Our Pro Bono Commitment

At Carlton Fields, pro bono work is a fundamental part of our culture and values. We are committed to using our legal skills to serve individuals and communities in need and to support causes that promote fairness, access to justice, and positive social impact.

Our pro bono efforts cover a wide range of areas, including child and family advocacy, immigration, veterans’ rights, criminal justice reform, housing, and environmental protection. We regularly partner with nonprofits such as Habitat for Humanity, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Citizens Crime Commission, the Innocence Project of Florida, and Bat Conservation International, among others, enabling us to make meaningful contributions across the country.

Carlton Fields has a long-standing commitment to pro bono legal services—representing the underserved day in and day out through the leadership of our attorneys, and by providing financial support and accommodations to pro bono organizations. As a charter signatory to the American Bar Association's Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge, we pledge to dedicate 3% of our total billable hours to pro bono work, providing substantial billable hour credit to attorneys and paralegals to support this commitment.

Our pro bono tradition is deeply rooted in the legacy of Wm. Reece Smith Jr., former shareholder and chairman of the board, who fervently believed pro bono is every lawyer’s obligation in return for the privilege of practicing law. As president of both the Florida Bar and the American Bar Association, Reece championed pro bono services and legal aid funding, helping save the Legal Services Corporation, launching the ABA’s Pro Bono Project, and establishing two of Florida’s leading legal aid nonprofits. His vision continues to inspire our firm’s high standards for pro bono service.

Following his lead, Sylvia Walbolt—our firm’s first formal Pro Bono Committee chair—further advanced Carlton Fields’ pro bono work. Sylvia’s decades-long dedication earned her prestigious honors, including the John Paul Stevens Guiding Hand of Counsel Award from the ABA Death Penalty Representation Project. She was also an inaugural fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers’ Access to Justice Distinguished Pro Bono Fellows Program. Her career, spanning more than 60 years, has left a lasting mark on Florida’s legal community and beyond.

We also actively partner with clients to provide pro bono legal services spanning constitutional litigation, veterans’ benefits appeals, landlord-tenant disputes, and more. These collaborations offer meaningful opportunities to make a difference and reflect our shared commitment to justice.

The impact of this work is deeply rewarding, inspiring, and unites our firm in a shared purpose. We invite you to learn more about our ongoing dedication to pro bono at Carlton Fields.

Natalie Napierala and Joseph Lang
Chairs, Pro Bono Committee

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND PRISONERS' RIGHTS

Carlton Fields routinely represents the interests of federal criminal defendants in pro bono prisoner civil rights cases. These matters often present complex and significant constitutional questions with far-reaching effects, as well as challenging factual or procedural issues.

As part of this commitment, the firm has partnered with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers to advocate for compassionate release in federal courts nationwide on behalf of vulnerable incarcerated individuals.

Most recently, after more than 18 months of dedicated advocacy, Carlton Fields’ compassionate release team secured the early release of an elderly and ailing client who had spent more than 20 years in a Texas federal prison. This effort was supported by our collaboration with the Medical Justice Alliance, a nonprofit focused on protecting the medical rights of incarcerated people.

MILITARY AND VETERANS' RIGHTS

The firm has partnered with the Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program to assist unrepresented veterans and their families in their appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and host trainings on pro bono appellate advocacy for Carlton Fields lawyers and clients. Several attorneys from Carlton Fields have represented veterans with appeals cases referred by the Veterans Consortium.

Most recently, we represented a U.S. Army veteran in the successful appeal of his disability claim for injuries he sustained while serving as a tanker in the 1980s. Due to the extraordinary work of our team, the government agreed on appeal that vacatur and remand were warranted because the Board of Veterans’ Appeals failed to provide an adequate statement of reasons for denying our client’s claim.

The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program is the leading national charity providing free legal services in federal venues for veterans in need.

HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS

Through our yearslong collaboration with Habitat for Humanity, our firm has connected attorneys across offices and practices to help families build strength, stability, and self-reliance through affordable home ownership. Our lawyers regularly assist Habitat with an array of legal needs, including contracts, labor and employment, local government, real property, and litigation matters.

Most recently, our firm assisted Habitat in resolving a claim asserted by a recipient of a Habitat home who was forced to vacate due to significant termite damage. We helped Habitat resolve the homeowner’s claims and in a subsequent lawsuit by Habitat against the insecticide company that served as the termite treatment subcontractor. Through the settlement, Habitat was able to recover its costs in resolving the claims of the Habitat homeowner.

