On February 6, 2018, the Tallahassee Bar Association awarded this year’s Thomas M. Ervin, Jr. Distinguished Young Lawyer Award to Erin J. Tilton.
The annual award honors a young lawyer who exemplifies the contributions that attorney Tom Ervin, Jr. made to the legal profession, The Florida Bar, and the Tallahassee Bar Association. The recipient must be a TBA member who has demonstrated exceptional service to TBA, TBA’s Young Lawyers Section and the Legal Aid Foundation. The lawyer also must exhibit high standards of professionalism and participate in activities that promote interaction and collegiality among TBA members.
Tilton is an associate at Hopping Green & Sams, P.A., where she represents private and public sector clients in civil litigation, appeals, administrative actions, and before elected bodies on complex real estate, development, and private property rights issues. She assists clients in obtaining local, state, and federal environmental and land use approvals and in defending against permit challenges and enforcement actions. Her representative experience includes comprehensive and large-scale planning, zoning, development of regional impact (DRI) review, water supply planning, and wetlands and mitigation banking. She was listed as a “Rising Star” in the area of environmental litigation by the annual publication of Florida Super Lawyers, 2017 and 2018 Editions.
Tilton currently serves as President of TBA’s Young Lawyers Section and was recently elected to serve on the TBA Board of Directors. In her time with YLS, she founded the organization’s Diversity Networking Symposium, an annual speed-networking event for law students that has grown to over 100 participants in just three years. She twice served as chair of the annual Holidays in July Event, a Christmas-themed skate party for local foster children and their families. Under her leadership, YLS developed a partnership with and raised thousands of dollars for First Beginnings, an initiative of the Second Judicial Circuit’s Guardian Ad-Litem Program that provides assistance to youth in our community who are venturing out on their own for the first time. Tilton is also an active member of the Real Property, Probate & Trust Law Section of The Florida Bar where she serves on the Section’s Development and Land Use Planning Committee and chairs the Young Lawyer Resource Subcommittee. She serves the Tallahassee community as a volunteer judge for the Leon County Teen Court Program.
Those supporting Tilton’s nomination described her as a “force of nature” and noted that “what makes her special is she brings the same level of commitment to everything she pursues.” In a letter submitted by the TBA YLS Board of Directors, Tabitha Harnage wrote: “Personally, Erin has been such a wonderful mentor and friend. I joined the TBA YLS Board during her tenure as President. As a fairly new resident of Tallahassee at the time, Erin encouraged me to spearhead events and programs through the YLS. Her constant confidence in me and the rest of the Board never faltered.”
Tilton was born and raised in South Windsor, Connecticut. She earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in Biology and Hispanic Studies from Boston College in 2010. She went on to attend Stetson University College of Law on a full-tuition merit scholarship where she was a member of the honors program, graduated summa cum laude in 2013, and met her husband, Anthony.