CHICAGO, Dec. 11, 2020 — Phyllis W. Kotey will receive a Making a Difference Award at 2 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 11, during the virtual GPSolo 2020 Solo & Small Firm Winter Summit. The Difference Maker Award, presented by the American Bar Association Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division, recognizes an individual who has made a difference in the local community.
Kotey, a senior judge in Florida and a former county judge in Florida’s 8th Judicial Circuit, is a clinical professor of law at Florida International Law (FIU) School in Miami, serving as director of the externship and pro bono program. Kotey has facilitated a student-initiated pro bono legal service in Colombia, South America, as well as around the United States, including in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. She was selected as an FIU Top Scholar in 2014 and was a Fulbright U.S. Scholar for the 2012–13 academic year in Accra, Ghana.
Prior to becoming a judge, Kotey served as an assistant state attorney. She was an associate dean of the Florida Judicial College and is a faculty member for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and the National Judicial College.
Kotey is a member of ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division Diversity Committee, and was a member of the ABA Judicial Division Committee on Ethics and Professionalism. She has written numerous articles on criminal justice and judicial ethics. In 2020, she published a chapter on prosecutorial discretion for the Criminal Justice Section of the ABA, entitled “Understanding Prosecutorial Discretion: A 360 Degree View from 30,000 Feet Above.” Click here for a photo of Phyllis W. Kotey.
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