Matthews Receives Pro Bono Service and Excellence Award

Foley Partner Michael Matthews received the Pro Bono Service and Excellence Award from the Tampa Bay Chapter of the Federal Bar Association at its annual meeting on December 10, 2015. The award was presented in recognition of “excellence in service to disadvantaged citizens of the Middle District of Florida.”

Matthews was recognized for his sustained and varied pro bono activities with Foley’s Tampa litigation team. These activities included:

• Winning a new trial for a man charged with capital murder, on the basis of the trial court’s exclusion of another man’s confession to the crime
• Serving as the coordinator to match volunteer lawyers with federal judges’ requests for counsel to assist litigants in pro bono cases in the Middle District of Florida
• Drafting a pro se litigation manual now available to litigants on the Middle District of Florida website
• Obtaining a favorable settlement shortly before trial for an inmate who was sprayed with three times the legal limit of pepper spray by prison guards
• Helping a pro bono immigration client obtain asylum in the United States

Additional Foley attorneys recognized for pro bono service at the annual meeting included Tampa Partner Mark Wolfson and Tampa Associates Larry Dougherty and Nick Williams.