the complicated, often dark halls of justice without a competent lawyer guiding the way."

Valdespino, the 2003 Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award recipient, was presented the award by Justice Charles T. Wells during a special ceremony of the Supreme Court. The award commemorates Miami civil rights lawyer Tobias Simon, who died in February 1982, and is intended to encourage and recognize extraordinary contributions by Florida lawyers in making legal services available to the indigent and to focus public awareness on the substantial voluntary services rendered by Florida lawyers.

"We are very committed to the proposition that there has to be -- for our communities to work, for our state to work, for our nation to work -- justice for the poor as well as justice for all others in our society," said Justice Wells, who, as the senior justice on the court, filled in for Chief Justice Harry Lee Anstead who was stuck in a snow storm in Virginia and was unable to attend the ceremony. "For the underprivileged and the elite, there must be access to the courts."

Also honored during the ceremony January 30 was the firm of Carlton Fields, which received the Chief Justice's Law Firm Commendation, and the Indian River County Bar Association, which won the court's Voluntary Bar Association Pro Bono Service Award.

A lawyer from each circuit also was honored with The Florida Bar President's Pro Bono Service Awards, and Laurel F. Moore of Tampa received the Young. Lawyers Division Legal Aid Public Service Award.

"You advocate and. protect the rights of those. who are uneducated, unsophisticated, and those in need of a good lawyer," Bar President Tad Aronovitz told the honorees. "You represent the highest ideals of our profession. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg comments on lawyers like you when she said, 'It is incumbent on anyone who regards lawyering not simply as a trade but as a true profession to advance more responsible performance to ensure that legal aid will be there when needed.' You truly recognize lawyering as a profession."

Fighting back tears; Valdespino said while she was being honored individually, she accepted the Simon award on behalf of all the lawyers who toil to do their share to provide the poor with...