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W&L Law Grad Receives Florida's Highest Award for the Legal Profession

Henry M. Coxe III, a 1972 graduate of Washington and Lee’s School of Law, will be honored with the Florida Bar Foundation’s 2012 Medal of Honor Award, the legal profession’s highest award in the state.

Coxe is receiving the award for his lifelong commitment to duty and service to the public and for improving the administration of justice. He is widely recognized in the state for his pro bono work, fund-raising for legal aid and leadership of the organized bar.

“Hank Coxe has exhibited extraordinary leadership skills since his admission to the Florida Bar and becoming an assistant state attorney in Jacksonville,” said former Florida Supreme Court Justice Major B. Harding, in a news release from the foundation. “He has exhibited innovation, courage and professionalism in the practice of law and in bar-related activities throughout his career.”

This is not the first time Coxe has been honored for his service as a lawyer. Jacksonville Area Legal Aid presented him with its highest honor, the Equal Justice Award, in 2004. His many hours of pro bono service also earned him the Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Award in 1985. His other recognitions include the Florida Bar President’s Award of Merit, the ABOTA President’s Award, the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Steven Goldstein Award and the Florida Bar Criminal Law Section’s Selig I. Goldin Award.

A criminal trial attorney and director with the Bedell firm in Jacksonville, Coxe has served as president of the Jacksonville Bar Association and the Florida Bar. He currently serves on the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission, as well as the Florida Innocence Commission, which is partially funded by the Florida Bar Foundation.

Coxe will receive the Medal of Honor on June 21 at the Florida Bar Foundation’s 36th annual reception and dinner, to be held in conjunction with the Florida Bar Annual Convention in Orlando.

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