Brenda London, 2017 Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award Winner
Our 9th Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Award Winner is Brenda London.
When London’s 13-year-old son was offered extra credit to write a poem about a local hero, he wrote “Do You Hear Me?” which ends with the lines: She didn’t give up and I was surprised. Do you hear me?/Now I laugh and even if I cry, I know That someone hears me.
It was about his mother and her many years of work with children in need, and it was one of the winners in Orlando’s “Writes of Spring” contest and became part of a play, written around students’ words, titled “Do You Hear Me?”
Since 1988, London has taken more than 100 Guardian ad Litem appointments. She currently assists nine children, and she has donated more than 1,200 hours on closed cases. In 2016, she received the Judge J.C. “Jake” Stone Distinguished Service Award, the highest recognition from the Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association. Many of the cases have been difficult. In one, London even learned sign language so she could communicate with a child who was deaf. London also directs the Barry University Collaborative Family Law Clinic.
London received her J.D. from the UF Levin College of Law. She is with the Aikin Family Law Group in Winter Park.
Born and raised in Connecticut, I am a “double Gator,” having received both my undergraduate and my law degree from the University of Florida. In my practice, I have worked as a Guardian ad Litem with hundreds of children in both dependency and custody cases, frequently appointed by judges. I have been honored to receive many awards and recognition's for my work as a children’s advocate. I received the Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award for 2017 for my Guardian ad Litem work, and also received the highest award given for Guardian ad Litem representation, the 2016 Judge J.C. “Jake” Stone Distinguished Service Award.
In August 2020, I was one of the first collaborative lawyers to receive accreditation by the Florida Academy of Collaborative Professionals (FACP), a designation I continue to hold today. I teach Collaborative Law as an Adjunct Law Professor at the Barry University School of Law, and serve as the Director of The Barry Collaborative Family Law Clinic. The Clinic represents modest income families with divorce and paternity through the Collaborative Process. I am a Collaborative Law trainer and speaker, and served as the Administrator and board member of The Collaborative Family Law Group of Florida from 2008-2018.
Whether working with clients in the conference room, by zoom, or in the court room, I am committed to empowering individuals and families to achieve healthier and more positive futures.
