FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
Senior Attorney Named as Director
ORLANDO, FL - The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida announced today
the opening of its new Central Florida Regional Office, located near downtown
Orlando. Leading the ACLU's efforts in central Florida will be the newly
appointed Regional Director, Glenn Katon.
"We are pleased to open a staffed
regional office in Orlando and to have someone with Glenn's qualifications as
our Director," said Howard Simon, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida.
"With civil liberties under attack across Florida and an administration running
roughshod over the Constitution, this is the most important time for us to be
expanding our staff to defend freedom for Floridians."
Since joining the
ACLU in October 2006, Katon has assisted in litigation on the very public
"Orlando anti-homeless ordinances" and is serving as lead counsel in the
recently filed Ten Commandments case in federal court contesting the
unconstitutional placement of a large religious monument on the Dixie County
courthouse steps.
Prior to working with the ACLU, Katon practiced law as a
shareholder with the Tampa law firm of Bush Ross, P.A.; was a trial attorney
with the Department of Justice, Tax Division, in Washington, D.C.; was a
litigation associate with a large Dallas law firm; and worked as a law clerk to
the Honorable Terry R. Means, U.S. district judge for the Northern District of
Texas. Katon first became involved with the ACLU of Florida as a volunteer
attorney with the PATH Project. Katon graduated on the dean's list at St. John's
University School of Law, where he served as an editor of one of the school's
law journals, and he received a B.A. from George Mason University.
The Orlando regional office will serve the four-county Orlando area community as well as the nearby counties of Brevard, Flagler, Volusia and the counties surrounding Gainesville and Ocala. The ACLU expanded with staffed regional offices in Tampa (2004) and Pensacola (2005) and has plans to open a regional office in Jacksonville later this year.