2023-24 Committees Annual Reports (2024)

Admiralty and Maritime Law Certification

This year the Admiralty & Maritime Law Certification Committee continued its work of preparing, updating, and revising its comprehensive exam to test the knowledge, experience, and abilities of Florida lawyers for certification in the area of admiralty and maritime law. This unique area of the law provides a challenge to test preparers and test takers.

The certification exam covers 15 distinct areas of admiralty and maritime law, including admiralty jurisdiction, marine insurance, limitation of liability, maritime liens, and maritime personal injuries. Each area may contain as many as five or six subtopics, all of which are important areas of inquiry for the exam. The exam includes 100 mandatory multiple-choice questions, and a variety of fact patterns touching the primary substantive subjects in the discipline. The questions reflect the various specialties and test the applicant’s broad knowledge of admiralty procedure and maritime law.

During 2023-2024 year, the committee met numerous times virtually to prepare and finalize the test; continued its review of the applicable rules; and discussed changes to the exam questions by reducing the length of the factual patterns.

The committee also reviewed the applications submitted by potential test-takers to ensure applications met the minimum qualifications for certification. In addition, the committee reviewed applications for recertification and assisted the aviation section in reviewing some of their recertification applications. The committee reviewed 10 recertification applications this year. Two applicants sat for the admiralty and maritime certification exam on March 7, 2024. Presently, there are 58 certified admiralty and maritime lawyers. Florida and California are the only states in the U.S. with admiralty and maritime law certification programs.

An important goal of the committee and the Bar is to increase the number of certified lawyers in the admiralty and maritime specialty. This helps to strengthen the field and to meet and overcome the effects of generational turnover. To this end, committee members advocate for admiralty board certification with their colleagues and at seminars/conferences/professional gatherings. Some other ideas are to track attendees of the Admiralty and Maritime Law Committee seminars for possible attorneys that may be good candidates to apply for board certification. The committee would like to explore the possibility of promotional videos to advocate for board certification. The committee always encourages certified attorneys and law firms to mentor younger lawyers who are practicing admiralty and maritime law and will soon be meeting the five-year minimum experience requirement for taking the exam.

Thank you to the members of the 2023-2024 committee for their hard work and commitment to ensuring the highest standards for certification are maintained. Committee members for 2023-2024 are Chair Carlos F. Llinas Negret, Vice Chair Michael McLeod, Robert Gardana, Joanne M. Foster, Anthony Cuva, Barbara Cook, Mark Buhler, Raul Chacon, Jr., and David Avellar Neblett.

A special thank you to our Bar staff liaison, Ms. Chyra Reynolds, whose hard work and support was indispensable to our work throughout this past year.

Carlos F. Llinas Negret, Chair

Admiralty Law

On Friday, January 26, 2024, from 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., The Florida Bar Admiralty Substantive Law Committee conducted a 3-credit-hour hybrid, in-person-virtual meeting and CLE event at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando (Course No. 8315, accredited). This meeting was called to order and led by committee Chair Thomas Graham.

The meeting started with a short information session on the Bar’s Standing Board Policies (SBP) pertaining to Substantive Law Committees, by Program Administrator Benjamin Morris, with special attention given to SBP 5.30. This session provided committee members with general guidelines about the committee, the duties and responsibilities of the committee chair and members, as well as the overall goal of the committee to serve as a conduit of information to the legal community and the public regarding the current state of admiralty and maritime law in Florida and around the world.

Following this session, Mr. Graham introduced the first of three CLE speakers, Walter “Cooper” Jarnagin, whose portion of the course was, “Unload Your Shotgun: Review of Recent Federal Court Orders Dismissing Maritime Complaints.” The presentation examined recent court orders in the cases, Holland v. Carnival Cruise Line and Yusko v. NCL, and the district courts’ disdain for “shotgun pleadings” that are automatically subject to dismissal upon filing due to their illusory nature. Mr. Jarnagin also discussed the differences between direct liability against a shipowner and vicarious liability. Different maritime negligence theories with distinct elements were also addressed in this one-hour presentation.

The second speaker was Joanne “Jo” Colbert Stanley, whose portion of the CLE was, “Liveries and Charters in Florida: Has the 2022 Boating Safety Act Reeled in Rogue Operators?” In this one-hour portion of the CLE, Ms. Stanley covered the impact and effectiveness of the Florida Boating Safety Act of 2022. The act, aimed at curbing illegal and unsafe for-hire operations in Florida’s bustling waterways, has prompted a call for changes in the regulation of liveries and charter boats. Through a critical lens, Ms. Stanley assessed whether this legislation has successfully mitigated the risks posed by unlicensed operators and improved safety standards or if the waters remain as untamed as ever. This analysis encompassed a discussion of both state and federal regulations, providing a comprehensive overview of the current maritime law landscape in Florida.

Finally, Oleg Otten presented, “Immigration Issues in the Yacht Industry.” The one-hour portion of the CLE was designed for maritime and admiralty law practitioners who are interested in the immigration issues affecting seafarers, in particular, private yacht crew members. During this lecture, Mr. Otten reviewed existing crew visas and the differences between private yachts and commercial vessels for visa purposes. Mr. Otten also conducted a brief overview of the relevant government agencies, private yacht flag considerations, and practical aspects of fixing common mistakes concerning the immigration status of crew members.

The committee is currently planning another major CLE event for May 2024. Announcements will be distributed once the list of speakers is finalized.

Thomas Graham, Chair

Advertising

The Standing Committee on Advertising is responsible for advising members of The Florida Bar on permissible advertising and marketing practices. The committee, which meets periodically as needed, reviews appeals of opinions issued by staff counsel, offers guidance to staff in evaluating lawyer advertisem*nts, makes recommendations regarding rule changes, and provides guidance to Florida Bar members concerning both the substantive and procedural requirements of the advertising rules.

The committee advises Bar members on the substance of the advertising rules through a variety of different methods. An in-depth analysis of the filing requirements, substantive regulations, and committee interpretations is provided by the committee’s Handbook on Lawyer Advertising and Solicitation. The handbook is regularly updated by the committee to reflect important changes that have occurred. Effective August 21, 2023, the handbook was revised to comport with the changes to the advertising rules that were adopted by the Florida Supreme Court in In re: Amendments to Rules Regulating The Florida Bar — Subchapter 4-7 Information About Legal Services, Case No. SC2022-1294 (Fla. 2023), which amended various rule provisions in subchapter 4-7. In consideration of the court’s decision, also effective August 21, 2023, the Board of Governors amended its policy regarding filing and review of lawyer advertisem*nts to create an additional exception for direct mail and email advertisem*nts revised solely to remove the disclaimer: “If you have already retained a lawyer for this matter, please disregard this letter.” With this, a direct mail or email advertisem*nt revised solely to remove this disclaimer is not a new advertisem*nt requiring a new filing fee. The handbook and other information addressed in this report are available on the Bar’s website at www.floridabar.org.

Similar to other recent years, 2023-2024 was a busy year for the Standing Committee on Advertising. In addition to reviewing advertisem*nts filed by members of The Florida Bar, the committee considered recommendations from Florida Bar members and the Board of Governors. The committee met in-person at the 2023 Annual Florida Bar Convention and via Zoom for all other meetings.

By far the most time-consuming task of the committee this year, as in past years, has been reviewing advertisem*nts filed by members of The Florida Bar to determine whether they comply with the advertising rules. The committee reviews decisions of its staff regarding lawyer advertisem*nts if committee review of staff’s interpretation of a particular rule or advertisem*nt is requested by an advertising attorney. Advertisers may request review of committee decisions by the Board of Governors if they wish. The committee also provides guidance to its staff and advertisers, pursuant to requests for guidance, to foster compliance with the rules and to permit advertisers to accomplish their legitimate advertising goals. The committee works hard to apply the advertising rules fairly to all types of advertisem*nts and to balance the rights of advertisers with the needs and concerns of the public.

• Notable Advertising Decisions — Some of the committee’s decisions from 2023-2024 include the following: First, the committee determined that the following statement is a comparison of the lawyers’ services that is prohibited unless objectively verifiable:

[Lawyer]: At [Law Firm], we’re not small — but we’re not so big that we’ve lost the personal touch or turned into a law factory.

[Lawyer]: And we’re proud to be just the right size for our clients, big enough to take on anyone and small enough to care.

[Lawyer]: Mega law firms seem to focus on size, as if being big is all that matters. The Titanic was big.

[Lawyer]: At [Law Firm], we’re not small — but we’re not so big, we’ve lost the personal tough or turned into a law factory.

[Lawyer]: And we’re proud to be just the right size for this community and our clients.

The committee also determined that the following language is misleading: It’s not just the 80,000 lbs. of force that injures you in a truck accident. It’s huge insurance companies, huge resources, huge sums of money and willpower to try and get you to settle for less. However, the committee noted that the advertisem*nt would comply if revised to state:

First, 80,000 lbs. of force injures you in a truck accident. Then huge insurance companies, huge resources, huge sums of money and willpower try and get you to settle for less.

At its most recent meeting, the committee determined that the following italicized images can reasonably be interpreted as a prediction or guaranty of success or specific results the lawyer can achieve:

Open on piles of mail cluttering up a kitchen table. We see a green “[Law Firm],” button off to the left. We cut to a wide shot of the scene, showing a woman seated at the table. She removes her glasses and decides to push the button. When she pushes it, the piles of decrease in size [until they disappear]. She pushes the button a few times and the smiles.

[Lawyer] (VO): At [Law Firm], we aim to get you a financial recovery that will cover all your bills after an accident.

She pushes the button one more time as we transition to end card/logo with slogan (Here to make it easy)/[phone number]/Gainesville/Ocala. However, the committee determined that the following language and images cannot reasonably be interpreted by a consumer as a prediction or guaranty of success or specific results the lawyer can achieve because the lawyer does not claim they will pay the bills and because personal injury lawyers commonly take possession of a client’s bills and attempt to resolve them for the client:

Open outside at a mailbox. A man is thumbing through his mail.

[Lawyer] (VO): At [Law Firm], our goal is to get you a financial recovery to cover your bills after an accident.

[Lawyer] appears out of nowhere…

[Lawyer] says: Medical bills? I’ll take those…

…grabs some envelopes, they fist bump, and [Lawyer] walks out of frame. The man looks pleasantly surprised.

• Composition of the Committee and Florida Bar Staff — The Standing Committee on Advertising is made up of non-lawyers as well as lawyers. We believe that this has contributed substantially to the quality of our decisions and provides our committee with a broad perspective on advertising and marketing. With this, I thank each of our committee members: Christine Senne, Manohar Athavale, Michael Barber, Vincent Cuomo, Chioma Deere, Andrea DeMichael, Leora Freire, William Lewis, Rian Meadows, Stefano Di Portigliatti, Shannon Schott; Gemma Torcivia, Joseph Towne, and Jenny Vargas de Perez-Corujo.

Finally, the committee thanks our Board liaison, Jeremy C. Branning; Division of Ethics and Consumer Protection Division Director Gypsy Bailey; and our hardworking staff: Assistant Ethics Counsels Joy A. Bruner, LiliJean Quintiliani, Jeffrey M. Hazen, Susan E. Gray, Deanna E. Rahming, Nicholas R. Cavallaro, Valerie Blocker, Paralegal Donna Hostutler, Administrative Secretary II Pamela Brown, Administrative Support II Susan Permenter, and Administrative Support II Margaret Labolito, headed by Ethics Counsel Jonathan D. Grabb. Without the participation, guidance, experience and hard work of these individuals, the business of this committee could not be accomplished.

Alexis Rosenberg, Chair

Appellate Board Certification

The committee’s work started with a review of the 2023 exam results. Eight applicants qualified to sit for the exam, with five passing the exam and earning appellate board certification. The committee gave careful consideration to the surveys completed by the 2023 applicants. There was some constructive criticism that was noted and was used to improve the exam for this year. A common criticism, for example, relates to the testing of criminal law topics. Since there is a separate certification for criminal appellate practice, we recommend reconsidering the necessity of testing criminal law topics on the Civil Appellate Practice Board Examination.

Next, the committee recognizes that applicants for recertification report having more difficulty obtaining oral arguments for recertification in the current legal climate. However, the July 2021 rule change that reduces the required oral arguments to three on the first recertification cycle, and two in subsequent recertification cycles, seems to present a more obtainable standard for most certified lawyers. The committee still anticipates that the lack of discretion to waive this recertification requirement, for just cause shown, may result in some inequities in the future.

We must repeat our frequent plea to all lawyers who receive requests for peer review, especially members of the judiciary, to complete the review forms thoughtfully and promptly. The certification process depends upon our ability to evaluate applicants’ reputations in the legal community. Committee members are prohibited from relying solely on their own knowledge of the applicants. We need the assistance of all lawyers in The Florida Bar to have an effective evaluation of candidates for certification and recertification.

By agreement of the sitting committee members, we have continued to meet and work remotely without the need for in-person gatherings. In our view, this is important to the diversification of the committee, and opens up participation by lawyers who would otherwise have to engage in unreimbursed travel four or more times per year. If the remote work continues, we hope the committee will be able to achieve more diversity in the geography of our members, as well as creating opportunities for small firm and government lawyers who may not have the financial support of a law firm for frequent bar-related travel.

