Outgoing Florida Bar President William Schifino Jr. honored two South Florida attorneys Friday at the Florida Bar’s annual convention in Boca Raton.
Fort Lauderdale Attorney Richard Jay Weiss of Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman received the Claude Pepper Outstanding Government Lawyer award. Weiss, who represents public and private sector clients in governmental and municipal law, has served dozens of governmental entities over the last 39 years in various capacities. A former Miami-Dade County assistant county attorney, Weiss has served as city attorney for nearly a dozen South Florida cities and special counsel and labor counsel to many more since 1991. Weiss guided the passage of a sub-section of Florida Statutes that protects government employees from being named in a routine negligence suit.
