The Florida Bar will recognize 21 lawyers, including four in the Tampa Bay are, for their work on behalf of poor and indigent clients at a Jan. 25 ceremony at the Florida Supreme Court.

The Florida Bar President's Pro Bono Service Award was established in 1981. It is intended to encourage lawyers to volunteer free legal services and raise public awareness of volunteer services provided by Florida lawyers.

The award recognizes pro bono service in each of Florida's 20 judicial circuits and one Florida Bar member practicing outside the state of Florida. It is presented annually in conjunction with the Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award, which is given by the chief justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Florida.

This year's winners include:

• William L. Penrose, St. Petersburg, 6th Judicial Circuit (Pasco and Pinellas counties). Since 1994, Penrose has contributed more than 450 hours of pro bono legal services to indigent clients. In that time, he has handled a total of 28 extended family law cases. In 2003, alone, he contributed 95 hours of pro bono work, providing free legal advice to clients of the Community Law Program's Wednesday walk-in clinic and handling family law cases. Penrose has been in private practice in St. Petersburg for more than 30 years and has been board certified in marital and family law since 1991.
• Kelly B. Hardwick III, Bartow, 10th Judicial Circuit (Hardee, Highlands and Polk counties). Hardwick has served the Guardian ad Litem program as a pro bono program attorney and as both Guardian ad Litem and Attorney ad Litem.
• Neil W. Scott, Sarasota, 12th Judicial Circuit (DeSoto, Manatee and Sarasota counties). Scott has served as a volunteer attorney with Legal Aid of Manasota Inc. since 1991, donating more than 2,000 hours of pro bono service to the community. He works with indigent and low-income patients who need assistance with end of life documents.
• Sylvia Hardaway Walbolt, Tampa, 13th Judicial Circuit (Hillsborough). In one death penalty case, Walbolt saw the Florida Supreme Court unanimously reverse the convictions and vacate the death sentences of a man with extensive evidence of organic brain damage and mental impairment. In another case, she led a group of Carlton Fields attorneys to assist the Florida Institute of Justice and Florida Institutional Legal Services in a class action filed on behalf of prisoners assigned to "close management." A settlement in the case resulted in dramatic reforms in the close management system.