There are eight applicants who will sit for the exam on March 8, 2024. We have also received 32 applications for recertification. Currently, there are 217 appellate practice board certified attorneys.

As chair of the committee, I am extremely grateful to the committee members who take time from their busy practices to tackle this important work. I recognize and thank the members for their service: Vice Chair Nancy Gregoire Stamper, Andy Berman, Duane Daiker, Mark Tinker, Cristy Russell, Courtney Brewer, Judge Eric Netcher, and Jared Krukar. It has been a pleasure working with each of you during my tenure.

We have been well-served by our Bar certification specialist, Emellia Woodrum, whose hard work, and dedication to the committee has been invaluable. We could not function without her efforts and expertise, and she makes this job look easy. Thank you, Emellia!

Forrest L. Andrews, Chair

Appellate Court Rules

The Appellate Court Rules Committee (ACRC) has been busy and extremely productive. It made great strides to timely process all of the proposed amendments approved by ACRC this year, timely file comments on proposed amendments approved by other rules committees and the Florida Supreme Court (court), and — perhaps, most importantly — the backlog of proposed amendments approved by ACRC in the last few years that have now been finalized by the court.

This year, the court adopted several changes to the Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure. First, the court adopted amendments to Fla. R. App. P. 9.130 to address nonfinal appeals that determine the entitlement of a party to arbitration. ACRC provided comments and input to the court on this amendment. The amendments are still pending before the court In re: Amendments to Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.130 (SC2023-0438).

Second, the court adopted amendments to Rule 9.130 to create a new category of nonfinal appeals for order that deny a motion to dismiss on the basis of the qualifications of a corroborating witness under F.S. §766.102. In re: Amendment to Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.130, 376 So. 3d 2 (Fla. 2023). ACRC filed a comment and the court adopted one of the suggestions in that comment.

The court asked ACRC to consider whether the record on appeal can be supplemented with transcripts of additional hearings that were not previously mentioned in any designation to the a court reporter on in a motion filed with the trial court. In February 2024, the committee was working on proposing amendments to Rule 9.140 to permit supplementation after an appellate public defender is appointed. ACRC will report to the court by May 1, 2024.

The court’s newly-adopted amendments, however, do not account for the vast majority of the ACRC’s work this year. ACRC proposed and approved for the court’s consideration a number of its own amendments to the appellate rules and filed reports concerning same, which remain pending in the court:

In Case No. SC2024-0215, ACRC proposed amendments to Fla. R. App. P. 9.710 to allow writs of certiorari to be referred for appellate mediation. Additional proposed amendments to Rules 9.300, 9.700, 9.720, and 9.730 accommodate language for mediation of writs by allowing for the filing of a “petition” and creating timeframes for the filing of a “response” and a “reply.” These rules currently only provide a timeframe for the filing of “briefs,” which is not the phraseology used in writ proceedings. In the same report, ACRC proposed amendments to Rule 9.740 to remove the requirement that counsel sign a mediation agreement as Florida law does not otherwise require it.

ACRC will soon file proposed amendments to Rules 9.140 and 9.130 to address nonfinal appeals in stand your ground cases. Additionally, ACRC is proposing amendments to Rule 9.800 to remove citation formats to administrative law reporters that are no longer published.

ACRC saw many of its prior proposals be adopted by the court this year.

Case No. SC2023-0033 — ACRC proposed numerous amendments to the appellate rules to make clear that filing fees are not jurisdictional and to better define the applicable clerk of court referenced in the particular rule, including Rules 9.030, 9.040, 9.100, 9.110, 9.120, 9.130, 9.160, 9.170, 9.360, and 9.430. The court issued its opinion September 29, 2023.

Case No. SC2023-0145 — ACRC proposed new Rule 9.148 governing appeals in Baker Act cases and several amendments to Rule 9.210 to address “word count” limits, remove word count and page limits for the reply brief portion of a reply/cross-answer brief, and include a reference to new Rule 9.148. On September 21, 2023, the court adopted ACRC’s proposed amendments and the changes were effective January 1, 2024.

Case No. SC2023-0261 — ACRC proposed numerous amendments to Rules 9.020, 9.147, 9.180, 9.200, 9.320, 9.340, 9.420, 9.800, 9.900. These proposed amendments include: 1) adding motions to withdraw a plea after disposition under Florida Rule of Juvenile Procedure 8.075(f) as an authorized motion that tolls rendition under Rule 9.020(h)(1)(M); 2) amending Rule 9.147 to resolve an inconsistency between the rule and statute as to the deadline governing an appellate court’s disposition of an appeal of an order dismissing a petition for judicial waiver of parental notice and consent or consent only to termination of pregnancy; 3) amending Rule 9.180 to resolve concerns about the use of “approved” court reporters and transcriptionists and the deadlines for serving notices of estimated costs, to confirm that the failure to pay a filing fee is not a jurisdictional defect, among other things; 4) amending Rule 9.320 to confirm that the deadline for requesting oral argument is tied to service of a parties’ jurisdictional brief in a discretionary review case in the court; 5) amending Rule 9.420 to remove the requirement that original petitioner be served by e-mail and in paper format; 6) amending Rule 9.800 to remove an outdated hyperlink; 7) amending Form 9.900(h) to include a reference to Rule 9.200(b)(4); and 8) amending several rules to maintain consistency as to how clerks of the lower tribunal are referenced. The court issued its opinion in this case on October 12, 2023. The effective date of the amendments was January 1, 2024.

In addition to the substantive amendments proposed by ACRC, all of the above reports recommended that certain stylistic changes be made as necessary to conform to In re: Guidelines for Rules Submissions, Fla. Admin. Order No. AOSC22-78 (Fla. Oct. 24, 2022).

Lastly, the ACRC approved proposed amendments to Rules 9.142 and 9.210 within the last few months. These proposed amendments were published in The Florida Bar News and await comments, which were due by April 1, 2024. Assuming no comments are filed, ACRC will have presented those proposed amendments at the next meeting of The Florida Bar Board of Governors in May 2023.

ACRC’s work can only be accomplished by the tireless and dedicated service of its members. The subcommittee chairs deserve special recognition for their efforts in leading and coordinating that work, including Stephanie L. Serafin (Civil Practice), Chance Lyman (Criminal Practice), Dwayne Antonio Robinson (General Practice), Judge Andrew D. Manko (Administrative Practice), Judge Joseph Logan Murphy (Family Practice), Jack Reiter (Original Proceedings), Kristen Marie Fiore (Record on Appeal), Judge Edward L. Artau (Internal Operating Procedures), and Judge Mary Kemmerly Thomas (Workers’ Compensation). The committee’s officers also deserve special recognition. Vice Chairs Christine Riley Davis and Judge Susan Hollis Rothstein-Youakim were responsible for ensuring that referrals proceeded in a timely manner through the various subcommittees and also assisted in authoring the reports listed above. Judge Edward L. Artau acted as parliamentarian. Judge Bronwyn C. Miller served as liaison to the Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration Committee. Thank you to Thomas D. Hall for serving as clerk representative to the committee. Secretary Mihaela Cabulea also did an excellent job taking minutes at all of our meetings.

Last — but certainly not least — a special thank you goes to the ACRC’s Bar liaison, Heather Telfer. As a committee, we can never say enough about Ms. Telfer’s work on behalf of ACRC. She is our guiding light and constant advisor.

It has been an honor and a privilege to serve among some of the best and brightest lawyers and judges in our state. After the annual meeting in June, I have little doubt that ACRC will continue its great work in advancing the administration of justice.

Elaine D. Walter, Chair

Aviation Law Certification

The Aviation Law Certification Committee has continued its efforts to attract attorneys that practice law in the specialized area of aviation law to become board certified. There are currently 47 board certified aviation law attorneys in Florida. Fifteen years ago, there were only 30. This year, we have four examinees, which is encouraging.

To become a certified specialist, a lawyer must be an active member in good standing of The Florida Bar, have practiced law for a minimum of five years, pass a written examination in the specialty area, be favorably evaluated as to their ability and experience in the specialty field by judges and other lawyers, and exhibit outstanding character, ethics, and a reputation for professionalism. A member of The Florida Bar who has earned this career achievement may hold themselves out as “board certified,” “expert,” or “specialist.”

Board certification benefits members of the public by assisting them in locating an attorney who is familiar with the unique issues that arise only in this particular area of the law including FAA enforcement actions, aircraft sale, purchase, leasing, lien, import and export transactions, litigation, airline labor law, airport land use, airline and air taxi operations and even space and drone law.

The committee members continue to actively recruit qualified attorneys to take the aviation law certification exam. Since CLE is a significant prerequisite for certification we make potential candidates aware of the various aviation-specific CLE programs that are available to help them meet the requirement. Examples include helping the substantive committee provide notification of the biannual CLE presentations given at the substantive aviation law committee meetings and the substantive committee’s aviation law certification exam review course given annually as well as other CLE opportunities sponsored by Southern Methodist University and the American Bar Association.

I thank my vice chair, Jennifer M. Clark, for her invaluable support and dedication this past year. I also extend my thanks to all of the other committee members for their assistance and participation in furthering interest in aviation law certification and in their work on this year’s certification exam.

Allison Armour, our Bar staff liaison, has provided invaluable knowledge, guidance, and support to the entire committee, and we thank her for her help and support of the committee and its goals.

David M. McDonald, Chair

Aviation Law

The Aviation Law Committee’s goal is to provide educational and networking opportunities to its members as well as informing the larger community about aviation law issues affecting them. The committee also organizes the review course for the aviation law certification examination. In the 2023-2024 year the committee has offered several opportunities for its members.

At the June 2023 Annual Convention, the committee met for a very informative session. Three outstanding speakers presented on a variety of topics. David Brennan, Jr., of Moffa, Sutton & Domini spoke on “Aircraft Sales Tax Issues Every Lawyer Should Know.” His presentation educated the attendees of the complexities of sales and use taxes as they apply to aircraft transactions.

Erin Van Lannen of McAfee & Taft presented on the topic of “Aircraft Transactions: High Level Issues for Practitioners and FAA Registry Major Changes.” This session provided valuable insights and explanation of the ins and outs of the new FAA registry issues and how they impact practitioners who handle large and small aircraft transactions.

The final presenter was a long time member of the committee and a knowledgeable source in aviation law. Mohammad Faruqui of Aerolaw Offices PLLC did a service for the committee members. He presented on technology issues that let the attendees obtain the coveted technology CLE credit.

The beginning of 2024 was a busy time for the committee. The first major event in the new year for the committee was at the January 2024 Florida Bar meeting. The committee met on January 26, 2024 to a packed agenda of excellent speakers.

The first speaker was Jim Crowley of Cogent Bank. His talk covered the world of aviation financing. The topics covered were those of most relevance to the attorneys operating in the world of aircraft transactions. He spoke to issues of client profiles and deal structures, loan underwriting issues, required documentation and closing mechanics and provided a real life example of a recent closing.

The next speaker was Stephen Dedmon, professor and assistant department chair in the Aeronautical Science Department at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Mr. Dedmon spoke on issues flight training. He specifically used an example of the crash of a Cirrus SR22 aircraft and the litigation that ensued which revealed the educational malpractice in the training of the pilot of the Cirrus.

The final speaker of the day was committee Vice Chair Peter Sobota. He spoke on the revised rules for the operation of small, unmanned aircraft (drones). As the operation of unmanned aircraft becomes a more important and relevant topic, this presentation was of great value to the committee members.

Following closely on the heels of the committee meeting, the committee organized the annual review course for those sitting for the aviation law certification exam. A stellar group of presenters provided those sitting for the exam as well as other interested attendees a wealth of information that is relevant not just to the test takers, but also to practitioners of aviation law.

The review session covered the topics on the certification examination. We had an outstanding group of presenters. Ashby Underhill did an outstanding job covering the essentials of litigation in the aviation industry.

Chris Jahr presented on NTSB procedures and operating procedures and hit all the bases for the exam. Stuart Goldstein, a long time committee member, did double duty and presented on airline employment law and FAA enforcement matters. Much thanks to Stuart for stepping up. Charlie Morgenstern covered registration, recording and security interests. Peter Sobota did his usual excellent job of educating the group in the drone regulation information needed for the exam. Mohammad Faruqui took everyone out of this world with his on point presentation on space law. Michael Kamprath brought everyone up to speed on airport operations and land use. The faculty did a great job in providing insight into tips and helpful hints for acing the certification examination.

Now to the future. The committee is planning an interim virtual meeting in mid-April to discuss the future direction of the committee and do some goal setting for 2024. It should be an interesting session and produce good results.

Finally, we will wind up the committee year with our annual session and the Annual Florida Bar Convention in June. Speakers are being lined up to cover hot topics in the aviation industry.

Patrick H. Neale, Chair

Board of Legal Specialization and Education

The Florida Bar Board of Legal Specialization and Education (BLSE) has the responsibility to administer programs for regulation of 27 areas of certification. The BLSE also oversees the continuing legal education offered to all members of The Florida Bar.

Established by the Florida Supreme Court in 1982, board certification is the highest recognition for ethics, character, professionalism, and credibility in the practice of law as recognized by The Florida Bar. The Florida Bar’s board certification program is one the largest in the nation with more than 5,200 board certified attorneys. Moreover, Florida’s board certification is seen as one of the preeminent programs in the country.

