Young Lawyer Michaèl’s Déborah Saint-Vil of Miami to be Honored for Pro Bono Service

Young Lawyer Michaèl’s Déborah Saint-Vil of Miami to be Honored for Pro Bono Service

Michaèl’s Déborah Saint-Vil is the recipient of the 2024 Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division Pro Bono Service Award. The award recognizes public service or legal aid performed by a lawyer who is 35 or younger or who has not practiced for more than five years. The award will be presented in a January 18 ceremony streamed live by the Supreme Court of Florida.

Saint-Vil is a native of Brooklyn, New York, who was raised in Haiti. Her family immigrated to the United States in the early 2000s and settled in Northern California.

Saint-Vil is an advocate for fellow immigrants, serving as manager of the Immigration Legal Services in the Office of New Americans of Miami-Dade (ONA). ONA is a county-wide initiative to help legal residents overcome any barriers on their path to full citizenship.

As a supervising attorney, Saint-Vil trains newer attorneys, provides legal services, and educates the vulnerable immigrant population about their rights. She represents clients from the immigration court, the Board of Immigration appeals, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Asylum Office, and Immigration Customs Enforcement.

Beyond her work at ONA, Saint-Vil has been recognized for leadership and selfless work with Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc., Florida Immigrant Coalition and Legal Services of Greater Miami Inc. She received the 2022 Young Haitian American Professionals Top 20 Under 40 award.

Saint-Vil is committed to serving the legal community and beyond. She is currently president-elect for the Haitian Lawyers Association and as treasurer for the Haitian American Professional Coalition.

This year’s awards ceremony, which also honors Individual, Circuit, Voluntary Bar, Law Firm, Distinguished Judicial Service, and Distinguished Federal Judicial Service pro bono efforts, takes place at the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday, January 18, at 3:30 p.m. Watch it live on Facebook, WFSU: Gavel to Gavel and the Florida Channel.