Tallahassee attorney Kent Spuhler received The Florida Bar President's Award of Merit during the Bar's Annual Meeting in Boca Raton on Friday, June 25, 2004. The award was presented to Mr. Spuhler by 2003-2004 Bar President Miles A. McGrane, III, for exemplary service and dedication to the profession.

Mr. Sphuler received his undergraduate degree from Ohio State University in 1968 and his Juris Doctorate from Harvard in 1972. He came to Florida and began working as a staff attorney with Jacksonville Area Legal Aid and served in that position until he became Deputy Director in 1978. Three years later he was promoted to Executive Director and he held that position until 1994.

Kent Spuhler is now the Executive Director of Florida Legal Services, Inc., the statewide office for support legal assistance programs for the poor. This Tallahassee-based organization operates the Migrant Farm Worker Justice Project, the Children First Project, the Policy Advocacy Enhancement Project and the Domestic Violence Legal Hotline and coordinates the Emma Lazarus Grants project which assists non-citizens facing the loss of public benefits.

Mr. Spuhler is also the Director of the Florida Supreme Court Voluntary Pro Bono Attorney Plan, which works to increase the availability of legal services through the efforts of attorneys who are willing to give of their time.

"What this resume does not tell you is that he has, over the past 30-plus years positively affected the lives of thousands of people, young and old, from Key West to Pensacola. His work is not just his vocation, it is his avocation," McGrane said.

[Updated: 07-01-2005 ]