Adkins Award
The Appellate Practice Section of The Florida Bar is proud to bestow its highest honor, the James C. Adkins Award, to Judge Stephanie W. Ray of Florida’s First District Court of Appeal.
Judge Ray’s career accomplishments, leadership, and commitment to Bar service are unparalleled. She began her distinguished career in private practice with the Ausley McMullen firm in Tallahassee. She then transitioned to academia, rising to the position of Associate Dean for Administration at the Florida State University College of Law. She left FSU to become Chair of the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission, a quasi-judicial agency with jurisdiction over public bargaining disputes and career service appeals.
Since 2011, Judge Ray has served on the First DCA, including a two-year stint as chief judge from 2019 to 2021, during which she steered the court seamlessly through the Covid-19 pandemic. During her time on the appellate bench, Judge Ray has also served as chair of the DCA Judges Conference, as chair of the Appellate Court Rules Committee, and as president of the First District Appellate American Inn of Court. On top of these positions, Judge Ray serves on the faculty of several judicial education colleges, including the New Appellate Judges College.
But most near-and-dear to our hearts, Judge Ray has been a longtime member of the Appellate Practice Section’s executive council and an active committee and subcommittee chair. A wealth of knowledge, a model of professionalism, and a mentor to countless Section members, she has greatly improved the Section and furthered its mission of promoting collegiality and excellent written and oral advocacy in Florida’s courts of appeal. And she has done it all while serving as a role model for working parents, somehow finding time to be an active soccer mom to two teenage boys. It is an honor for the Appellate Practice Section to bestow the Adkins Award to Judge Ray. The Section thanks her for her ongoing service to the people of Florida, The Florida Bar, and the practice of law.
John R. Hamilton Pro Bono Award
It is with great pleasure that the Appellate Practice Section of The Florida Bar presents the John R. Hamilton Pro Bono Award to John S. Mills of Jacksonville.
John is receiving the Hamilton Pro Bono Award in recognition of his relentless pursuit for justice on behalf of a capital defendant. John was retained to seek postconviction relief for Jason Simpson well over a decade ago and continued to represent Mr. Simpson for thousands—if not tens of thousands—of hours on a pro bono basis long after the initial retainer was exhausted. Those hours accumulated at the postconviction trial stage, two interlocutory appeals to the Supreme Court of Florida, and a final appeal of the postconviction court’s denial of relief. In January 2022, the Supreme Court of Florida reversed the postconviction denial and granted Mr. Simpson a new trial.
John would be the first to admit that the successful representation of Mr. Simpson was not a one-man show. Multiple investigators, co-counsel Sonya Rudenstine, John’s law partners, associates, every law clerk that worked at his firm during the decade-plus of the representation, as well as amicus counsel Raoul Cantero and the team at White & Case on behalf of the Innocence Project, comprised the many hands that contributed to the ultimate success. Still, John was the driving force, never wavering in his dedication to the case, his willingness to give of his time and resources, or his steadfast belief of Mr. Simpson’s innocence.
Even after obtaining the reversal and new trial, John kept working to ensure Mr. Simpson was finally released from prison—which happened in June 2022 after nearly 20 years on death row—and had the resources he needed to successfully transition to life outside prison walls.
For his tireless pursuit for justice and dedication to pro bono service, the Appellate Practice Section is honored to bestow the John R. Hamilton Pro Bono Award to John S. Mills.