Florida Supreme Court Recognizes John B. Dorris for His Exceptional Pro Bono Work

John B. Dorris has received esteemed recognition from the Florida Supreme Court due to his exceptional time commitment to providing pro bono services to the community. John was, and still currently is, a volunteer mediator with the Orange County Bar Association Citizen Dispute / Family Mediation program serving Orange County residents.

In 2022, John started the year by creating and presenting training for the program “What to Expect When They’re Expecting Resolution.” The presentation was part of the new volunteer mediator orientation providing information about what individuals in the community should expect from the program, the steps in the process, and managing the parties’ expectations. The training further provided “best practices” materials and forms that could be helpful for them in their mediation practice.

During 2022, John mediated both civil disputes and family law matters. Civil disputes included cases in small claims court such as landlord/tenant disputes, complaints against dry cleaners, services gone awry, etc. Family mediation handled family law cases like modification of time-sharing, relocation issues, and school boundary designation issues.

Additionally, John has been a volunteer mediator with the Florida Bar’s Grievance Mediation and Fee Arbitration Program for several years and continuing. Since joining the program last year, he has handled several statewide cases and mediated a few. The program diverts fee-related bar complaints to a mediator to help resolve the fee dispute before progressing to a formal bar complaint against the attorney.

Also, John provides pro bono assistance within the LGBTQIA community, assisting with simple matters such as mediating a marital settlement agreement for couples intending to file a simplified dissolution petition.