John Mills says - with a wry smile - that he hopes he doesn’t win the pro bono award again.
“I need to start making money,” said the Riverside appellate lawyer after receiving the Fourth Circuit pro Bono Award last week at the Jacksonville Bar Association’s Law Day luncheon at the Hyatt. “My partners have done their share and mine, so I better get back to work.”
It was the second straight year that Mills picked up the trophy and his primary work in the past year was the battle to free the 1,200 Cubans still in prison after not being allowed admission to the United States in the 1980 exodus from Mariel, Cuba.
“I was appointed by the 11th Circuit and we lost there, but we won at the Supreme Court,” said Mills.
Mills thanked his partners, Tracy Carlin and Rebecca Creed, for covering the firm while he was away helping others.
“It’s time I got paid for practicing law,”
he said.