- November 21, 2024
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Local attorney Marc Dwyer, managing partner of Dwyer & Knight Law Firm, has been awarded the 2021 Flagler County Pro Bono Attorney Of the Year Award by Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida.
"It is very rewarding because I know the relief that it provides, and I know the changes in people's lives that it makes when they can lift that burden."
— MARC DWYER
Most of Dwyer's pro bono cases last year involved bankruptcies, he said on Flagler Broadcasting's "Free For All Friday" on Jan. 28.
"Needless to say ... folks in need of bankruptcy might be the ones most in need of pro bono services," Dwyer said. "And bankruptcy is very complex. It really does take a good bit of time and a good bit of knowledge."
The laws surrounding bankruptcies became more complicated in 2005, making bankruptcies more costly, he said.
Most people that come to Dwyer don't want to be having to consider a potential bankruptcy, he said.
"They come because they have to," he said. "And it is very rewarding, because I know the relief that it provides, and I know the changes in people's lives that it makes when they can lift that burden off that they never would be able to lift naturally and organically."
Dwyer likes helping to lift the stigma associated with bankruptcy, he said. In most cases, the people who come to him for assistance are filing for bankruptcy due to circumstances outside their control, he added.
"For example ... the subprime crisis in 2006. That's the last time that we saw the biggest spike in bankruptcies. ... The reckless subprime loans issued by Wall Street — that wasn't [borrowers'] fault."
Neither was the crashing of the market and the fact that jobs disappeared, leaving workers unable to pay the bills, he said.
"As a person who sits here on the front lines — people do not want to fail," he said. "They come because they really have no other choice."
Dwyer has practiced law in Flagler County for more than 18 years, according to a news release. His practice includes family law, criminal defense, bankruptcy, and injury law, according to the news release, and he is admitted to practice in all state and federal districts and bankruptcy divisions in Florida.