The BLSE is comprised of 16 members: Chair David C. Willis, Vice Chair Kansas R. Gooden, M. Sean Moyles, John F. Eversole, Robert A. Norgard, Norma Stanley, Judge William Henry Burgess III, Amy J. Fanzlaw, Howard Cohen, Jennifer Ficarrotta, Barry Stein, Brandon S. Vesely, Daniel Martinez, and Doug Greenbaum (CLE representative). The Board of Governors liaison to the BLSE is Gregory S. Weiss.

The BLSE is comprised of seven subcommittees: Executive, Strategic Planning, Exam Task Force, Standards, Rules and Policies, Communications, and National Accreditation. Each member of the BLSE is assigned as a liaison to designated areas of certification, monitors issues and events for the individual certification areas, as needed.

This year, BLSE has continued to its efforts to be more involved with area committees who are the heart of the certification program. The BLSE continued working to ensure the area committees understood the role of the BLSE and how the BLSE and area committees can support one another. As such, each BLSE member was required to be active and involved with their area committee to open lines of communication.

On June 20, 2024, during the Annual Convention, the BLSE is continuing with its past practice of a live meeting with area committee leaders, with all area committee members encouraged to attend. This year the BLSE will host a Certification Town Hall to exchange ideas between the area committees themselves as well as with the BLSE.

The BLSE has an ongoing program to maintain and improve the exams drafted by the area committees. For a number years, the BLSE has utilized the services of ACS Ventures, LLC, (exam consultant) to assist in the preparation of the test preparation handbook issued by the BLSE to assist the area committees. Beginning with 2023-2024 Bar year, the exam consultant will review and critique all area exams prior to administration. In addition to ACS Ventures, LLC, board certified attorneys are enlisted as pre-testers to review and offer their assessments of the area exams. The comments from exam consultant and the pre-testers are provided to the area committees for consideration in preparing the final exam. The goal is an exam that tests the applicant’s knowledge of the practice area in fair and straightforward manner.

For many years, board certification applicants have preferred to use a computer rather than hand write their exam answers. Initially, only the essays answers were typed on a computer. With COVID, the entire exam was available to be taken on a computer and remotely monitored. With the easing of COVID restrictions, the BLSE has continued to offer remote testing while still permitting hand-writing the exam for those who prefer. Most applicants have opted for remote testing avoiding the time and expense of traveling to take the exam. Remote testing also results in a cost savings for the board certification program. Hand writing the exam will remain an option for those increasingly few who prefer it, at least for the foreseeable future.

The BLSE has an ongoing outreach program to emphasize the value of becoming board certified. The BLSE is looking forward to working with The Florida Bar’s newly hired programs marketing manager to update our branding and marketing materials to publicize the value of board certification and elevate this distinction to a new level. Specifically, the marketing program seeks to: 1) recruit new candidates to become board certified; 2) educate the public as to why it is important to retain a board certified attorney; 3) to encourage existing certified members to retain their board certified status. Board certified lawyers are being spotlighted on Facebook and other social media posts along with publishing articles with test taking tips by newly certified lawyers. In-person efforts include attending meetings of the various sections to provide information on board certification, speaking at YLD events, and having BLSE committee members speak at their own local events. Our message to local bar associations, law schools, and area committee functions that specialization provides an opportunity to become a better attorney and distinguish your credentials from others.

In addition, the BLSE has a video available and encourages board certified attorneys to post this video on their law firm website to educate potential clients about the advantages of hiring a board certified attorney. The video is posted on The Florida Bar Board Certification page and available for download and dissemination by our members to clients and to consumers of legal services. The video can also be found on our YouTube channel, “The Board-Certification Advantage.”

At the Annual Florida Bar Convention in Orlando on Thursday, June 20, 2024, Chief Justice Carlos G. Muñiz or another justice will present the Justice Harry Lee Anstead Award in recognition of The Florida Bar Board Certified Lawyer of the Year. This award goes to the member who is board certified and who demonstrates outstanding excellence, professionalism, and commitment to the certification program, and to the practice of law in Florida. The BLSE will present the Award for Excellence in the Promotion of Board Certification, which recognizes excellence and creativity by a Florida Bar board certified lawyer or a law firm in advancing the public’s knowledge of and appreciation for legal board certification. The BLSE will also conduct its annual “pinning ceremony” to recognize all newly board certified attorneys.

David C. Willis, Chair

Business Litigation Certification

The Business Litigation Certification Committee met and exceeded its expectations for the 2023-2024 and remains committed to supporting board certification in Business Litigation. I am very proud of and grateful for all the committee members’ participation and contributions this year. I am also exceedingly appreciative of, and very grateful for, Florida Bar Staff Certification Specialist Chyra Reynolds, who did (and always has done) an excellent job for our committee.

The committee consists of nine members: Chair Rachael Spring Loukonen, Vice Chair David Steinfeld, Joelle Bordeaux, Judge Gerard Joseph Curley, Jr., David Dominick Ferrentino, Stephen Joseph Padula, Steele Thomas Williams, Immediate Past Chair Andrew Patrick Lannon, and Past Chair Joanne Marie O’Connor.

The committee met three times through March 8, 2024, and will meet one more time at The Florida Bar’s Annual Convention in June. Over this year, our committee developed a robust bank of exam questions, revised the exam format, updated the online communications, and is in the process of recommending revisions to the certification applications. The current exam has been reviewed and edited for 2024 to ensure compliance with the updated examination guidelines.

In 2024, there were nine initial applicants that sat for the exam. There were 36 recertification applications. Currently, there are 213 board certified business litigation attorneys, and we hope to see more exam takers and recertifications next year.

It has been my great honor to serve as chair for 2023-2024, and I thank Florida Bar staff and all my fellow committee members for their hard work and dedication throughout this year. We encourage all lawyers who want to excel in their field to work toward board certification. The time and investment that you make in yourself is more than worth the effort. To all the members who are currently board certified, thank you for your continued support of the certification process and for serving as honorable and professional role models.

Rachael Spring Loukonen, Chair

City, County and Local Government Law Certification

The City, County and Local Government Law Certification Committee is responsible for the process of certifying attorneys as local government specialists with the oversight of the Board of Legal Specialization and Education (BLSE). For the 2023-2024 cycle, the committee received 34 applications to sit for the exam, as well as 34 recertification applicants; there are currently 306 city, county, and local government law board certified members.

The committee worked diligently to prepare and refine the 2024 certification exam including providing greater standardization in the grading process. We continued to collaborate through Zoom but held our winter meeting in-person at Tampa City Hall, and we will hold our grading session in Jacksonville at the Office of General Counsel. In addition to evaluating applications and drafting examination questions, the committee is reviewing the current initial application to make changes for the 2024-2025 cycle to provide greater clarity relating to the eligibility standards, particularly regarding the substantial involvement in our practice area requirement. Finally, this year, the committee was required to make several very difficult votes on the eligibility of members and applicants for certification. Each of these votes involved extensive research by the tasked committee member and stimulating discussion on the meaning and purpose of our rules in providing a fair justiciable outcome. I greatly appreciate the input of all, the fullness of the debate, and the collegiality of coming to a final decision on these difficult matters.

It was a privilege to serve as committee chair this year, and I extend my sincere thanks to Vice Chair Lawsikia Hodges and committee members Sarah Taitt, Henry Hunnefeld, Michelle Samaroo, Elizabeth Lenihan, Sheryl Sutphen, Jim Fox, and Jacob Schumer. The committee tasks could not have been accomplished without the hard work and tremendous knowledge of these members, as well as the steady guidance of our Bar certification specialists, Kimberly Lisenby and Allison Armour.

To those who are currently board certified in city, county, and local government law, thank you for your support in raising the level of professionalism, collegiality, and diligence in our field. I encourage you to pursue committee membership if you are interested in becoming more involved in the Bar. There is incalculable value in forming relationships with fellow specialists, and the environment on the committee fosters an exchange of ideas and open communication that will enhance your level of expertise in this broad field of law.

Carl Edward Brody, Jr., Chair

Citizens Advisory Committee

The Florida Bar Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) is composed of 12 nonlawyer Floridians with varied interests and backgrounds who serve to provide two-way communication between the state’s citizens and The Florida Bar Board of Governors.

The objectives of the committee are to serve as a feedback mechanism and sounding board on Bar plans and programs and to advise the Bar regarding public understanding and support of significant legal and justice issues. Up to three attorney members are also appointed to the committee annually to serve as resources. The committee generally meets three times a year, twice in conjunction with Board of Governors meetings and once at annual convention, and as needed by teleconference or Zoom on certain matters.

During the 2023-24 Bar year, the CAC will have three meetings. Hilary Creary, a member of the Board of Governors, is the chair. Robert L. Johnson Jr., the executive director of Brevard County Legal Aid, is the lawyer member for this year. BOG public members Linda Goldstein and Melanie Shore have been invited to attend the meetings as well.

In July, the committee heard an in-depth presentation on The Florida Bar’s disciplinary process and professionalism guidelines from Lawyer Regulation, learned about the Unlicensed Practice of Law program and discussed the recommendations from the access-to-justice report filed with the Florida Supreme Court.

In December, the committee discussed the messages of communicating the discipline system to the public in Florida and recommending translation services be used by the Bar to broaden the audiences of public-facing legal and consumer information. The committee discussed how to better reach communities with education materials on the Bar and the discipline system such as partnering with local libraries and clerks, and sending materials to community centers or local publications.

In January, the committee was given a briefing on the upcoming legislative session and anticipated issues affecting the administration of justice, including court funding from Jim Daughton. They were also given a presentation from the Funding Florida Legal Aid (formerly The Florida Bar Foundation) on their operations and legal aid network, as well as a detailed update on results of the IOTA rule changes for legal aid funding.

Current non-lawyer members whose three-year terms end in June 2024 are Kevin Gay, Jacksonville; David Mica, Tallahassee; Orlando Rolón, Orlando; Susan Rolston, St. Petersburg; and Nancy Vaughn, Tampa.

Nominations for the four appointments for 2024-27 are being received and from those nominees President-Elect Roland Sanchez-Medina, Jr., will make those appointments. Those nominees who are not appointed this year will be forward to BOG members and staff for consideration for grievance and UPL nonlawyer appointments.

It is anticipated that the final committee meeting of the year will be held in June. More information on the Citizens Advisory Committee, including its charter and members’ photos and biographies, can be found at www.floridabar.org/citizensadvisory.

Hilary Creary, Chair

Civil Procedure Rules

The Civil Procedure Rules Committee has been incredibly busy in 2023-2024 with work from the Florida Supreme Court as well as practitioners.

On January 12, 2023, the Florida Supreme Court asked the committee to follow up the work of the Workgroup on the Improved Resolution of Civil Cases and asked the committee to: propose amendments to Rules 1.200 (Pretrial Procedure), 1.201 (Complex Litigation), 1.440 (Setting Action for Trial), 1.280 (General Provisions Governing Discovery), and 1.460 (Continuances). As indicated in the order in Case No. SC22-122, this is the first in a series of phased referrals to the committee for the refinement and study of the proposals submitted by the Workgroup on Improved Resolution of Civil Cases.

The committee’s proposals were filed with the court July 3, 2023, in Case No. SC2023-0962. Fifty-five comments were received and the committee filed its response to the comments on December 22, 2023. The court scheduled oral argument in this case for March 7, 2024.

In addition to this major project, the committee completed its usual work of improving the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure. As this annual report is written, several cases are pending at the court.

In Case No. SC2022-0575, the committee asked the court to amend Rule 1.440 (Setting Action for Trial) and Rule 1.500 (Defaults and Final Judgments Thereon) to clarify service requirements.

In Case No. SC2022-0802, the committee asked the court to amend Rule 1.351 (Production of Documents and Things Without Deposition) to allow additional time to object to a notice of production from a non-party and proposed subpoena when the notice and proposed subpoena is served with the original service of process. The court issued its opinion adopting the committee’s proposals on August 24, 2023, with an effective date of January 1, 2024.

In Case No. SC2022-1275, the committee asked the court to amend Forms 1.996(a) (Final Judgment of Foreclosure) and (b) (Final Judgment of Foreclosure for Reestablishment of Lost Note) to address the Protecting Tenants to Foreclosure Act in federal law as well as F.S. §83.5615. The court issued its opinion adopting the committee’s proposal on January 11, 2024. The amendments became effective April 1, 2024.

In Case No. SC22-1719, the committee proposes amendments to Rule 1.110 (Pleadings and Motions) to require pleadings with affirmative defenses to contain a short and plain statement of the ultimate facts supporting the affirmative defense; Rule 1.820 (Hearing Procedures for Non-Binding Arbitration) requiring a notice of completion of arbitration to be filed, which will notify the court that the parties have been served with the arbitrator’s written decision; Form 1.923 (Eviction Summons/Residential) simplifying the summons, new Form 1.923(b) (Summons Action for Back Rent or Other Damages) to provide a form for defendants to file defenses, and new Form 1.947(b) (Answer — Residential Eviction) to provide a form for the defendant to answer an eviction claim. SC2022-1719 was submitted without oral argument on July 21, 2023. The court severed the amendments to Rule 1.820 into its own case to consider the committee’s proposed amendments in conjunction with proposed amendments from the Supreme Court Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution Rules and Policy in SC2023-0810. SC2023-0801 was submitted without oral argument on January 25, 2024.

