Fort Lauderdale attorney Thomas Messana has been named the recipient of the chief bankruptcy judge's pro bono award in the Southern District of Florida.

Chief Judge Laurel Isicoff recognized the Messana P.A. founder, who came to South Florida from Maryland in 1993, as “a passionate supporter of pro bono his entire adult life.”

As president-elect of the district's Bankruptcy Bar Association in 2000, Messana coordinated the formation of the Bankruptcy Bar Foundation to support pro bono services and assembled a team that helped a bankruptcy attorney recover houses or money for victims of a mortgage rescue scheme.

He also wrote a pamphlet distributed in court to pro se parties, takes pro bono cases and serves on the court's pro bono committee and the Florida Bar's business law bankruptcy judicial liaison committee.

His primary focus is corporate restructuring, distressed business situations, state and federal insolvency proceedings and commercial litigation.

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