Less than two months after filing suit against the City of Ocala for enforcing an open lodging ordinance specifically targeting people who are homeless, Southern Legal Counsel, the ACLU of Florida and pro bono attorney Andy Pozzuto passed their first legal hurdle when the city failed in its attempt to have the suit dismissed.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – After an order from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida compared the negative effects of adult entertainment to those of food sharing in a public park by Fort Lauderdale Food Not Bombs, Southern Legal Counsel (SLC) is appealing the case once again to the US. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

Southern Legal Counsel attorney Simone Chriss presented about SLC’s innovative transgender services delivery model, FloridaNameChange.org, at the July 24-27 Mazzoni Trans Wellness Conference in Philadelphia, the largest trans-specific conference in the world. Developed by SLC and the Florida Justice Technology Center, FloridaNameChange.org provides online access to the legal name change process in each of Florida’s 67 counties, as well as the process for updating the name and gender marker on all government-issued identification documents.

Southern Legal Counsel, the ACLU of Florida, and pro bono attorney Andy Pozzuto today filed a federal class action lawsuit against the city of Ocala on behalf of named plaintiffs Patrick McCardle, Courtney Ramsey, Anthony Cummings and more than 200 other similarly situated homeless persons who have been arrested for sleeping or resting on sidewalks and other outdoor areas.

Abigail Adkins, an Equal Justice Works Fellow sponsored by McDermott Will & Emery and Darden Restaurants Inc., in September began a two-year fellowship at Southern Legal Counsel to expand student mental health services.

On August 16, 2019, U.S. District Court Judge William Zloch upheld the City of Fort Lauderdale’s zoning ordinance and park rule restricting food sharing as a “social service” in public parks. Fort Lauderdale Food Not Bombs and its members, represented by Southern Legal Counsel and lawyers Mara Shlackman and Andrea Costello, challenged the City’s food sharing restrictions for violating their freedom of expression, association, and right to due process. The case was on remand from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which had issued an opinion in favor of Fort Lauderdale Food Not Bombs that the First Amendment protects outdoor food sharing as “expressive conduct” under the First Amendment.

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.