Staff Spotlight: Kara Schickowski
Kara Schickowski is the supervising attorney and program manager for HIV Law projects and LGBTQ+ advocacy programs at Legal Aid Service of Broward County.
Since 2005, she has provided direct legal services to clients with their advance directives and estate plans. She has also served on various local and regional HIV and LGBTQ+ committees and presented to the community on a variety of legal and social justice topics.
While managing and maintaining an active caseload of approximately 150 cases per year, she also designs, implements, and manages multiple local, state and national grants. Kara also is responsible for implementing new projects from initial start-up through program wind-down.
Active in the community, Kara has served on a number of Broward County HIV Planning Council committees. She was also a member of the Steering Committee for the Florida LGBTQ Legal Aid Summit.
Kara has developed an AIDS Educational Training Center enduring learning module: “Legal Services in the HIV Care Continuum: How Incorporating Legal Services into a client’s care plan may improve health outcomes” for Florida HIV Case Managers. She also presented at the 2021 Florida Conference on Aging on special legal topics and barriers to care for Florida’s LGBTQ+ senior community and those aging with HIV.
As a panelist on the Florida CLE “Alphabet Soup: LGBTQ+ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) for the Family Law Practitioner,” she provided expert thought leadership to attendees. In addition, specifically for the Broward County Library speaker series, Kara created and presented the a program entitled “Achieving Rainbow Justice: Special Legal Topics for the Broward LGBTQ+ Community”.
Kara has lived in South Florida all of her adult life and is a graduate of the University of Miami and of the Shepard Broad College of Law at Nova Southeastern University. She is a member of the Broward Bar Association, Florida Bar, United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida and is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States.
In her personal time, Kara is an avid reader and concertgoer, and loves spending time with her 15 year old Brussels Griffon and her 16 year old cat, both of whom have a strong social media presence.