[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 57 (Tuesday, April 10, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E424]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        IN HONOR OF LOUIS SILBER

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. LOIS FRANKEL

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 10, 2018

  Ms. FRANKEL of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to honor Louis 
Silber, who has recently been awarded the Florida Bar President's Pro 
Bono Service Award. I include in the Record an article from the Florida 
Bar News which made the announcement:

       ``Louis Marc Silber is known for his tenacious advocacy in 
     two unrelated areas: the rights of homeowners facing 
     fraudulent foreclosure practices, and the reproductive rights 
     of women. His legal victories on the foreclosure front 
     resulted in much-needed windfalls for legal aid, while his 
     pro bono work has helped keep a West Palm Beach women's 
     center in operation.
       In 2007, Silber filed suit against David J. Stern and his 
     law firm over accusations of foreclosure fraud. Silber won 
     the class-action case, but some money went unclaimed, and a 
     Cy Pres award benefitted the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach 
     County. In 2017, legal aid again benefited when a court 
     agreed Silber could distribute the money to three charities--
     the Legal Aid Society, the Lord's Place (a homeless shelter), 
     and the Miami Rescue Mission--in a second case involving 
     Stern's victims.
       In all, Silber and his team of lawyers provided more than 
     $400,000 to the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County 
     through the two Cy Pres awards.
       Silber's relationship with the Presidential Women's Center 
     began when the center opened in 1980. He has been an advocate 
     in important legal battles to protect reproductive rights in 
     Florida. He played a lead role in blocking Florida's 
     counseling law from going into effect and has provided local 
     counsel against a law that would have limited some later term 
     abortion procedures, all on a pro bono basis.
       Silber has also supported patients with unique legal 
     questions and has helped to defend the safety of physicians 
     and staff.
       For the first 16 years representing Presidential Women's 
     Center, Silber provided all legal services for free. Since 
     then, he has accepted pay for half his work at the insistence 
     of founder and director Mona Reis, who says: ``He is the 
     force that has kept me going.''
       Silber, who earned his J.D. in 1973 from Georgetown 
     University Law Center, was an assistant state attorney and 
     then a partner with Cone, Wagner, Nugent, Hazouri and Roth 
     before forming Pariente & Silber, P.A., with now Justice 
     Barbara Pariente. That firm lasted until 1993, with 
     Pariente's elevation to the bench, and eventually became 
     Silber & Davis.''
       Louis' persistent dedication to the rights of women is 
     laudable, and I can think of no one more deserving of this 
     award than him.

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