by Kathy Para
JBA Pro Bono Committee Chair
After 10 years of defending insurance companies on Florida’s bustling Gold Coast, attorney Frank Maloney Jr. found a smaller place where he could make a bigger difference. And for the past 28 years, that’s been all the gold he’s needed.
For all those years serving in the underserved Baker County community of Macclenny, and for all the many pro bono cases he’s taken on throughout those years, Maloney has been named Jacksonville Area Legal Aid’s “Pro Bono Attorney of the Month” for June, the latest in a long line of accolades this caring professional has received throughout his distinguished legal career.
“Few people have made their marks on their respective communities like Frank Maloney has,” said Sarah Fowler, JALA Pro Bono Manager. “Not only has he taken on a boatload of pro bono cases over the years, but the cases he’s taken on have by no means been simple ones. We’re talking family law, where complications and emotions run rampant. Few of these cases are cut and dry. Yet Frank has always been there to provide help to those people who’ve needed it in a rural portion of Florida where most people don’t have many options.”
Maloney saw that need in Macclenny right away and, after 10 years defending faceless companies, he was more than ready to step in and help.
“It was pretty easy to see the need for legal services in Baker County,” Maloney remembers. “No other attorneys were meeting that need, so I tried to fill that particular void.”
The Georgetown and Florida State School of Law graduate filled the niche nicely, and today, 28 years later, he and his wife and office manager, Barbara, continue to meet the legal needs of that community. The practice focuses mainly on family, probate, elder, real estate, criminal and municipal law.
Working through JALA and Three Rivers Legal Services, Maloney has made a real difference to the underserved population of Baker County and surrounding areas.
Maloney has been an avid supporter of the Eighth Judicial Circuit’s Volunteer Attorney Program, serving on the board since 1983 and as board president from 1999-2000. He won JALA’s 2003 Pro Bono Award, and in 2007 the Florida Bar President bestowed upon him the Eighth Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Service Award.
In June, Maloney will be doubly honored as he receives the James L. Tomlinson Professional Award for the Eighth Judicial Circuit and then takes on the chairman-elect duties of the Florida Bar’s General, Solo and Small Practice Section.
A member of the Municipal Attorney’s Association and the James C. Adkins Inns of Court, Maloney says that legal organizations such as JALA make pro bono work much easier and that attorneys who are unsure about taking such cases should take advantage of their services.
“My suggestion to any attorney that is hesitant to take a pro bono case is to make potential pro bono clients contact JALA to meet their criteria first. Then accept the case. There’s just so much personal satisfaction to be found in this type of work,” he says.
One of his most memorable cases, he says, came through a JALA referral.
“It was a dissolution of marriage case for a woman who had been paralyzed from the neck down due to a car accident. Of course, your heart goes out to someone who has lost so much,” he says. “And, while it’s always a nice feeling to make a difference in most people’s lives, it just really meant a lot to me to make a difference in this particular person’s life.”
Attorneys interested in making such a difference in the lives of the underserved people of Northeast Florida can contact me at JALA (356-8371, ext. 363, or [email protected]).