In Case No. SC2023-0361, the committee proposed new Rule 1.041 (Limited Appearance Attorneys) as well updates to Form 1.933 (Account Stated). The court issued its opinion adopting the committee’s proposals on December 7, 2023, and the amendments became effective April 1, 2024.

In Case No. SC2023-1092, the committee proposed amendments to Rule 1.061 (Choice of Forum) to remove references to appellate standards of review. The committee proposed an amendment to address an incorrect statutory reference in Form 1.983 (Prospective Juror Questionnaire). The court accepted the case without oral argument on January 25, 2023.

In Case No. SC2023-1677, the committee filed a Fast Track report on December 4, 2023, to address 2023 legislation. The committee proposed a new Form 1.925 (Complaint to Quiet Title) to address §§3 and 4, Ch. 2023-248, Laws of Florida, which adopt F.S. §689.025, “Form of quitclaims deed prescribed.” The court published the committee’s proposal with a comment deadline of March 4, 2024.

In Case No. SC2023-1678, the committee proposed amendments to Rule 1.080 (Service and Filing of Pleadings, Orders, and Documents) and Rule 1.310 (Depositions Upon Oral Argument) to require the filing of full-page transcripts instead of condensed (four to a page) transcripts. Additionally, the committee proposed amendments to Rule 1.310(b)(6) to add “other entities” authorizing a limited liability company to be a deponent. The court published the proposals for comment with a deadline of April 1, 2024.

The committee is in the process of proposing amendments to Form 1.902 (Summons) to remove outdated references to the phone book; Form 1.938 (Forcible Entry and Detention) to address amendments to the statute; Rule 1.630 (Extraordinary Remedies) to replace “compliant” with “petition” to be in harmony with the Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure; Rule 1.350 (Productions of Documents and Things and Entry Upon Land for Inspection and Other Purposes) and Rule 1.370 (Requests for Admission) to require that requests for production be filed with the court and served on all parties, to require that any response to a request for production served on all parties, and require that all requests for admissions and responses to requests for admission be filed with the court and served on all parties; Rules 1.070 (Process), 1.410 (Subpoena), 1.550 (Executions and Final Process), and 1.561 (Discovery in Aid of Execution) to remove antiquated language; and Rule 1.730 (Completion of Mediation) to remove the requirement that counsel signs a mediation agreement and permits the party’s representative, if the representative has full authority to settle, to sign a mediation agreement.

I thank subcommittee Chairs Amelia Hallenberg Beard, Thomas Stoneham Edwards, Jr., Jason Bennett Sherry, Jeffrey Martin Hearne, Melisa Bodnar, and all of our vice chairs who double as subcommittee chairs.

Special thanks to Maegen Peek Luka and Past Chair Landis V. Curry III for their work on the court’s referral regarding Improved Resolution of Civil Cases. This was a massive undertaking and the committee could not have reached the finish line without the two of you.

Thank you to my officers: Cosme Caballero, vice chair; Amelia Hallenberg Beard, vice chair; Michael Evan Levine, vice chair; Maegen Peek Luka, vice chair; Charise Morgan-Joseph, vice chair; Paul R. Regensdorf, parliamentarian; and Melisa L. Bodnar, secretary.

Judson Lee Cohen, Chair

Civil Trial Law Certification

Civil trial law is one of Florida’s first certification areas, having been approved by the Florida Supreme Court in 1983. Currently, less than 1% of Florida lawyers are board certified civil trial lawyers. Currently, there are 913 certified lawyers. More than 260 board certified civil trial lawyers have been continuously certified for more than 30 years, and 47 have been board certified for more than 40 years.

Civil trial law is the litigation of civil controversies in all areas of substantive law before Florida circuit courts or other equivalent courts of the state and federal district courts. In addition to the pretrial and trial process, civil trial law includes evaluating, handling, and resolving civil controversies prior to the initiation of suit.

The Civil Trial Certification Committee is charged with the responsibility of reviewing and recommending changes to the standards for certification in civil trial law; evaluating applications for certification and recertification; and preparing and grading the annual examination, which is a requirement for all applicants. Our long-term goal will continue to be helping facilitate the completion of the requirements for more board certified trial applicants.

In the 2023-2024 year, we were able to conduct all but one of our meetings in person and had excellent attendance. We continued used a personal review process for applications and peer review for 28 new applicants and 160 applicants seeking recertification as part of the five-year renewal schedule. The exam this year was given to 25 qualified applicants. Those results are pending at the time of publication. In 2023, our pass rate for the written exam was 97%.

We formed an ad hoc committee to explore the increasing the visibility of the benefits of board certification, including public speaking and seminar presentation. We presented a brief talk about civil trial board certification as part of the Trial Lawyers Section seminar, “An Update of Civil Trial Law.” We have several members of the Civil Trial Certification Committee as volunteer faculty for the Advanced Trial Advocacy workshop in May each year.

We continued to increase our emphasis on peer review, including valued judicial review and continued to develop ways to recognize alternatives to trial participation for qualification purposes.

The committee salutes and thanks Past Chair Kathleen McHale and member Louis DeFrietas who are rotating off the committee, for their hard work and contributions. We also convey special thanks to all our members for their attendance at our meetings and especially to the 2023-24 Vice Chair John Guyton, for his support and valued input. Special appreciation is given to Brandon Flagler, our civil trial certification specialist from The Florida Bar. We look forward to another year of successful work on the Civil Trial Certification Committee and continuing to welcome newly certified lawyers to the high honor of board certification.

Susan J. Cole, Chair

Clients’ Security Fund

The Florida Bar Clients’ Security Fund was established in 1967 as a voluntary, discretionary fund to reimburse clients who have suffered a monetary loss as a result of misappropriation, embezzlement, or other wrongful taking by a member of The Florida Bar when acting as the claimant’s lawyer. The Fund is currently financed by $25 of every active and inactive Florida Bar member’s annual fees as well as each application to appear pro hac vice in Florida and has over $2.7 million budgeted for fiscal year 2023-24 to pay claims brought by former clients. The Fund reimburses clients under two circ*mstances: where an attorney takes an advance fee, but then fails to provide any services up to a maximum amount of $5,000, and for misappropriation or theft of client monies up to a maximum amount of $250,000.

In the last fiscal year, the Fund received 199 new claims and paid out over $942,000 to clients for claims filed against 114 Florida lawyers. As of the date of this report, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, the Fund has received 107 new claims against 61 lawyers and has currently approved 32 claims with approved losses of $930,992. Claims are paid only after a lawyer has been suspended, placed on the inactive list for incapacity not related to misconduct, or has had the member’s status as a member of The Florida Bar revoked or terminated, or is deceased. Fee claims, and misappropriation claims less than $1,000, are paid promptly after approval. All other claims, i.e., those over $1,000, are paid on a pro rata basis after the end of the fiscal year, if there are not enough funds available to pay 100% of the approved losses. Since its inception, the Fund has processed 13,800 claims and paid out $51 million to victims of attorney theft.

Claims are filed in writing by the former client, reviewed by Bar staff and, when appropriate, referred to a voluntary member of the committee for investigation. The 2023-24 Clients’ Security Fund Committee is composed of 19 volunteer attorneys appointed from all regions of Florida by the Bar’s president-elect. The committee meets four times during the year, but its volunteer members are actively engaged in the review and investigation of claims throughout the year. This is a true working committee. Membership on the Committee involves extensive time and energy in the investigation of claims and preparation of reports. Guided and assisted by dedicated Bar staff, claims are thoroughly investigated, and members make recommendations for approval or denial by the committee. Many investigations require active debate at committee meetings and discussions of claims at meetings are spirited, but always with the goal of doing the right thing for the injured client as well as being good stewards of the Fund. Although committee meetings are confidential, final action on claims is subject to limited disclosure. committee recommendations are ultimately submitted to the Board of Governors for final consideration.

As lawyers, we tend to hold ourselves in high regard, especially after the rigors of law school, scrutiny by the Florida Board of Bar Examiners, and continued oversight by The Florida Bar throughout our careers. During the investigation of claims and discussions with clients, we are repeatedly humbled by the extent to which clients impart an unbelievable amount of trust in their chosen counsel. Breach of this trust can devastate clients both financially and emotionally. Bar staff and the Clients’ Security Fund Committee are devoted to repairing the public’s trust in members of the Bar and the legal system. Our interactions with clients who have been harmed by their lawyers remind us constantly of the broader responsibilities that we carry for the profession to which we have devoted ourselves.

There are more than 111,800 lawyers in the state of Florida and as of the last fiscal year claims under the Fund were made against only 0.1% of Florida lawyers. The work of the Fund is an integral part of recovery and mitigation of losses to clients and the public whose trust and confidence in the legal profession has been negatively impacted by the wrongful acts of a few. The Fund is one way in which the Bar strives to improve the public’s perception of Florida lawyers and to restore confidence in the profession.

I have served on this committee for nine years and currently serve as chair. Each call to a client allows me and every investigating member of the committee the chance to right a wrong and attempt to reestablish lost trust in Florida lawyers. On the committee, I have met and served with some of the finest and most hard-working lawyers in the Bar. Without their dedication, the Fund could not serve its valuable purpose. Each member of the committee is to be commended for their diligence, professionalism and hard work in investigating and processing claims.

All who serve on a Florida Bar committee know that this important work would not be accomplished without the tireless dedication of the Bar staff. Committee members and the clients rely heavily on Bar staff and without their commitment, we could not do our jobs. Thank you to Stacey Thrash, administrative support; Celia Connell, CSF administrator; Rick Courtemanche, deputy general counsel; and Gypsy Bailey, general counsel/division director of Ethics and Client Protection, for the tremendous effort, work, and discipline they have given to this committee.

Richard A. Harrison, Chair

Code and Rules of Evidence Committee

The Code and Rules of Evidence Committee had a good 2023-2024 Bar year. The committee continues to monitor legislation for changes to the Florida Evidence Code during session and special sessions. At the request of The Florida Bar Board of Governors’ Special Committee on AI Tools and Resources, the committee is researching the intersection of generative artificial intelligence and evidence. The committee has begun a complete review of the Florida Evidence Code to determine if sections are outdated or if new sections are needed.

Hot Topics in Evidence, the committee’s annual CLE on evidentiary matters is scheduled for June 2024. The committee’s case summaries were published in the Winter 2024 edition of The Edge, published by The Florida Bar Trial Lawyers Section.Committee liaisons attend other rules of court procedure meetings to keep updated on evidentiary issues that arise across practice areas.

Special thanks to Vice Chairs Katelyn Knaak Johnston and Philip Asher Gold; subcommittee Chairs Nicholas Peter Basco, Dana Gibson Bradford II, H. Scott Fingerhut, Eric A. Hernandez, and Joseph T. Murray III; and Committee Liaisons Megan Robison Albrecht, Kristina Elizabeth Feher, Jonathan Adam Galler, Shahtia M. Gay-Hairston, Katelyn Knaak Johnston, John Wesley Manuel, Ilana Felice Marcus, Matthew Nichols Posgay, Zachary Morris Rothman, Antony Parker Ryan, and Robert Scavone, Jr.

Mara Waxman Marzano, Chair

Condominium and Planned Development Law Certification

The Condominium and Planned Development Law Certification, through the oversight of the Board of Legal Specialization and Education, consists of 185 certified attorneys as of March 1, 2024.

This committee certifies attorneys whose practice of law involves 1) serving as counsel to community associations, developers, lenders, property owners, community association members, sellers, purchasers, governmental agencies, and investors in matters related to condominiums and planned developments; 2) drafting governing documents or their amendments and preparing filings with governmental agencies that regulate community associations or planned developments; 3) serving in or for governmental agencies that regulate community associations or planned developments; 4) representing parties in construction lien and defect claims, collection of assessment actions, covenant and rule enforcement and dispute resolution, such as litigation, arbitration, and mediations in matters relating to community associations or planned developments; and 5) planning, developing, constructing, and financing of condominium or planned development communities.

The 2023-2024 committee received 10 initial applications and 8 reapplications; 18 were approved to sit for the examination, and 17 applicants took the exam administered March 7, 2024.

During the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the committee met numerous times by Zoom and in person to 1) review any possible lessons learned from the previously administered examinations; 2) prepare a study guide and sample questions published on the certification website to assist applicants preparing the examination; 3) review and evaluate the credentials of the applicants; 4) preparation of the current exam; and 5) grading of the examination.

The Condominium and Planned Development Law Certification Committee consists of Barry Ansbacher, chair; Joel McTague, vice chair; Russell Robbins, past chair; Shawn Brown; Charles Capps; Douglas Christy; Rob Freedman; Daniel Kaskel; and Howard Perl. I thank each committee member for their outstanding contributions this year. On behalf of the entire committee, I express our appreciation for the work of Ken Direktor, past chair; and former member Sandra Krumbein.

The committee encourages both association and developer attorneys to consider applications for certification. New applications will be accepted in July 2024.

Barry B. Ansbacher, Chair

Constitutional Judiciary

The mission of the Constitutional Judiciary Committee (CJC) is to strengthen the public’s understanding of the role of the judicial branch of government, the Constitution, the rule of law, and the role of judges and juries in the administration of justice. The committee oversees the Benchmarks: Raising the Bar on Civics Education program, The Florida Bar’s voter education efforts on merit retention and judicial races; and the Judicial Candidate Voluntary Self-Disclosure Statements.

