Quarles Team Led by Melanie Kalmanson Honored by Advancing Real Change for Pro Bono Capital Punishment Work

September 17, 2025 — Advancing Real Change Inc. (ARC) announced today that it is honoring a Quarles & Brady team led by Melanie Kalmanson, a Litigation & Dispute Resolution partner, with its Exceptional Service Award for the team’s pro bono advocacy on behalf of individuals sentenced to death in Florida.

Other Quarles team members involved in the capital punishment work are attorneys Colleen Essid, Michalynn Miller, Andrea Seach and Julia Wischmeier, and paralegals Rebecca Wilt and Cyndi Trotti. The team will be recognized at ARC’s annual virtual award event, “Together Towards Justice,” being held October 23 at 1 p.m. ET.

Kalmanson and the Quarles team have helped numerous organizations and individuals advocate for people facing the death sentence who raised claims that merited review but could not get the courts to intervene. The team has represented those who have an interest in cases, filing amicus curiae briefs in support of individuals facing execution in both the Florida Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court.

An active voice on capital punishment issues, Kalmanson also serves on the Steering Committee for the ABA Death Penalty Representation Project and teaches Florida Capital Punishment as an adjunct professor at her alma matter, the Florida State University College of Law.

Founded in 2014, ARC is a leader in the field of mitigation investigation, providing direct services to indigent clients as members of criminal defense teams, offering training and education to defenders across the nation, and applying the values and practices of mitigation investigation to all areas of the criminal legal system.