Southern Legal Counsel May 29 launched The Hon. William A. Van Nortwick, Jr. Impact for Justice Fund at an event honoring the late Jacksonville lawyer, jurist and renowned champion of statewide civil legal aid and pro bono efforts.

With a goal of raising $500,000 by the end of 2020, SLC will use the fund to ensure it has the legal resources, national experts, litigation expenses, and needed technology to continue providing high-quality representation for the most vulnerable citizens.

With a $98,127 Pro Bono Transformation grant from The Florida Bar Foundation, Southern Legal Counsel has hired Samantha Howell as its first pro bono director and tasked her with integrating pro bono lawyers, law students, psychologists, social workers and other professionals into all aspects of SLC’s litigation and advocacy.

A member of the New York State Bar and the federal bar of the Southern District of New York, Howell most recently served as executive director of the NYS Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. She previously served as pro bono director at Prisoners’ Legal Services, a statewide organization based in Albany, N.Y., where she developed the nation’s only pro bono program tasked specifically with referring civil legal cases involving conditions of confinement for indigent New Yorkers.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development May 22 proposed new rules that would weaken protections for transgender people who are experiencing homelessness by allowing federally funded shelters to deny them admission or require them to share bathrooms and sleeping areas with people of a different gender identity.

Under current federal regulations adopted by HUD, sex-segregated homeless shelters must admit all transgender and gender non-conforming individuals and house those individuals according to their gender identity.

May 7, 2019, JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A federal district court Monday issued a preliminary injunction halting enforcement of a statute restricting charitable solicitation while a lawsuit filed on behalf of Peter Vigue, a homeless resident of St. Augustine, is allowed to proceed. Vigue has been repeatedly arrested by state and local law enforcement for standing in the public right of way holding a sign that says, “Please Care God Bless Love” or other similar messages asking for help.

Southern Legal Counsel (SLC) seeks an attorney for a newly established position of Pro Bono Director at SLC. The Pro Bono Director will work closely with SLC’s Executive Director, Litigation Director and a Guiding Coalition to establish best practices for and launch a new Pro Bono Impact Team. The Team will be a unique model in Florida with a cadre of lawyers and law firms that are committed to co-counseling with SLC in high impact cases.