BY JOAN FLEISCHMAN
joanfleischman@yahoo.com

Quince on Thursday at the Margulies Collection in Miami's Wynwood Arts District. Not a quince to celebrate a young lady's 15th birthday. This is about Chief Justice Peggy A. Quince -- pronounced ``kwince'' -- of the Florida Supreme Court. Quince, 62, is a guest speaker at a Legal Services of Greater Miami shindig.

The nonprofit provides legal assistance -- in civil cases such as foreclosures and IRS disputes -- for low-income folks in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. Last year, Legal Services helped 18,352 clients and recovered more than $1.3 million in disability, unemployment compensation and other government benefits as well as child support, says executive director Marcia Cypen.

The agency operates on a $7.4 million budget with 33 lawyers. Funding comes from sources including The Florida Bar Foundation, Dade Community Foundation, University of Miami's law school and other private donors.

Justice Quince grew up in Virginia. ``My father was a single parent with five children who was a civilian worker for the Navy loading ships,'' she says in an e-mail. She went to segregated schools before attending Howard University and then Catholic University's law school. While a law student, she did a stint at a legal services clinic.

``I primarily represented clients in landlord and tenant matters, housing issues and bankruptcy matters,'' Quince writes. She was a paid summer intern, and received class credit.

``She understands discrimination,'' says former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerald Kogan, who served on the court from '87 to '98. ``She can relate to people who have been basically disenfranchised.''

Quince will share the podium with Michael Putney, WPLG-ABC 10's senior political reporter. Putney admires Cypen and the agency: ``They provide indispensable services to people who desperately need legal advice and help.''

The 285-plus expected guests include: former Florida Supreme Court Justices Kogan and Raoul Cantero; U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz; Third District Court of Appeal Judges Gerald Cope and Vance Salter; Miami-Dade Chief Judge Joel Brown and fellow jurists Maxine Cohen Lando, Jennifer Bailey, Flora Seff, Don Cohn, Myriam Lehr, Linda Singer Stein and Nushin Sayfie; Alex Acosta, dean of Florida International University's law school; Dean Robertson, senior corporate counsel for Vitas Healthcare Corp.; Derek Jackson, Florida Marlins VP and general counsel; and attorneys Marlon Hill, Gabrielle D'Alemberte, Tomas Gamba, Norman Moscowitz, H.T. Smith, Michael Moore and Leslie Lott, and David O. Markus, who writes the popular Southern District of Florida Blog.

The Stearns Weaver Miller law firm, Harke & Clasby and Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton are among donors that will be recognized.

Reception is from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, 591 NW 27th St. (The 45,000-square-foot space showcases the private collection of arts patron Martin Z. Margulies. He has more than 800 works on display, and opens the facility to the public through April.)

The Legal Services event is open to the public, too -- tickets are $75.