The 2003 Tampa Bay Ethics Award was presented to William Reece Smith Jr. last
October at the 13th annual Tampa Bay Ethics Award Breakfast in the Fletcher
Lounge.
For the past several years, the UT Center for Ethics has recognized an
individual whose personal, business and professional life reflects those
classical ethical standards that contribute to all that is good in our society —
responsibility, respect, trustworthiness, caring, justice and citizenship.
According to his nomination by Kathleen S. McLeroy of Carlton Fields, P.A.,
Reece Smith has served his community, state and country with distinction. The
Tampa attorney is the only American lawyer to have served as president of a
local, state, national, and international bar association.
He won the American Bar Association’s Gold Medal for his efforts to preserve
funding for the Legal Services Corporation and his nationwide effort to increase
the amount of pro bono legal work performed by members of the bar. He also made
the lead gift to Bay Area Legal Services to create an endowment fund to provide
local legal services to the poor.
Smith’s commitment to ethics also has been exhibited by his efforts to
enhance professional ideals and legal ethics in the practice of law. He served
for several years on the Professionalism Committee of The Florida Bar, published
several articles, and chaired a committee that published a two-volume work on
the subject. He holds the position of Distinguished Professional Lecturer at
Stetson University College of Law, where he has taught Professional
Responsibility (Legal Ethics) since 1991.
Smith has numerous involvements in both the
community and education, and received the Civitan Club’s award as Tampa’s
Outstanding Citizen in 1986. He is recognized and respected for excellence in
his profession and for his lifelong ethical conduct, as well as his selfless
dedication to equal access to justice.
For more information, contact the
Office of Public Information at publicinfo@ut.edu.