After working with the University of Central Florida’s Lou Frey Institute of Politics and Government (LFI) several years ago to make significant updates and improvements to the Benchmarks program, the CJC has continued to promote and grow the program. With the help of LFI, professional development modules and materials for the Benchmarks program were created and uploaded onto the Nearpod interactive teaching and learning platform as well as to the Bar’s Benchmarks webpage. Also on the webpage is the link to the Benchmarks Speaker Training Video, which allows attorneys who watch the video to become Benchmarks presenters while also earning CLE credit. After completing Benchmarks speaker training, attorneys are asked to register as a Benchmarks speaker with The Florida Bar Speakers Bureau. So far, the Speakers Bureau has received over 200 attorney requests to be listed as a certified Benchmarks program speaker.

Since the launch of the newly revamped Benchmarks program, the committee has also held several successful in-person Benchmarks speaker training sessions. Last June, two well-attended in-person speaker training sessions were held in conjunction with the 2023 Annual Florida Bar Convention, and another in-person training is scheduled to be held at this year’s convention. The next step is to identify and encourage local adult civics and/or community groups to request a Benchmarks presentation. The Benchmarks Outreach subcommittee, led by CJC member Tiffany Brown, was formed with the purpose of identifying and compiling a list of statewide civics and community groups to which the Benchmarks program may be of interest, and they have drafted a letter to be sent to the identified groups promoting the Benchmarks program.

I thank the committee for its tireless work and dedication over the past year as well as specifically recognize Vice Chair Judge Cymonie Rowe and our subcommittee chairs for their exemplary leadership. Without the participation of our members and the assistance of Florida Bar staff, the continued work of the Committee could not have been accomplished. It has been my honor and privilege to serve as chair.

Jason Silver, Chair

Construction Law Certification

The Construction Law Certification Committee has continued to pursue additional initiatives to improve the quality of the construction law certification exam for 2024. The committee has carefully reviewed all test bank questions in an effort to update and eliminate outdated questions as well as to be sure both the questions and answers are consistent with the guidelines. Questions that have historically resulted in high percentage of incorrect responses have been eliminated, updated, or replaced.

As of this date, there are 455 board certified construction lawyers, including 19 who passed the 2023 exam (out of 35 examinees). Also, 23 lawyers applied to take the 2024 exam in May.

We continue to employ virtual meetings to bring committee members together from across the state and advance the work of the committee. The certification exam has been issued both remotely and in-person for the past three years and will continue to be issued in this hybrid manner on May 9, 2024. This year, examinees who have chosen to hand-write their exam answers will be taking the test live in Orlando. There will not be the option to take the exam on a computer at the test site.

Our committee also continues to create new multiple-choice and essay questions and update our test bank questions, consistent with the BLSE’s exam drafting guidelines.

This year, our exam will again consist of 100 multiple-choice questions and four essay questions, divided into four 90-minute segments. It will be further edited and evaluated prior to the May exam to ensure the finished product is one we all feel confident releasing to the examinees as they take the exam.

Our committee recertified over 40 lawyers who applied this year after reviewing applications, including careful consideration of peer review statements, grievance history, and CLE compliance.

Committee members have devoted countless hours writing exam questions and grading exams, and thoroughly reviewing certification and recertification applications. We continue to have outstanding staff support from our Florida Bar liaison, Allison Armour, and owe her the highest gratitude for her diligent efforts in assisting our committee during this challenging and busy year.

Finally, thanks to all our committee members for their steadfastness and devotion to ensuring that Florida maintains the highest ethical standards for construction law attorneys.

Joseph Anthony Passeretti, Chair

Consumer Protection Law

The Consumer Protection Law Committee experienced a remarkable 2023-2024 year advancing its mission to educate consumers and The Florida Bar on consumer protection laws through a multifaceted approach, which includes providing public outreach events, public service messages, CLE programs, consumer publications, and expert resources for attorneys, judges, and lawmakers. The committee is comprised of 35 attorneys with expertise and specialized knowledge of consumer law who meet regularly throughout the year. To effectively carry out its important work, the committee is divided into seven subcommittees. Each subcommittee achieved significant milestones in its specific area of focus.

The CLE Seminar Subcommittee organized a new CLE seminar held as part of the upcoming 2024 Annual Florida Bar Convention. The program, “Feebusters: Demystifying Costs in Consumer Transactions and Methods to Protect Consumers from Junk Fees.” The panelists engaged in a conversation about the proliferation of “junk fees” added onto consumer transactions and discussed the legal frameworks at both the federal and state levels that govern these fees. Additionally, the panelists offered legal strategies aimed at safeguarding consumers from, or challenging, the imposition of such fees. The subcommittee is led by Vice Chair Jennifer Pinder of the Office of the Attorney General and subcommittee Co-Chairs Robert Neary of Kozyak, Tropin, & Throckmorton, P.A., and Margery Golant of McMichal, Taylor, & Gray, LLC. It is assisted by subcommittee members Kaelyn Diamond, Eric Matthew, and Juana Watkins.

The Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Subcommittee educated and informed fellow Floridians and attorneys about the growing and evolving impact that data privacy and cyber issues have upon consumers, lawyers, and businesses. Through “cyberside chats” hosting various subject-matter experts, this subcommittee shared knowledge, insight, and awareness regarding emerging trends and recent developments. These presentations address topics ranging from providing a general overview on data breaches and ransomware and offering guidance to lawyers at small and large law firms about best security practices to sharing in-house, corporate perspectives on establishing protocols and policies to protect customer information, as well as reporting on developments with recent privacy bills introduced in the Florida Legislature. Vice Chair Vanessa Clark of Clark Law, PLLC along with subcommittee Chair Bryant Dunivan of The Consumer Protection Attorney, P.A., spearhead the subcommittee. Supporting them are subcommittee members David Schnobrick, Kenneth Walton II, and George Tragos.

The Legislative Subcommittee tracked and monitored legislation to assess how various bills would affect Florida consumers and will prepare summaries of specific bills that may impact consumer law in Florida. The subcommittee remains available for consultation by Florida legislators if they seek further insight and analysis on particular issues as in prior legislative sessions, where we have responded to requests for information from the legislature on consumer issues, such as PACE loans and high-cost consumer loans. This subcommittee is headed by Vice Chair Rachel Bentley of Gordon & Partners, P.A., and subcommittee Chair Adam Thoresen of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid with the assistance of subcommittee members Gus Centrone, Dominic MacKenzie, Molli McGuire, and Andrew Wilson.

The Awards Subcommittee was charged with recognizing and honoring an attorney for excellence, character, community involvement, and commitment to the practice of consumer protection law in Florida. The subcommittee reached out to legal aid organizations, voluntary bar associations, leaders in the community, and private firms to widen the pool of nominees and select the most deserving recipient. Leading the Awards Subcommittee is Vice Chair Jared Lee of Morgan & Morgan and subcommittee Chair Aaron Weiss of Carlton Fields, P.A., with assistance by subcommittee members G. Tyler Bannon and Jeffrey Ehrlich.

The Judicial Subcommittee distributed The Florida Bar Consumer Protection Law Committee Bench Manual for Florida Judges, which covers six areas of law affecting consumers: the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act; auto sales and finance; the state’s Lemon Law; credit card actions; residential evictions; and the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act. The manual is posted online, is available via QR Code, and was distributed in paper copy. The subcommittee continues to work on updating the manual and adding new areas of law. The subcommittee is led by subcommittee Chair Jonathan Kline of Jonathan Kline, P.A., with the assistance of subcommittee members Lynn Drysdale and Michael Roland

The Pamphlet Subcommittee orchestrated the creation, maintenance, review, and updating of numerous consumer pamphlets, offering fundamental legal information on various topics. Additionally, the subcommittee coordinated with the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section to create a pamphlet on irrevocable trusts. The subcommittee also facilitated the revision of several pamphlets in both English and Spanish, ensuring that crucial information about consumers’ rights under Florida law is readily available. Heading the subcommittee are Co-Chairs Viviana Escobar of the Office of the Attorney General and Brett Foster of The Benenati Law Firm with the assistance of subcommittee members Steven J. Gard and Kristen King Jaiven.

The Outreach and Social Media Subcommittee provided the Consumer Protection Law Committee a direct connection to the public. The subcommittee consistently shared updates on various online social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Its primary emphasis was on disseminating information about consumer-related issues and pertinent subjects, while also showcasing events organized by the committee. The subcommittee is led by Vice Chair Rachel Bentley of Gordan & Partners, P.A., and subcommittee Chair Nicholas Zbrzeznj of Southern Atlantic Law Group, PLLC, with assistance from subcommittee members Mandy Mills, Melanie Grant, and Jovita Ahava.

The Consumer Protection Law Committee also undertook an initiative to develop a strategic plan to increase awareness and foster interest in consumer protection law in Florida law schools. There is a need for additional consumer protection law courses covering topics such as mortgages, debt collection, and credit reporting. The committee is devoted to furthering the expansion of consumer protection course offerings in legal education through the education and promotion of these critical subjects to Florida law school administrations and faculty.

As most of the Consumer Protection Law Committee’s work is carried out within subcommittees, their chairs deserve special recognition for their tireless efforts in guiding these endeavors. Thank you Bryant Dunivan, Brett Foster, Margery Golant, Jonathan Kline, Robert Neary, Adam Thoresen, Aaron Weiss, and Nicholas Zbrzeznj. Simply put, the committee’s accomplishments would be unattainable without the investment of these individuals.

Our vice chairs were equally vital to the committee’s achievements. Thank you Rachel Bentley, Vanessa Clark, Jared Lee, and Jennifer Pinder! Their servant leadership, along with the dedication of our active members, contributed to a successful year!

Last but certainly not least, a special thank you goes to the committee’s Bar liaisons, Melanie Woodall and Jeff Picker. Their unwavering support has been instrumental in sustaining the committee’s success.

Serving alongside some of the most mission-oriented lawyers in our state has been both an honor and a privilege. Following this summer’s annual meeting, another current committee member is expected to assume a one-year term as chair. Under their leadership, I am confident that the Consumer Protection Law Committee will persist in its outstanding efforts to educate the public and The Florida Bar on matters concerning consumer protection laws and related issues.

Ruth Jackson Lee, Chair

Continuing Legal Education

Greetings from the Continuing Legal Education Committee. Our mission is to assist the members of The Florida Bar in their continuing legal education and to facilitate the production and delivery of quality CLE programs and course materials for the benefit of Bar members in coordination with the sections, committees, and staff of The Florida Bar and others who participate in the CLE process.

In keeping with our mission, our focus this year has been on CLE course evaluations and amendments to policies governing the committee.

The committee met several times over the year. Our first meeting of the Bar year was June 22, 2023, at the Annual Florida Bar Convention. The committee met virtually on October 18, 2023. The highlight of the October meeting was an update by Director Leroy Smith on the Speaker Diversity Study and an interactive discussion of the Florida Supreme Court Amended Order and its impact on Professionalism CLE. The committee held its Winter Business Meeting in person on January 26, 2024, at The Florida Bar Winter Meeting. In attendance were Director Terry Hill, Director Leroy Smith, and our Board of Governors liaison Michael Gelfand, who, along with our members and section representatives in attendance, contributed to a robust discussion of new CLE rules. The committee also discussed ongoing projects, such as handbook revision updates, marketing and advertising updates, and issues surrounding increasing and diversifying the speaker pool. The committee is excited to be partnering with the Florida Bar Marketing Department to explore ways to revamp course evaluation surveys to increase CLE attendees’ participation in completing and providing valuable feedback to the committee.

The CLE committee continues to urge committee members to evaluate at least one in-person and one webinar course and provide feedback to help improve courses for all members of the Bar. A big thank you to our administrator, Whitney Jobson, for keeping us on task, our Board of Governors liaison Michael Gelfand, Directors Hill and Smith, our section representatives and members for your hard work and dedication. It has been an honor to serve as vice chair of the committee.

Collett P. Small, Vice Chair

Criminal Law Certification

The Criminal Law Certification Committee is responsible for overseeing the process of certifying attorneys as either criminal trial specialists or criminal appellate specialists recognized by The Florida Bar, and for reviewing the applications of currently certified attorneys seeking recertification as their terms expire. The certification process includes the following requirements: satisfactory peer review references, passing the certification examination (initial applicants only), substantial involvement in either criminal trial law or criminal appellate law, and a handling of either criminal trials or criminal appellate cases and matters.

For initial criminal trial applicants needed at least 25 contested criminal cases, with 20 jury trials tried to verdict, 15 which involved a felony charge, and a minimum of 10 as lead counsel. For recertification criminal trial applicants need at least five contested criminal actions, with four that were before a jury, and three that involved a felony charge. For initial criminal appellate applicants need representation of at least 25 criminal appellate actions. For recertification criminal appellate applicants need representation of at least 10 criminal appellate actions. The time frame for qualifying criminal trials and appellate actions is within the five years preceding an application.

As chair, I am happy to report another successful year of overseeing the certification of Florida lawyers who practice criminal law. This year, the committee was once again comprised of 12 geographically diverse board-certified attorneys and judges who practice in a variety of areas, including criminal trial, criminal appellate, criminal prosecution, and criminal defense. The committee consists of government attorneys, both prosecutors and public defenders, judges, and private practitioners. After feedback from board certified pre-testers and The Florida Bar’s exam consultant, the examination questions for 2024 are in the process of being finalized to meet the high standards expected by both the committee and The Florida Bar.

