Jodi Siegel - Executive Director    Pronouns - She, her, hers

 

Ms. Siegel has been an attorney with Southern Legal Counsel since 1985, and became its Executive Director in July 2004. A predominant portion of Ms. Siegel’s responsibilities at SLC is in representing individuals with disabilities in a variety of forums. She has litigated class and individual actions involving federal constitutional and statutory actions under the Federal Civil Rights Act, the Federal Rehabilitation Act, the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. She also has presented extensively to various groups on special education and other issues.

Ms. Siegel was an Adjunct Professor for Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad Law Center teaching a Masters Level program in Special Education Law from 2006-2018. She has been the Director of SLC’s Education Advocacy Project since 1999, which is funded by The Florida Bar Foundation to provide state support and train, support, mentor and co-counsel legal service/aid lawyers and advocates to increase and improve special education advocacy. She is a Past Chair of the Board of Directors and Past Treasurer of the national organization The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA), whose mission is to improve the quality and quantity of legal assistance for parents of children with disabilities. She coordinated the 2003 and 2004 national conferences for COPAA, and has been active on the Conference Design team since then. She is a Past Chair of The Florida Bar Public Interest Law Section.

Ms. Siegel is a member of The Florida Bar, the U.S. Middle, Northern and Southern Districts of Florida, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. She received her B.A. in 1982 from New College (Honors College of University of South Florida), Sarasota, Florida; and a J.D. in 1985 from the University of Florida College of Law, Gainesville, Florida. She was the Senior Research Editor for one semester and Senior Student Works Editor for two semesters with the University of Florida Law Review.

 

 

Kirsten Anderson -  Litigation Director       Pronouns: She, her, hers

 

Ms. Anderson joined Southern Legal Counsel in 2007 as a staff attorney and became the organization's Litigation Director in 2016.  She litigates complex civil rights cases in state and federal trial and appellate courts and in administrative forums.  Since 2007, she has directed SLC's Ending Homelessness Project which utilizes litigation, policy advocacy, community education and outreach to remove legal barriers to ending homelessness.  She is a frequently invited speaker on social justice issues, particularly on the civil and human rights of homeless individuals.

Ms. Anderson is a member of The Florida Bar, and the bars of the U.S. Middle, Southern and Northern District Courts of Florida and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a Past Chair of the Public Interest Law Section (PILS) of The Florida Bar and is a past chair of the PILS Committee on Homelessness.  Prior to joining SLC, she worked as an associate at a private law firm specializing in immigration and nationality law.

Ms. Anderson received her J.D. with honors (2005); M.A. in Latin American Studies (2005); and B.A. in Spanish with honors (2001), all from the University of Florida. In 2009, she received the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award from the University of Florida Alumni Association.

 

Simone Chriss -  Staff Attorney       Pronouns: She, her, hers 

 

Simone Chriss joined Southern Legal Counsel in August of 2016 after graduating from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where she received her J.D. with honors in May 2016. Ms. Chriss is the director of the organization's Transgender Rights Initiative, developed by SLC to fill a gap in access to justice by systemically providing legal name change and identification document amendment assistance to the transgender community statewide. She utilizes policy advocacy, impact litigation, and community education/training to bring about systemic reform in the areas of LGBT rights, child welfare, implementing trauma-informed services, and special education.

 

Ms. Chriss is a member of The Florida Bar, and the bars of the U.S. Middle and Northern District Courts of Florida. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Public Interest Law Section of the Florida Bar, and serves as Chair-Elect of the section’s Children’s Rights Committee. Ms. Chriss serves as an Attorney ad Litem for the Eighth Judicial Circuit’s registry for dependent children with special needs.

 

Ms. Chriss focuses primarily on childhood trauma and LGBT advocacy, and has presented at numerous statewide and national conferences on these two topics, including at the 2018 Council of Parent and Attorney Advocates (COPAA), the 2017 National Legal Aid and Defenders Association (NLADA), the 2017 Guardian ad Litem Disabilities Conference, the 2018 Equal Justice Conference (EJC), and the 2017 Supportive Housing Summit, among others. She has published two articles, one titled "After Obergefell v. Hodges: the Continuing Battle Over Equal Rights for Sexual Minorities in the United States" and the other titled "The Case for Trauma-Informed, Gender-Specific Prevention & Early Intervention Programming in Reducing Female Juvenile Delinquency in Florida."

