Regina Huzior-Balzan, a Palm Coast attorney, has been recognized as the pro bono attorney of the year for Flagler County by Community Legal Services, a nonprofit organization that has been providing free legal help to Central Florida residents for nearly 59 years.
Community Legal Services, which operates under the website legalaccessforall.org, announced the recognition as the organization prepares to celebrate its 59th anniversary on Monday, September 29th. The milestone marks nearly six decades of providing no-cost legal assistance to vulnerable communities across Central Florida.
About Community Legal Services
Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida has grown into the oldest and largest provider of free legal aid for low-to-moderate income residents in Central Florida since its founding in 1966. The organization serves 12 counties stretching from Flagler County on the east coast to Brevard County and across to other parts of Central Florida, including Citrus, Hernando, Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Putnam, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties.
According to their mission statement, Community Legal Services “provides no-cost legal services to the most vulnerable in Central Florida and helps them protect their families, health, and livelihood.”
Jeff Harvey serves as the chief executive officer of Community Legal Services. Harvey, a military veteran and legal professional, was appointed to the position in April 2020 after a national search. He brings over 20 years of military service experience, including deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division and service in the Florida Army National Guard as a Battalion Commander.
Harvey earned his Juris Doctor from Stetson University College of Law in 2012 and founded the Justice Fred Karl Veterans Scholarship Endowment to help veterans pursue law degrees. He also co-organized The Veterans Law Institute, which provides pro bono legal services to veterans throughout Florida. In 2021, Harvey was named one of the Orlando Business Journal’s CEOs of the Year, and in 2025, he was recognized on Florida Trend’s Legal Elite Notable Managing Partners list.
Comprehensive Legal Services
Community Legal Services helps nearly 10,000 people in Central Florida each year with urgent, non-criminal legal problems that affect their everyday lives. The organization focuses on helping low-income people resolve issues that make a difference in their daily existence, such as protecting seniors from unlawful evictions, ensuring women and children are protected from domestic violence, and helping veterans receive financial benefits they have earned.
The organization assists in multiple areas of civil law. Consumer protection services help people recover from identity theft, cope with debt collection, handle fraudulent credit card charges, and deal with predatory lenders and consumer fraud. Family law services help families stay safe during domestic violence situations and assist with divorce proceedings, child custody and support matters, paternity cases, and legal name changes.
Housing assistance includes help with eviction prevention, foreclosure assistance, and fair housing issues. Public benefits advocacy helps people gain or maintain access to essential programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Social Security income, Social Security Disability income, and Medicaid and Medicare coverage.
The organization also provides disaster response services, rapidly mobilizing to support communities during emergencies. These services include helping people obtain safe housing, finding appropriate educational solutions for displaced students, working with FEMA claims, and replacing lost or destroyed documents necessary to rebuild lives after disasters.
Eligibility and Access
To receive assistance from Community Legal Services, individuals must meet eligibility guidelines based primarily on income, assets, and household size. Generally, applicants are eligible if their income does not exceed 125 percent of the Federal Poverty Income Guidelines. In some cases, domestic violence victims and elderly clients may not be subject to the standard income guidelines.
The organization operates a helpline system that can be reached at 800-405-1417. The helpline is staffed Monday and Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. People can also apply for services online at any time through the organization’s website.
Helpline attorneys provide immediate, brief legal services and referrals to eligible callers. These attorneys are trained to counsel people holistically, looking at all areas of their lives, including housing, finances, family stability, education, safety, and healthcare, rather than addressing only a single need.
The Honored Attorney
Regina Huzior-Balzan, the attorney being recognized for her volunteer service in Flagler County, has been licensed to practice law in Florida since February 7, 2010. According to Florida Bar records, she has maintained a clean disciplinary record throughout her 15 years of practice.
Huzior-Balzan is admitted to practice in multiple federal courts, including the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. She is also licensed to practice in New York state courts.
Her office is located at 35 W Waterside Parkway in Palm Coast, serving the Flagler County community, where she has been recognized for her pro bono contributions. The Florida Bar defines pro bono work as legal services provided without charge to persons of limited means or to organizations that serve such persons.
Volunteer and Professional Support
Community Legal Services operates on both a voluntary basis and with full-time staff members. The organization includes several lawyers who take on cases that might not be handled by other firms, ensuring that vulnerable community members have access to legal representation regardless of their financial circumstances.
The organization’s work is guided by core values that spell out the acronym PILLAR, representing their commitment to being passionate advocates, maintaining integrity in all interactions, leveraging teamwork to make a difference, providing leadership in their communities, remaining adaptable to increase impact, and treating everyone with respect and dignity.
According to national statistics cited by Community Legal Services, approximately 50 to 80 percent of low-income Americans’ legal needs go unmet. In Central Florida alone, nearly one million people qualify for the organization’s services, highlighting the significant demand for accessible legal assistance in the region.
The recognition of attorneys like Huzior-Balzan for their pro bono work helps highlight the critical role that volunteer lawyers play in addressing this justice gap. By donating their time and expertise, pro bono attorneys help ensure that legal assistance is available to those who cannot afford private representation.
As Community Legal Services celebrates its upcoming 59th anniversary, the organization continues its mission of promoting equal access to justice, which it describes as “a core American value.” The recognition of dedicated pro bono attorneys like Regina Huzior-Balzan demonstrates the ongoing commitment of legal professionals to serve their communities and help ensure that justice remains accessible to all residents, regardless of their economic circumstances.
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