The criminal trial and criminal appellate certification exams contain five essay questions and 50 multiple choice questions addressing procedural and substantive law in both state and federal court. The exam is written to assess a lawyer’s fundamental knowledge of the criminal laws and procedures, analytical reasoning, and skill in applying knowledge to practical situations in state and federal courts.

On May 10, 2024, applicants will answer these questions in two 180-minute sessions. The exam will be administered both remotely and in person for hand-writers only in Orlando. Applicants are expected to be advised of their results by August 1, 2024.

At its final meeting of this term, the committee will grade the 2024 examinations. Those attorneys who meet all requirements for certification and who achieve a passing score on the examination will earn the designation as a criminal trial law board certified specialist or criminal appellate law board certified specialist.

Of the more than 100,000 members of The Florida Bar, 407 are currently board certified in criminal trial law, and 41 are board certified in criminal appellate law. In 2023, 107 attorneys sought recertification in criminal trial law and criminal appellate law. In 2023, 14 attorneys obtained criminal trial law certification and three attorneys obtained criminal appellate law certification. Currently, 37 attorneys have applied to take the 2024 criminal trial law certification exam and five attorneys have applied to take the 2024 criminal appellate law certification exam. If an examinee is already board certified in criminal trial or criminal appellate law, they are only required to take the multiple-choice portion of the area in which they are seeking the additional certification.

The committee is grateful to the lawyers and judges who participate in the confidential peer review process. Without candid commentary from applicants’ peers, the committee’s ability to properly review applicants’ qualifications would be severely curtailed. The committee emphasizes to Bar members and judicial officers that commentary is confidential and will not be divulged to any applicant.

I am honored to have been selected to serve as chair. The committee members consisting of, Judge Kathryn Speicher (vice chair), Cyrus Toufanian (immediate past chair), Melynda Melear, Lawrence Avallone, Judge Donna Goerner, Ira Karmelin, Alison Lopes, Michael Salnick, Roger Futerman, Judge John Parnofiello, and Jonathan Wasserman are all appreciated for making sure we achieved our goals. A special thank you goes to Laurinda Jackson, our outstanding staff liaison. None of our committee work could have been accomplished without her dedication, hard work, and organizational skills. Thank you, Ms. Jackson! I personally thank all the committee members for their time, dedication, and hard work. It has been a pleasure serving as chair of this committee.

Mitchell A. Stone, Chair

Criminal Procedure Rules

The Criminal Procedure Rules Committee is concluding another busy year working to review and improve the Rules of Criminal Procedure. We have tackled a number of important and significant matters effecting our rules and have strived to work as effectively and efficiently as possible in addressing these matters.

So far this year, the committee has filed three reports with Florida Supreme Court proposing amendment to the Rules of Criminal Procedure. After collaborating and gaining feedback from several defense, prosecution, and judicial groups, we proposed amendments to re-work the timelines for competency hearings in criminal cases. The committee also proposed several amendments to align the rules with Florida Statutes, including to clarify that probation is not mandatory for misdemeanor cases where the judge withholds adjudication, updating the requirements for expert reports in competency proceedings, and updating the criminal punishment code and scoresheet to reflect changes to the Law Enforcement Protection Act.

The committee also provided feedback to the Florida Supreme Court on its proposed changes to the speedy trial procedures in Rule 3.191 by participating in oral argument and filing comment.

We continue our work on several upcoming proposals and referrals we have received. Proposals to amend rule 3.802 to add procedures for filing a motion for rehearing and clarify that a motion for rehearing is not required to preserve issues for appeal, to align the bail and pretrial release rules with recent changes to Florida Statutes, and to expand the instances in which testimony may be taken through communication technology have all been made.

I extend my gratitude and thanks to Vice Chairs Judge Laura Ward, Judge Deborah Sisco, Andrew Stanton, and Katelyn Johnston. In addition, I thank subcommittee Chairs Lara Penn, Judge Lorena Mastrarrigo, Warren Lindsey, Judge Tesha Ballou, Randall Richardson, Andrew Stanton, and David Chee for their leadership and service to the committee. The committee is grateful for the opportunity to serve the Florida legal community and owes special thanks to all members and everyone who devoted their time and efforts to improving the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure.

Jason B. Blank, Chair

Cybersecurity and Privacy Law

The newly created Standing Committee on Cybersecurity and Privacy Law has been tasked to enhance attorney awareness of cybersecurity and privacy practices, and in particular to provide Florida lawyers with continuously updated resources regarding state and federal laws and regulations; and organize educational seminars with the objective of increasing firm and lawyer awareness of cyber threats and privacy risks that affect Florida attorneys, their clients and the practice of law itself.

In less than a year since its creation, the committee sports nearly 40 members from both the public and private sector, validating the vision of President Scott Westheimer, and the efforts of Co-Chairs Steven Teppler and Franklin Zemel in creating this first of its kind committee. The first committee meeting was held on August 24, 2023, shortly after its July 2024 formation, and has been followed by numerous in-person and virtual planning and discussion meetings. The committee’s achievements arising from these meetings include organizing an intensive, two-day pre-annual conference privacy certification exam seminar for Florida lawyers, recommending the amendment and associated revisions of Advisory Ethics Opinion 10-2 to address changes to a lawyer’s ethical obligations resulting from changing data privacy and cybersecurity risks. The Professional Ethics Committee (PEC) considered these revisions to Ethics Opinion 10-2 as proposed by the Cybersecurity and Privacy Law Committee, and voted 39-0 in favor, with minor amendments in place. The amended Advisory Opinion now contemplates risks from cybercrime, expanding data privacy regulation, and emerging technologies such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

The committee’s mission also includes an ongoing commitment to lawyer outreach and education. In that vein, the committee has planned a four hour seminar for the June 2024 Annual Florida Bar Convention, addressing a wide range of existing and emerging cybersecurity issues (both professional and ethical) facing Florida attorneys. The committee is also planning a seminar on cybersecurity and complex litigation.

Your committee co-chairs realize that these achievements are just the beginning, and expect the committee’s mission and objectives to evolve, and keep pace with, developments in the cybersecurity and privacy arena and their impact on the Florida legal community.

Lastly, your committee co-chairs gratefully acknowledge the support of Bar President Scott Westheimer and the Board of Governors, who have demonstrated their continued support of cybersecurity and privacy initiatives throughout the year. Their support is directly responsible for the first year successes of the Cybersecurity and Privacy Law Committee, and we look forward to the continuation of that support from The Florida Bar’s leadership in the coming years.

Steven W. Teppler and Franklin Zemel, Co-Chairs

Diversity and Inclusion

The Florida Bar Standing Committee on Diversity and Inclusion’s mission is to increase diversity and inclusion in The Florida Bar so that the Bar will reflect the demographics of the state, to develop opportunities for community involvement, and to make leadership roles within the profession and The Florida Bar accessible to all attorneys, including those who are racially, ethnically and culturally diverse, women, members of the LGBTQ community and persons with disabilities. This committee is composed of diverse attorneys and judges located all across the state.

Valeria Obi served as the 2023-2024 chair along with 12 vice chairs. The entire committee consisted of over 90 committee members, all of different races, ethnicities, ages, sexual orientation and genders. The committee is divided into six subcommittees: Gender Equality, Multicultural, Get Involved, Pipeline, Grants and Communications. Each subcommittee was charged with implementing a program or “passion project” for this Bar year.

The committee’s focus this year was to foster a culture of inclusivity, respect, and belonging within the Bar, which ultimately enhances attorneys’ satisfaction, engagement, and performance in the legal field. The committee implemented several programs throughout the year to provide education to raise awareness about diversity and inclusion issues, unconscious bias, and cultural competency.

The Gender Equality Subcommittee hosted a Three-Part Chapter Chats Series based on the book, Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life, by Susan Davis. Each session was held virtually and consisted of a panel of esteemed attorneys and judges who focused on various topics. The webinars took place in October, January, and March. The theme for each session was identifying beliefs and priorities to shape our perspective and practice. Attendees were able to receive CLE credit for each session.

The Multicultural Subcommittee hosted the in-person Diversity Symposium during The Florida Bar Winter Meeting. The theme of the symposium was “Foundations of Unity: Embracing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.” The symposium served several important purposes aimed at promoting awareness, education, and action on diversity, equity, and inclusion topics. It raised awareness about the importance of diversity and the benefits of creating inclusive environments. It facilitated open and constructive dialogue among participants from diverse backgrounds, fostering understanding, empathy, and respect for different perspectives and experiences. It also provided a networking platform so participants could connect with like-minded individuals, form partnerships, and exchange ideas for collective action. The symposium featured eight speakers and attendees received approximately five CLE credits.

The Pipeline Subcommittee hosted an in-person Pathways to the Law event at the St. Thomas University Benjamin L. Crump School of Law in Miami. The event aimed to empower and equip aspiring lawyers with the knowledge, skills, and connections needed to embark on a successful career in the legal profession. The event featured a panel of attorneys who discussed their various career paths in the law. The event was geared toward young lawyers, law students and high school students interested in the law but was attended by seasoned attorneys as well. The keynote speaker was nationally renowned civil rights attorney Benjamin L. Crump. Over 150 individuals attended in person and virtually.

The Alternative Career Pathways in Government Service webinar was hosted by our Get Involved Subcommittee and featured a panel of government attorneys who shared different ways to navigate government service. The content of the webinar included: “Opportunities For Lateral Agency Moves And Methods For Advancement; How To Navigate Continued Career Development, Networking, and Education and; Nontraditional and/or Significant Public Roles In the Government: Seeking Mentorship, Support and Planning for Immediate and Long-Term Steps.” Attendees were able to receive CLE credit.

In honor of Women’s History Month our committee is hosting a What Women Bring to the Benchwebinar along with the Jamaican American Bar Association and the TJ Reddick Bar Association featuring Florida Supreme Court Justice Renatha Francis along with Magistrate Maxine Williams of the 15th Judicial Circuit. This is a presentation highlighting the importance of women and how they shape future generations of lawyers.

The Pathways to Legal Academia webinar will be hosted by the Get Involved Subcommittee in April and will focus on different career pathways in legal academia. The panel includes adjunct professors, tenured professors and deans to share how attorneys can transition into these roles. Attendees will receive one CLE credit.

Each year our committee hosts the annual Henry T. Latimer Diversity & Inclusion Award Luncheon along with the Virgil Hawkins Florida Chapter National Bar Association and the Florida Association for Women Lawyers. This event takes place during the Annual Florida Bar Convention. This luncheon celebrates diversity in all facets and recognizes one individual as the Henry T. Latimer Diversity Award winner. Each organization also presents their highest award. Our committee recognizes an Outstanding Grant Award to a voluntary bar association who had used our grants funds to put on a diverse program.

The purpose of the Voluntary Bar Association Grant Program is to support initiatives and programs that encourage diversity, diversity training and dialogue among lawyers in Florida through financial support of conferences, seminars, summits and symposia planned and hosted by local and specialty bar associations. Our committee receives $50,000 to award to bar associations who host diverse programs. This year, we awarded 21 bar associations with grant funds.

It has been a tremendous honor to serve as the final chair of The Florida Bar Standing Committee on Diversity and Inclusion. While I am disheartened by the defunding of our committee, resulting in its discontinuation, I am immensely proud of the impactful work accomplished by our team this year, underscoring the vital importance of diversity. Despite the challenging circ*mstances, our committee demonstrated remarkable resilience and unwavering dedication to our mission, persevering with determination despite the news of our dissolution. We maintained our focus and channeled our efforts into accomplishing as much as possible before the committee’s conclusion. As chair, I faced the difficult task of sustaining morale and engagement among our members, fully aware of the inevitable end of our committee. Nevertheless, I am proud to affirm that, in spite of adversity, our committee continued to make a significant impact across the state, excelling in all endeavors despite numerous challenges. I am profoundly grateful to our vice chairs and Florida Bar staff for their flexibility and support, which contributed to our successful year. I extend my heartfelt thanks to all the members of our committee for their tireless dedication and hard work.

Our committee was established approximately 24 years ago, and while the current era focused on diversity and inclusion may be drawing to a close, I am pleased to report that we are concluding our tenure on a positive and impactful note, stronger than ever before. I am confident that each member of our committee will carry forth the mission of promoting diversity and inclusion in their own capacities, advocating for the importance of a diverse society. It has been a privilege to be a part of this chapter and contribute to the legacy of the Bar, and I remain optimistic that we will have the opportunity to resume this essential work within the Bar once again in the future.

Thank you all so very much for the opportunity to serve!

Valeria Obi, Chair

Education Law Certification

The Education Law Certification Committee serves to promote certification among attorneys who practice education law. “Education law” means the practice of law involving the legal rights, responsibilities, procedures, and practices of educational institutions (schools, colleges, and universities, whether public, charter, or private), students, personnel employed by or on behalf of educational institutions, and the guardians and parents of students participating in education. The practice area covers a broad range of legal matters, with the common element being that these legal matters are on behalf of, or related to, an educational institution. This year marks the 12th year of education law certification. As of the writing of this annual report, there are 43 board certified attorneys in education law, the committee reviewed six recertifications for the 2023-2024 year, and six applicants have been approved to sit for the March examination.

