The Florida Bar will recognize 21 lawyers for their work on behalf of low-income and disadvantaged clients at a Jan. 18 ceremony at the Supreme Court of Florida
“So I’m going, ‘What? I didn’t do anything wrong,’ ” Headley recalled.
Far from delivering negative news, the phone call revealed that Headley had been named one of 20 winners of the Florida Bar’s Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award. The Lakeland lawyer is the recipient for Judicial Circuit 10, which includes Polk, Hardee and Highlands counties.
For about 16 years, Headley has devoted untold hours at no charge to helping fellow veterans with such tasks as obtaining military records, verifying service-related disabilities and applying for benefits through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Headley, 49, said he hadn’t previously heard of the Tobias Simon Award. He and lawyers from the state’s 19 other judicial circuits were honored in a virtual ceremony Jan. 28.