Legal Aid Service of Broward and Collier County (LAS) received a Cy Pres award of $350,000. The award resulted from the work of recently named Attorney of the Year, Jay Cohen, a senior partner at Cohen, Blostein & Ayala, P.A. The funds received from this award will directly and significantly impact the daily operations and programs at the Legal Aid Service of Broward and Collier Counties.
“It’s the people that are so committed to the goals and mission of Legal Aid that are most impressive to me, and knowing the tremendous amount of civil legal advocacy, education and service the organization and its staff provide to the at-risk population,” Cohen says. “I encourage anyone who becomes involved with class actions to think of those funds that are left over and to support your local charitable organizations.”
Cy Pres awards are an essential funding source for legal aid programs. In many class action cases, a large part of the settlement fund or judgment remains unspent for various reasons. In those situations, the court must determine how to dispose of the remaining money in the common fund. Cy Pres awards are used to distribute these unclaimed funds and earmark them for the subsequent best compensation.
“The Cy Pres funds comes at a time when there is an increase in demand for the services provided by our organization,” Brent Thompson says, Executive Director of Legal Aid Service of Broward and Collier Counties. “Because of Jay’s foresight and advocacy, we will be able to continue to provide the disadvantaged of our community with high-quality free civil legal advice, representation, and education.”
Legal Aid Service of Broward County is a nonprofit law firm established in 1973. Its mission is to provide high-quality free civil legal advice, representation and education to the poor of Broward County to improve the low-income community’s lifestyle and living conditions and encourage self-sufficiency.
