TALLAHASSEE – U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton is being honored with the 2019 Chief Justice's Distinguished Federal Judicial Service Award.
Dalton, who serves in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Orlando, will be presented the award by Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles T. Canady in a Feb. 7 ceremony, The Florida Bar said in a Jan. 16 release.
The award recognizes an active or retired federal judge for outstanding and sustained service to the public, especially as it relates to the support of pro bono legal services, the release said. Dalton, a graduate of the University of Florida Levin College of Law, was appointed to the district court in 2011.
U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton
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Dalton was tasked in 2013 by the Bench Bar Fund Committee of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida to examine and improve the court's resources available to litigants who represent themselves, the release. He has led the pro se assistance subcommittee, resulting in many improvements in how the court provides unrepresented individuals with improved access to the judicial system over the past five years.
Dalton also spearheaded the launch and redesign of the court's website and new written materials, “Litigants Without Lawyers,” the release said. "Litigants Without Lawyers" offers pro se litigants a civil case flowchart, answers to frequently asked questions, a glossary of legal terms, assistance on where to file, frequently used forms, information about lawyer referral services and a 33-page “Guide for Proceeding without a Lawyer.”
Under Dalton's leadership, a free person-to-person resource was also created. The Jacksonville Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, with support from the Federal Bar Association chapters in Orlando, Tampa and North Central Florida, and the Southwest Florida Federal Court Bar Association was first to undertake the pilot project.
In 2015, the Jacksonville division opened the Legal Assistance Program.