The committee met regularly through the year and continued its ongoing work to add, update, and improve the examination based on the ever-changing legal landscape of education law. The committee acknowledges the efforts of the Education Law Committee, which has promoted this certification area and provided the certification examination review course for the benefit of applicants and members of the committee alike.

The members of the 2023-2024 Education Law Certification Committee are Chair Dana Macdonald, Vice Chair David D’Agata, and members John Paul Carland II, Lisa Carmona, Melissa Gross-Arnold, Mary Lawson, Melinda McNichols, Keven Pendley, and Laura Pincus. I am grateful for the committee members’ dedicated service to our Bar. On behalf of the entire committee, I thank and commend Kathleen Scholz-Jaffe for her assistance in completing the committee’s work.

Dana Macdonald, Chair

Education Law

The Education Law Committee held a session at the Annual Florida Bar Convention discussing future efforts of the committee and the need for lead for the committee’s journal. The meeting also discussed the laws passed during the 2023 legislative session affecting K-12 and higher education in Florida.

The committee was encouraged to attend the Stetson Higher Education Law and Policy Conference in Clearwater Beach from March 6-11, 2024. Many Education Law Committee members were panelists at this national conference on education.

Lacey Hofmeyer, Chair

Elder Law Certification

The Elder Law Certification Committee consists of nine board certified elder law attorneys appointed by The Florida Bar president-elect. The committee members serve staggered three-year terms.

The committee worked hard this year to create an examination that accurately and thoroughly tests the applicant’s knowledge and skill. The committee met through Zoom calls and had one in-person meeting to draft, edit, and refine the examination questions. The committee also updated the embedded question bank to account for changes in the law and question format.

Since the last exam three new attorneys attained board certification in elder law and nineteen attorneys were recertified. There are currently 112 attorneys certified in elder law. The committee promoted the certification exam, and this year fourteen new applicants were approved to sit for the initial exam.

The committee also voted to submit changes to the Fla. Bar Reg. 6-7.2., which defines “Elder law.” The approved changes expand the practice of elder law to include litigation of issues the elderly face. The committee also approved changes adding individuals with disabilities as elder law clients.

The chair of the 2023-2024 Elder Law Certification Committee was Matthew A. Linde (Naples), and Amy L. McGarry (Cape Coral) served as vice chair. The committee is grateful to Laurinda Jackson, the certification specialist, for her assistance.

Matthew A. Linde, Chair

Eminent Domain

The Eminent Domain Committee is committed to staying updated and informed of recent developments in the field of private property taken for public use by governmental agencies, municipalities, and private companies who have been granted condemnation powers.

Committee membership is comprised of both private attorneys and government/municipal attorneys representing both private land/business owners and condemning authorities. Many practitioners focus their representation on either condemning authority work or private owner work, though several take on representation from both types of clients. The number of committee members has remained relatively consistent. An area in which we could improve as a committee is participation in the January winter meeting. However, our meeting that coincides with the Annual Florida Bar Convention in June is consistently well attended.

As committee chair, I acknowledge the hard work and support of our vice chairs over this past term: Ryan Reese, Bruce Humphrey, Trevor Hutson, Logan Opsahl, and Brett Tensfeldt. They have take an active role in planning and logistics for our meeting topics, speakers, and sponsors. I also thank our Florida Bar liaisons, Emily Young and Whitney Bledsoe, for their continuing logistical support, as they always have a solution to our questions and concerns. Our leadership will continue as it is currently structured, with a request to add two additional vice chair positions for our next term.

Our entire committee gives sincere thanks and appreciation to Rebecca Gavidia and H2 Advisors for her presentation in the area of accounting, tax, valuation, and consultation in condemnation proceedings; Kevin Flynn & Jenny Schroeder of CS DISCO for sharing their company’s innovative approach to case and discovery organization for everyone from the solo practitioner with one complex case to state agencies, and their very informative presentation on the use of AI in the legal practice; Bryan Gowdy for his explanations of Florida Bar committee processes, specifically within the Jury Instruction Committee; and special thanks to Jackson Bowman, Ryan Reese, and John Little for spearheading the update and discussion regarding our committee’s concerns regarding the integration of Eminent Domain Jury Instructions into the Standard Jury Instructions.

The committee is still tracking and providing input toward the recommendations made by the Florida Supreme Court’s Workgroup on Improved Resolution of Civil Cases due to the unique bifurcated — and in some instances trifurcated — structure, which does not squarely fit within the case management systems, which were considered by the workgroup. Many have worked very hard regarding this issue, with the committee extending a special thanks to committee member Charlie Stratton and to Judge Anne-Leigh Gaylord Moe for their efforts of going above and beyond in their support and advocacy of the committee’s efforts regarding this issue.

The committee has also been closely involved in the effort of the Standard Jury Instruction Committee (SJI) of The Florida Bar to develop standard jury instructions for eminent domain cases. Our committee members continue to interface with the Supreme Court Committee on Standard Civil Jury Instructions in Civil Cases — Eminent Domain Subcommittee comprised of Judge Kathy Weston, Judge Andrea Teves Smith, and eminent domain practitioner Aloyma Sanchez. We thank the subcommittee members and the eminent domain subject matter experts that have been charged with assisting the subcommittees in understanding the unique intricacies of the jury instructions in our practice area, and the magnitude of impacts that seemingly simple changes could implicate while strongly considering the jury instructions authored by members of the Eminent Domain Committee in The Florida Bar publication, Florida Eminent Domain Practice and Procedure.

While a record number of our committee membership and fellow eminent domain practitioners have been closely involved and working very hard regarding this issue, the committee leadership wishes to highlight a very sincere and heartfelt thank you to attorney Andrew Prince Brigham for his staunch advocacy on behalf of our committee regarding this important topic, helping safeguard property owner rights and ensure that any modifications to the conventionally accepted eminent domain jury instructions accurately reflect substantive Florida eminent domain law.

Our committee is also investing efforts into closely watching and learning about how we can responsibly embrace alternate intelligence (AI) into our practices. We are staying apprised of technological advances to fully assist our clients — as mandated by The Florida Bar — and increase our own workflow and judicial efficiencies. We have discussed how, when leveraged correctly, the use of AI in the legal practice can increase accessibility and affordability for those needing legal services.

Planning is underway for the next committee meeting at the Annual Florida Bar Convention in June. The meeting will include presentations on numerous topics of great significance in the area of eminent domain including updates on the topics above; insight from condemning authority attorneys on the identification and prioritization of transportation projects; an in-depth discussion of the resolution of a five-year eminent domain related public records lawsuit; and a closer look at hourly fee billing in the area of eminent domain law with a discussion of survey results of our practitioners and the implications for fee hearings therein. This meeting will be the conclusion of an exciting and informative year for the committee.

Lauren E. Howell, Chair

Family Law Rules

The Family Law Rules Committee had another productive year thanks to the active participation of its members. The committee consists of 30 members and is responsible for rules amendments to family law court rules. Referrals can come from individuals in the committee or from any interested person. Referrals can be triggered by new legislation, other rule changes in family or other court rules, the need for rule or form clarity, or for any other reason the proponent of the referral explains.

The committee had another busy year largely responding to significant changes in legislation taking effect on July 1, 2023. We began the year with a detailed review of the nearly 40 forms for which our committee has responsibility.

Three reports to the court have been filed, all culminations of lengthy and detailed subcommittee and committee work. On January 12, 2024, the committee filed a fast-track report to amend Forms 12.900(h) and 12.928 in response to legislation regarding dependent adult children (SC2024-0072). These amendments are still pending with the court.

The committee also filed two reports with multiple amendments each. The reports were divided into a forms report (SC2024-0003) and a rules report (SC2023-1472). These amendments are also still pending with the court.

The subcommittees have been working hard this year. Several matters s are still pending in subcommittee including referrals from the Family Law Section and the Steering Committee on Families and Children. The committee values each referral and does a thorough review of each.

My year of service as chair was an exciting and busy one. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to serve on this committee and to have served as chair. However, I am most proud of the accomplishments of the committee members. I personally add my acknowledgment and thanks to all the hard-working committee members. The members are truly dedicated to serving our profession and, in turn, the citizens of Florida. They understand and value that service is never for the promotion of self but is, instead, for the promotion of others and for the greater good.

I specifically acknowledge and commend the committee leadership: Sheena Benjamin-Wise, vice chair and Family Law Section representative; Magistrate K. Beth Luna, vice chair and Civil Rules Committee representative; Crystal Thornton, vice chair; Jeffrey Battista, vice chair; Roberta Walton Johnson, Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration representative. The hard work of the committee falls on their shoulders.

I thank the Bar staff who work tirelessly to keep our committee running smoothly and efficiently. I add my personal thanks and that of the vice chairs to senior attorney for the Rules Program, Kelly N. Smith, who kept the committee on task and on schedule. We could not have done our job without her outstanding support.

Judge Howard O. McGillin, Jr., Chair

Federal Court Practice

The Federal Court Practice Committee (FCPC) serves as The Florida Bar’s liaison to our federal courts, local federal bar association chapters, and federal practitioners.

The FCPC has had a successful year serving as a link between the federal courts and members of The Florida Bar. The FCPC is made up of a main committee, consisting of approximately 60 members, and seven subcommittees. The FCPC also has judicial representation from each federal district in Florida. The FCPC met virtually in October 20223 and for The Florida Bar Winter Meeting and in person for the Annual Florida Bar Convention in June 2024.

This year, the committee took affirmative steps to engage the Florida law schools and law students in the hopes that the stigma associated with the perceptions of federal practice will be lessened. Under the leadership of the mentoring subcommittee’s chairs, Federal Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart and Jaqueline Simms-Petredis, the FCPC invited professors from each of the Florida law schools to serve as liaisons to this committee with the long-term goal of assimilating law students into the Federal Court Practice Committee’s work.

This year’s committee also expanded the FCPC’s pro-bono activities by coordinating efforts within the bankruptcy courts to provide pro-se litigants with access to bankruptcy practitioners to help them accurately file their pleadings and reduce the stress placed on the courts by improperly executed and filed documents. The Pro Bono Committee has also updated pro bono opportunities through The Florida Bar website, and the committee actively promotes opportunities for pro bono cases throughout each of the three federal districts in Florida. These efforts were spearheaded by subcommittee Chairs Lauren Stricker and Laura Boeckman with the instrumental support of Federal District Judge Jacob A. Brown.

The FCPC hosts its signature event, the Federal Judicial Roundtable, annually during the Annual Florida Bar Convention. This CLE event provides an opportunity for federal judges to engage directly with practitioners and law students on issues of ethics, professionalism, court procedure, and technology. The roundtable historically draws over 200 practitioners and many federal appellate, district, magistrate, and bankruptcy judges, and over 200 practitioners. This year, the roundtable includes a state of the district update from each of the three federal districts in Florida along with a brief historical account of the origins of each district given by a law clerk selected by the chief judges for the three districts. Following the conclusion of the CLE portion of the event, the roundtable concludes with a reception honoring the federal judiciary. The roundtable will continue to focus on cutting edge issues in federal court, with input from the judiciary on best tips and practice for writing, advocacy, presenting cases, and successful arguments in federal court — through guided roundtable discussions between attorneys and the federal judges. The Roundtable Subcommittee is chaired by Oliver Ruiz and Ryan Forrest. The roundtable is also expected to bring in sufficient sponsorships that not only cover the event costs but support future programming and the work of The Florida Bar.

One of the goals of the FCPC was to increase CLE opportunities for members of The Florida Bar that have a federal practice focus. The Education Subcommittee, led by Andrea Nieto and James Stepan, spearheaded the planning for a series of lunch and learn programs focusing on local rules updates, as well as a CLE coordinated along with the Business Law Section scheduled for the second quarter of this year.

A key component of the FCPC’s work is the Guide to Judicial Practices in Florida’s Federal Courts: the Guide, available at www.floridabar.org/federalcorner. As part of an ongoing effort, the FCPC polls members of the federal judiciary in Florida to learn their preferences on a wide array of topics and maintains the Guide as a resource for practitioners. This subcommittee has been chaired by Lakisha Kinsey-Sallis and Paige Comparato.

The Long-Range Planning Subcommittee, under the guidance of Chairs Christopher Brochu and Rob Griscti, focused their efforts to increase the outreach to the Ft. Myers and Ocala divisions of the Middle District of Florida by planning brown bag lunches at those courthouses to increase practitioner and judicial interaction. These efforts are over and above the regular long-range planning objectives of the subcommittee.

Another component of our FCPC is website and social media outreach. Our social media efforts create an active voice on various platforms through which the FCPC provides updates on relevant issues involving federal practice — everything from job openings in the courts to court updates. Our social media team extended our reach this year by expanding the FCPC’s presence onto Instagram. The more robust social media presence has also allowed the FCPC to deepen its ties with the local FBA chapters by marketing CLE presentations and other relevant events. In addition to social media, our group maintains the Federal Corner on The Florida Bar’s website (www.floridabar.org/federalcorner). Under the direction of subcommittee Co-Chairs Raychelle Tasher and Nicole Comparato, every member of the FCPC serves as a “roving reporter” helping us distribute relevant content to the Bar.