In partnership with the Dade Legal Aid “Put Something Back” pro bono program, the firm represented two sisters in a contentious property dispute to protect their ownership interest in a Miami Beach condo unit left to them by their late father. The litigation involved a complicated fact pattern covering more than 20 years; complex legal issues spanning Florida, New York, and New Jersey law; the actions of several persons deceased at the time the lawsuit was filed; and required substantial litigation, real estate, and probate law expertise.

After lengthy and intense litigation involving the production of many hundreds of documents and the depositions of several witnesses on behalf of all parties, we secured a settlement that preserved the sisters’ financial interest in the property and enabled them to move forward in their lives with greater financial security.

CHILD AND FAMILY PROGRAMS

Through nonprofit Crossroads for Florida Kids, Carlton Fields attorneys provide pro bono legal services and advocacy for children in complex dependency, delinquency, and criminal proceedings.

For two years, our attorneys represented a foster child who was detained on pending charges after being trafficked by her mother. She was eventually ordered to competency training on her charges and held at a secure facility. When the two-year deadline for the state to establish competency was approaching, we worked with the public defender to secure our client’s release. After essentially being held for two years on charges for which she was never tried nor convicted, our client was released and her charges were dropped. Our client, now 18, is finally able to restart her life.

After a sustained, months-long effort, our firm successfully secured a transfer of custody for a 13-year-old child who had endured years of mistreatment by his mother. Through dedicated advocacy and compassionate legal support, we helped ensure the child could return to his home state and be placed in the care of his paternal grandparents.

Beyond legal representation, our team provided meaningful personal support—regularly meeting with the child at a county facility to offer guidance, companionship, and encouragement throughout the process.

Our firm is deeply committed to child advocacy, providing pro bono representation in partnership with organizations like Advokids, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting foster children in California.

In a recent matter, our team assisted long-time caregivers in adopting four young siblings whom they had lovingly raised for year. Despite the stable and nurturing environment offered by our clients for years, the Department of Children and Families brought removal proceedings for the children to be placed with an estranged relative. Based on the conflict between the government’s position and the child’s apparent best interests, our team stepped in to represent the caregivers and prevailed on their behalf.

SUSTAINABILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS

Carlton Fields filed a lawsuit on behalf of pro bono clients Bat Conservation International, Tropical Audubon Society, and a citizen of Miami-Dade County against Miami-Dade County for violating a voter-approved referendum that prohibits commercial use and development on environmentally sensitive county-owned land. The proposed development site, adjacent to Zoo Miami, is part of a critical area that supports some of the rarest federally endangered species in the world, including the Florida bonneted bat.

The firm represented the plaintiffs as the lawsuit proceeded through the courts and on appeal, ultimately winning the day as the county unilaterally rescinded the subject lease and separately has sought declaratory relief against the developer.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND ABUSE

Our firm recently resolved an administrative inquiry in favor of The Spring of Tampa Bay, Hillsborough County’s only certified domestic violence shelter. The successful resolution allowed the organization to highlight its comprehensive anti-discrimination policies, which are designed to protect and empower survivors of domestic violence. This outcome underscored the shelter’s essential role in serving the community and advancing the rights and safety of those it supports.

IMMIGRATION AND DEPORTATION

Carlton Fields has partnered with Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), a nonprofit dedicated to protecting immigrant and refugee children, to provide pro bono representation for a teenage client who experienced abuse, abandonment, and neglect while living with his parents. 

Our team obtained a temporary custody order, submitted a petition for special immigrant juvenile status, and continues to advocate for the client as he seeks permanent residency and the opportunity for a safer, more stable future.

In recognition of the firm’s exceptional service and commitment in this matter, KIND honored Carlton Fields as its Pro Bono Team of the Year.

The firm represents an international asylum seeker who has faced severe personal risk due to his advocacy work. After his initial grant of protection in another country was rescinded, he arrived in the United States under the support of a competitive academic fellowship.

Our team is providing pro bono legal representation as he seeks asylum and the opportunity to live safely and continue his professional and civic contributions in a secure environment.

We have long viewed pro bono service as not only our professional responsibility to help those in need but also a unique opportunity to make a lasting impact on critical social issues affecting individuals and causes around the globe. Over the years, we have successfully contributed to several high-impact projects related to civil and human rights, civil liberties, discrimination, religious freedoms, criminal justice, and more. These matters are an intrinsic part of our firm’s history while also helping to shape the history and culture of the world around us.