 

Chelsea Dunn -  Staff Attorney           Pronouns: She, her, hers

Chelsea Dunn joined Southern Legal Counsel as a Staff Attorney in July 2018. She is the director of the Healthy Kids Medical-Legal Partnership, seeking to resolve the health-harming legal needs of some of Florida’s underserved children. She also contributes to SLC’s efforts to prevent discrimination against vulnerable populations.  

 

She came to SLC from the Child and Family Law Division of Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS), the Massachusetts Public Defender’s office, where she worked as a Supervising Staff Attorney, representing indigent parents and children in dependency cases. During her seven years with CPCS, Ms. Dunn was frequent presenter in a number of trainings, including trainings to certify Massachusetts practitioners in dependency and termination of parental rights cases. She co-authored a model memorandum distributed to child welfare practitioners statewide regarding the Department of Children and Families’ (DCF) provision of services under the Americans with Disabilities Act, an update on the “Privilege and Confidentiality” chapter of the Massachusetts Child Welfare Practice Manual, as well as two letter commentaries on new DCF regulations related to family assessments and service planning.

 

Ms. Dunn is a member of The Florida Bar, as well as a member of both the Massachusetts and Virginia State Bars. She obtained her J.D. from the University of Richmond School of Law in 2009, where she graduated magna cum laude and received the Nina R. Kestin Service Award for contributions to the school, community, and legal profession.  She served as an editor for the Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest, in which she had two comments published.  After graduating from law school, she spent two years clerking for Senior Justice Harry L. Carrico of the Virginia Supreme Court.  Chelsea received a B.A. in English and a B.S. in Sociology at the College of Charleston in South Carolina.

 

Samantha Howell - Pro Bono Director             Pronouns: She, her, hers

Ms. Howell joined Southern Legal Counsel in 2019 as its Pro Bono Director. Prior to joining SLC, Ms. Howell served as Executive Director of the NYS Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and, before that, as the Pro Bono Director at Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York (PLSNY), where she developed the nation’s only pro bono program tasked specifically with handling civil legal cases involving conditions of confinement for incarcerated New Yorkers.

 

Ms. Howell is a member of the Florida State Bar, the New York State Bar, and the federal bar of the Southern District of New York. Over the last decade, she has been an active member of the National Association of Pro Bono Professionals since 2011 and National Lawyers Guild. Ms. Howell has also served on the New York State Bar Association’s President’s Committee on Access to Justice and Pro Bono Coordinators Network, the Capital Region Immigration Collaborative, Capital Region Pro Bono Committee, Re-entry Subcommittee of the Mass Incarceration Task Force of the New York City Bar Association, the Capital Region Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union, and the state board of the New York Civil Liberties Union. Ms. Howell is also the co-founder and board member of a non-profit organization that provides poverty simulations nationwide.

 

Ms. Howell received her J.D. from Albany Law School in 2010 and her B.A. in Political Sociology from Whitman College in 2004. In 2010, she received the Edward M. Cameron, Jr. Memorial Prize for Public Interest Law from Albany Law School for her work on revitalizing and redeveloping the school’s pro bono program. In 2014, she received the Supervising Attorney award from Albany Law School for her work with law interns. In 2017, Ms. Howell received the NASW-NYS Chapter's Public Citizen of the Year, for her efforts to integrate social welfare students into civil legal service offices.

 

Ms. Howell regularly presents on a variety of topics – such as on pro bono program development and growth, prisoners’ rights, the criminalization of poverty, and professional development – and has been invited to present at the Equal Justice Conference for several years. She has also contributed to numerous newsletters and articles, including “The Nexus Between Domestic Violence and Trafficking for Commercial Sexual Sexploitation” in the Lawyers Manual on Human Trafficking, and “Mending the Patchwork,” a report from the Empire Justice Center on the administration of New York’s child care subsidy system.

