Showrunners

• Author: Lee Rawles
• Pages: 61-62

SEPTEMBER 2018 ABA JOURNAL || 61

Your ABA

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MICHAEL AND CRYSTAL FREED, ART_OF_SUN/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Her friends Sarah Symons

and John Berger run a shelter in

Jalpaiguri, India, for survivors

of human tra cking and were

hoping to expand their building

to a third fl oor—and they would

need about $40,000. The numbers

seemed serendipitous.

Crystal had a Bollywood-themed

benefi t ball as a nod to her family’s

East Indian heritage and the

Jalpaiguri shelter that would

receive the funds, and she was

able to achieve her $40,000 goal.

Crystal’s success spurred her

husband to create a philanthropic

goal last year. He’d been doing

pro bono work with the nonprofi t

Jacksonville Area Legal Aid for

years and wanted to create a fund-

raising event to benefi t them.

“She turned 40, and I turned

50. So $50,000 seemed like a

good amount to raise,” he says.

COURTHOUSE CHALLENGE

He hit on a bold plan. He had

begun running seriously only

the year before but completed

four marathons and three ultra-

marathons. He thought a marathon

event, called Freed to Run, could be

a way to raise funds and awareness

of the need to support legal aid

services. He’d start in the state

capital of Tallahassee and run to

his hometown of Jacksonville. If

he ran the length of a marathon

every day, it would take him six days.

“It was really a God thing because

when I came up with the idea and

we looked at the map, if you go down

I-90, about every 25 to 28 miles

there’s a courthouse,” Michael says.

“So you basically have a marathon

between each courthouse, which

works out really nicely.”

There’s another reason for the

fortuitous spacing of courthouses,

Philanthropy is a family a air

for ABA members Crystal and

Michael Freed. Separately and

together, they have worked to raise

money and awareness for causes

close to their hearts.

“We both want to raise our

daughters to know about giving

back and not being entitled,” says

Michael, a shareholder at Gunster in

Jacksonville, Florida. He’s been an

ABA member for 22 years; she just

returned to membership last year.

Since 2008, when Crystal left her

job as a commercial litigator, she’s

focused her career on advocating for

victims of human tra cking. She

formed the Freed Firm, in which

she represents clients and acts as a

community advocate.

Crystal came to the United States

from Trinidad and Tobago with her

family in 1990. Violence was com-

mon in her household. “One of

the reasons I care about victims of

human tra cking and survivors of

human tra cking is because I don’t

want anyone to ever feel as powerless

as I felt as a child,” Crystal says.

As her birthday approached in

July 2016, she wanted to mark the

occasion in a signifi cant way. “Forty

is one of those pivotal moments in

life,” she says.

and it dates back to the days when

judges rode circuit. “It’s as far apart

as a judge could ride in a day, which

is coincidentally about the length of

a marathon,” says Jim Kowalski Jr.,

president and CEO of JALA. “You

can’t kill a judge’s horse.”

“As a wife I was like ‘What? Can

your body do that?’ ” says Crystal

with a laugh. After determining he

was serious, she consulted a triathlete

friend about how she could help sus-

tain Michael during the grueling six-

day run from May 28 to June 2, 2017.

Crystal drove ahead in a van with the

couple’s daughters, giving Michael a

water break every 3 miles or so.

Michael completed all six

SHOWRUNNERS

Members Who

Inspire is an

ABA Journal

s e r i e s p r o fi l i n g

exceptional ABA

members. If you

know members who

do unique and important work, you

can nominate them for this series by

emailing inspire@abajournal.com.

Members

Inspire

Who

ABA JOURNAL

Couple’s friendly fundraising competition

launches marathon event to benefi t legal aid

By Lee Rawles