Fort Lauderdale attorney Bob Butterworth has been appointed by the Florida Supreme Court to the board of The Florida Bar Foundation, a statewide charitable organization whose mission is to provide greater access to justice.
Recognized by his peers as the nation’s top attorney general for his leadership in multi-state litigation against the tobacco industry, which brought $11 billion to Florida, Butterworth was Florida’s longest-serving attorney general, serving from 1987 to 2002.
Butterworth is recognized for his leadership of Florida’s Department of Children and Families, where he gave foster children a seat at the table, instituted unprecedented transparency and accountability, and professionalized the department’s corps of lawyers.
In 2003 he became dean of the School of Law at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, where he worked to instill a sense of duty and service to the public in the school’s students and help them graduate with lower student debt. He is now of counsel with Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney | Fowler White Boggs, where he focuses on governmental relations. Butterworth has an extensive record of donating his time to pro bono work with a focus on providing aid to disadvantaged children. He is the 2014 recipient of The Florida Bar Foundation’s Medal of Honor award for a lawyer.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and his law degree from the University of Miami School of Law in 1969.
Butterworth, a Florida Bar Foundation Fellow and a member of the Foundation’s Bronze Society for lifetime giving, begins his three-year term July 1.
The mission of The Florida Bar Foundation (www.TheFloridaBarFoundation.org) is to provide greater access to justice. The Florida Bar Foundation is the only funder linking 30 legal aid organizations in Florida to form a comprehensive, statewide legal services delivery system. Other Foundation programs include grants to improve the justice system and loan repayment assistance for attorneys at its legal aid grantee organizations. Principal support for the Foundation’s charitable activities comes from the Interest on Trust Accounts (IOTA) Program implemented by the Florida Supreme Court in 1981. Additional support comes from gifts by Florida attorneys, law firms, corporations, foundations and from other individuals.