 

 

 Abigail Adkins - Equal Justice Works Fellow     Pronouns - She, her, hers

 

Abigail Adkins joined Southern Legal Counsel in September of 2019, as an Equal Justice Works Fellow sponsored by McDermott Will & Emery and Darden Restaurants, Inc. Ms. Adkins graduated from the Florida A&M University College of Law, where she received her J.D. with honors in May of 2019. As an Equal Justice Works Fellow, Ms. Adkins serves students with mental and behavioral health needs by advocating for the provision necessary of special education and community-based mental health services. Her fellowship seeks to protect students with disabilities from undue disciplinary measures, involuntary psychiatric evaluations, and privacy violations. Abigail Adkins is a member of The Florida Bar.

 

Clifford C. Higby, Chair

Bryant & Higby Chartered, Panama City

Bennett H. Brummer

Former Miami-Dade Public Defender, 11th Judicial Circuit, Gainesville

Brianna Chesteen

Health Education and Training Center, Gainesville

Dr. Karina Descartin

Jacksonville University, Jacksonville

William S. Graessle

William S. Graessle, P.A., Jacksonville

Adria K. Green

Exceptional Elder Care & Consulting, Gainesville

E. Andrus Healy

Healy Foundation, Jacksonville

Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

University of Florida Levin College of Law, Gainesville

Philip N. Kabler

Bogin, Munns & Munns, P.A., Gainesville

Dr. Harry Krop

Clinical Psychologist, Gainesville

Marni Lennon

University of Miami School of Law, Miami

Barbara Bolton Litten

Gunster, West Palm Beach

Keith Maynard

Spohrer & Dodd, P.L., Jacksonville

Jeremy Nelson

Riverbed Technology, Tampa

Seth R. Nelson

Nelson Law Group, Tampa

Gabriela M. Ruiz

Kobre & Kim, Miami

Steven J. Sherman

         Merrill Lynch, Ponte Vedra

Ken Thomas

Ernst & Young, LLC, Panama City

Dr. Jethro Toomer

Consulting Psychologist, Miami

Barbara J. Walker

The Walker Firm, PLLC, Tallahassee

Nina Zollo

James K. Green, P.A., West Palm Beach

Carolyn M. Keene

Administrator

MaryEl Duncan

Legal Assistant/Paralegal

Kimber Tough, MSW

Homeless Outreach Advocate/Paralegal

Jodi Siegel           (2004-present)

Alice K. Nelson        (1988-2004)

Albert J. Hadeed      (1977-1988)

 

 

1977 Founding Board                 
Joseph R. Julin (d.)
Michael McIntosh (d.)
Jon L. Mills
Joseph Onek
Chesterfield Smith, Sr. (d.)

 

Past Board Members
Jacqueline Allee
Francisco R. Angones

Elizabeth L. Bevington
Alan Bookman
Howard C. Coker
Hon. LeRoy Collins (d.)
Benjamin L. Crump
Raul Cuervo
F. Malcom Cunningham
Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte (d.)
Jesse Diner

Karen Dyer
Hon. Raymond Ehrlich (d.)

Stephen H. Echsner
Richard A. Gilbert
Christopher L. Griffin
Albert J. Hadeed
Timothy D. Haines
Lois Cowles Harrison (d.)
Hon. Joseph W. Hatchett (d.)

John H. (Jack) Hickey
Dr. Vivian Hobbs
Marilyn Holifield
John D. Jopling
William Kalish

Tiffani G. Lee
Hon. K.H. "Buddy" MacKay
D. Ross McCloy, Jr.
Michael P. McMahon

Peg O'Connor
Roderick Petrey
David B. Rothman

Robert A. Rush

Tom Scarritt
Lansing C. Scriven
Hon. Mary S. Scriven
Harry L. Shorstein
William Reece Smith, Jr. (d.)
Robert F. Spohrer
Eli H. Subin
Hon. Alan C. Sundberg (d.)
Randolph W. Thrower (d.)

Hon. William A. Van Nortwick, Jr. (d.)

Bill Wagner
Sylvia H. Walbolt
Stephen Zack