Joe Eagleton Spearheads Award-Winning Pro Bono Initiative

Brannock & Humphries attorney Joe Eagleton, who chairs the statewide appellate practice section’s pro bono committee, recently accepted the “I am for the child” award for the section’s work on behalf of Florida’s Guardian ad Litem Program.

The Guardian ad Litem Program represents and gives a voice to Florida’s abused and neglected children in court proceedings.  In the summer of 2017, the Florida Bar’s appellate practice section began partnering with the Guardian ad Litem Program on a new appellate-oriented project, pairing appellate lawyers around the state with pending cases in the Florida courts of appeal where a child needs representation.  The results have been, well, award-winning.

In just one year, section members donated more than 1,300 hours of pro bono time to the project.  The appellate advocacy of these volunteers helped produce 23 adoptions, create 4 permanent guardianships, and allow for the reunification of 15 children with their parents.  It also lightened the administrative load for the Guardian ad Litem Program, freeing up its staff lawyers to take on almost 500 additional children.  

As a result, the Guardian ad Litem Program awarded the appellate practice section its highest honor, the “I am for the child” award, named after the Program’s mission statement.  Brannock & Humphries lawyer Joe Eagleton, who leads the section’s pro bono efforts and has spearheaded its partnership with the Guardian ad Litem Program, accepted the award at an annual conference for child welfare professionals in Orlando.

Brannock & Humphries congratulates the appellate practice section for this tremendous honor.