We recognize Meaghan Murphy and Mohammad Jazil for their service as co-chairs of the Federal Rules Subcommittee, keeping members updated about new and proposed Rules in each of the districts. We applaud the efforts of all our committee members for making this year successful and productive.

Finally, the FCPC gives special acknowledgement and recognition to our Florida Bar staff liaison, Lani Fraser. She continues to excel as the backbone of the committee and is an instrumental presence for the FCPC to efficiently accomplish its goals. Lani’s devotion to the work of The Florida Bar, and specifically to the FCPC, allows this committee to achieve great results each and every year. Thank you, Lani!

Peter A. Sartes, Chair

Florida Bar Journal and News Editorial Board

The Florida Bar Journal and News publications keep Bar members informed and educated, both online and in print. The Journal publishes scholarly articles on substantive law six times per year. The News covers stories and events in the legal community, 12 times per year in print, with online content updated on a daily basis.

The Editorial Board is 46 members strong this year and primarily serves as peer reviewers of feature articles for the Journal. The board’s purpose is to provide comprehensive and quality feedback (including recommended revisions) to authors who submit manuscripts for publication. Additionally, board members may volunteer to write book reviews for submission to the Journal, and have the option to participate on various other committees throughout the year.

I extend my thanks to all authors who submitted articles to the Journal. The Editorial Board appreciates all contributions. The Florida Bar Journal Excellence in Writing Award is issued every year. The 2023 award went to Michael T. Olexa and Christopher Hill for their article, “Harvesting the Sun: A Sustainable Approach for Florida’s Greenbelt Law,” which was originally published in the September/October 2023 issue. The article discusses legal concepts associated with the Florida Greenbelt Law, and how the legislation impacts farmers on land classified for agricultural use. The Editorial Board congratulates the authors, who have been recognized in the News, for their exceptional feature article.

The Journal and News are available in print and online at https://www.floridabar.org/news/news-journal/. Every issue of the Journal since 2016 is available as a digital flipbook that can be downloaded as a PDF. The News and Journal’s extensive archive also includes over two decades of articles that are available online in a searchable database. It is a useful research tool for Bar members and the public for free.

I thank each board member for their dedication, hard work, and commitment to these excellent publications. I also thank Bar staff for their outstanding work with the Editorial Board and their commitment to ensuring the integrity and high quality of both publications. I thank Editor Mark Killian, and Managing Editor Rawan Bitar, for their continued hard work serving the board, as we welcome new staff member, Associate Editor Kevin C. Murphy, Jr.

Between the volunteer members of the Editorial Board, section column editors, and authors, I thank each of you for your extraordinary contributions and look forward to a bright future for the Journal and News.

Alice M. Porch, Chair

Florida Probate Rules

The Florida Probate Rules Committee had a productive 2023-2024 Bar year. During the past Bar year, the committee filed several reports with the Florida Supreme Court with proposed rule amendments and coordinated as needed with other rules committees regarding proposals affecting probate areas of practice.

The committee filed a report on December 4, 2023, proposing amendments to Rule 5.025 (Adversary Proceedings) to add the ability to contest the validity of a will to the list of automatic adversary proceedings; Rule 5.340 (Inventory) to clarify that the elective share inventory must value the elective share assets; and Rule 5.405 (Proceedings to Determine Homestead Status of Real Property) to require that the petition include the petitioner’s interest in the determination of protected homestead status, whether the decedent was survived by a spouse and whether the surviving spouse waived homestead rights, and whether the property was the domicile of the decedent and if not, whether the property was located within a municipality and was the domicile of a decedent’s family member, as well as clarifying how the petition is served on interested persons.

In response to 2023 legislation, the committee filed a report proposing amendments to Rule 5.630 (Petition for Approval of Acts) to address the repeal of F.S. §744.441(2). The committee proposed new Rule 5.631 to address petitions for approval by professional guardians for order not to resuscitate or to withhold life-prolonging procedures under F.S. §744.4431. The committee proposed amending Rules 5.649 (Guardian Advocate) and 5.905 (Form for Petition, Notice, and Order for Appointment of Guardian Advocate of the Person) to address whether authority is being sought to seek periodic support of the person with a developmental disability within a petition for appointment of a guardian advocate. Within Rule 5.904 (Forms for Initial and Annual Guardianship Plans), the committee proposed that the forms ask if there are preexisting order not to resuscitate, health care surrogate decision, living will, or anatomical gift to address F.S. §744.4431. The proposed changes were adopted by the court on December 14, 2023.

The committee is filing a report with the court to propose amendments to Rule 5.095 (General and Special Magistrates) to cross-reference Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.490 instead of having rules strictly for use in the probate or guardianship or probate and guardianship context. Further, the committee proposes deleting Rule 5.697 (Magistrates’ Review of Guardianship Inventories, Accountings, and Plans) as Rule 5.095 is applicable to both probate and guardianship proceedings. In this report, the committee proposes amending Rule 5.320 (Oath of Personal Representative) to create a form oath for entities. The committee also proposed amending Rule 5.550 (Petition to Determine Incapacity) to track the underlying statute and require that the notice and petition by read to the alleged incapacitated person.

The committee published amendments for comment that amend Rule 5.040 (Notice) to differentiate between interested persons represented by a lawyer in the proceedings and interested persons who are not represented. If represented by a lawyer, formal notice can be electronically served, but otherwise formal notice would not be served electronically; amend Rule 5.499(e) (Form and Manner of Objecting to Personal Representative’s Proof of Claim) to parallel the service provision in Rule 5.498(b); and amends Rule 5.904 (Forms for Initial and Annual Guardianship Plans), subdivision (d)6., to clarify the provider’s signature on the physician’s report must be no more than 90 days before the beginning of the applicable reporting period.

As new legislation is passed, the Florida Probate Rules Committee will continue to review and analyze the legislation to determine whether resulting amendments to the Probate Rules are necessary. The committee continues to work closely with the RPPTL section to revise and update the rules to correspond with legislation promulgated by the RPPTL section.

Committee meeting schedules and agendas are posted on the Florida Probate Rules Committee website, https://www.floridabar.org/committee-page/florida-probate-rules-committee-materials/. The Florida Bar’s liaison to the Probate Rules Committee, Heather Savage Telfer, makes this information easily accessible to the committee members and others who have an interest in the committee’s work product and current activities.

We urge practitioners to monitor The Florida Bar News for the publication of proposed rule changes, as well as the Florida Supreme Court’s web page, which lists the pending rules cases. The Florida Probate Rules Committee always welcomes comments regarding any pending projects, as well as suggestions for rule changes based on procedural problems and caselaw encountered by courts and practitioners.

It has been an honor and privilege to serve as chair of the Florida Probate Rules Committee this year. I thank all the Probate Rules Committee members, The Florida Bar staff, and the members of the other rules committees for their contributions. Finally, I extend a special thanks to Vice Chairs Erin Farrington Finlen and Zackary T. Zuroweste; subcommittee Chairs Marve Ann M. Alaimo, J. Allison Archbold, Benjamin Frank Diamond, Antonio Jaimes, Frederick Lee Hearn, Antonio Paulo Romano, Michael Alan Sneeringer, and Florida Bar Attorney Liaison Heather Savage Telfer for all of their hard work, assistance, and guidance this year.

Alexandra V. Rieman, Chair

Florida Registered Paralegal Enrichment

The Florida Registered Paralegal Enrichment Committee was created as a result of a motion from the Program Evaluation Committee to the Board of Governors on July 27, 2018, https://www-media.floridabar.org/uploads/2018/10/Regular-Minutes-July-27-2018-meeting.pdf. This motion bifurcated the Florida Registered Paralegal Committee into the Florida Registered Paralegal Enrichment Committee and the Florida Registered Paralegal Eligibility and Compliance Committee. Each committee was tasked with meeting the different needs of Florida registered paralegals. In late September of 2018, Past Bar President Michelle Suskauer appointed the committees.

The first meeting of the FRP Enrichment Committee meeting was January 19, 2019.

The Mission Statement of the FRP Enrichment Committee is: 1) creating awareness of the Florida Registered Paralegal (FRP) Program in accordance with RRTFB Ch. 20; 2) enhancing communication about the benefits of FRP membership; 3) developing educational programming; and 4) creating networking and social events to foster camaraderie and cohesiveness of Florida registered paralegals and other paralegals/legal assistance.

To meet the terms of our bission statement the committee has established six subcommittees: Awareness, Newsletter/FRP Corner, Continuing Education (CE), Paralegal Regulation, Special Projects and Social Media.

The Awareness Subcommittee attends local paralegal associations, local Bar paralegal committees and section committees, and college and university paralegal studies program events to promote FRP designation.

The Newsletter/FRP Corner Subcommittee publishes the “FRP Times” twice yearly, newsletters that contains articles by and about paralegals and articles covering the paralegal profession. The FRP Corner is the platform used on the website to hold prior CE webinar recordings for those who were not available to attend the live webinar, want the information/education and gain CE credit toward the FRP CE requirements to maintain the FRP designation. The FRP Corner is also the platform used to provide information about the benefits afforded to Florida registered paralegals.

The CE Subcommittee presents a free webinar online every month during the lunch hour. Each CE covers a different area of law and is accredited by The Florida Bar, which can be used by attorneys and FRPs. Through a reciprocity agreement with NALA, Certified Paralegals (CP) Advanced Certified Paralegals (ACP) and NFPA, Registered Paralegals (RP), they can use Florida Bar CE credits toward their CE requirements. Since the FRP Enrichment Committee commenced its monthly free CE webinars in June 2020, each month it has between 900 and 1,000 registrants and 700 to 900 attendees. The FRP Enrichment Committee’s free CE webinars are the most watched of any Florida Bar webinars, consistently every month. We are very proud of the success in providing education to paralegals, attorneys and FRPs.

The Regulation Subcommittee monitors monthly national Zoom meetings, which address access to justice and legal licensure for paralegals. The subcommittee then provides the committee a report about that month’s meeting as well as maintaining a color coded map of the U.S. indicating the states that have established licensure for paralegals and those states, which are discussing licensure for paralegals all with a view of providing access to justice for those who are unable to afford legal representation in areas such as domestic violence, simple divorce, foreclosures and wills and trusts.

Social Media Subcommittee posts a steady stream of events for FRPs and paralegals, announcing our monthly free webinars, news for paralegals and the legal community. The subcommittee has also started, “Get To Know Your FRP Enrichment Committee Members,” introducing those who sit on the FRP Enrichment Committee to FRPs, attorneys and anyone interested in the Florida Registered Paralegal Program.

Special Projects Subcommittee is charged with drafting proposed changes to Rule 20, which governs FRPs. The subcommittee is also tasked with drafting questionnaires to be distributed to all FRPs and attorneys to elect that year’s “FRP Of The Year” based on the criteria established in the questionnaire. The subcommittee ends the year’s efforts with creating the FRP Day Mixer/Networking event at the annual convention.

As of the writing of this report there are 4,598 Florida registered paralegals with new applications being submitted every week.

The FRP Enrichment Committee is proud to hold among its members a diverse range of Florida registered paralegals working in every area of law. Each brings to the table diverse talents with great ideas and energy to fulfill our mission statement. The committee members bring a strong dedication to their profession and commitment to the advancement of the paralegal profession. We are very proud of how the FRP Enrichment Committee has grown and advanced since its inception in 2019. We never stop striving to educate the legal community about Florida Registered Paralegal designation and the many benefits of holding that designation. The FRP Enrichment Committee is THE connection for all FRPs.

In closing as the FRP Enrichment Committee comes into its seventh year on July 1, 2024, certain members who “have been here since the start” are terming out. The committee thanks these members for their years of service: Patricia DeRamus, Frank Springer, Aracely Felix-Mayorga, Michelle Arty, and Michael Candler and Jennifer Finch.

We also thank all the FRP Enrichment Committee chairs, vice chairs, and members for so freely sharing their free time and vast knowledge with and for FRPs and paralegals!

Karen R. George, Chair

Government Advocacy

The Governmental Advocacy Committee was created to address the concerns of Florida lawyers who lobby or work within local, state, and federal governments. Since its inception, the committee has remained focused on advocating for those issues that specially impact its membership. The mission of the committee continues to be: 1) Promote professionalism among lawyer-lobbyists; 2) provide appropriate and applicable legal education on matters of interest to (and tailored especially for) lawyer-lobbyists; 3) provide mentoring and networking opportunities that are not available elsewhere; and 4) provide an opportunity for lawyer-lobbyists to stay abreast of and collectively be heard by Florida Bar leadership on various Bar proposals (including proposed rules and ethics opinions) that may affect them.

On November 28, 2023, the committee met briefly by Zoom to discuss the timeline for the upcoming year. The committee then sponsored a three-hour CLE presented by Booter Imhof (Introduction to the Legislative Process), Pete Dunbar (The Ethics of Law and Lobbying), and Rick Courtemanche (Florida Public Records Law). The CLE was very well received, with over 100 committee members attending, and is available on the committee webpage for future viewing.

On January 17, 2024, the committee, along with the Government Lawyers Section, co-sponsored another Zoom CLE, “Navigating the Lobbying Labyrinth: Ethics for Lobbyists and Public Servants,” presented by Caroline Klancke and Joy Stubbs. Again, the CLE was well-attended and received, and available on the committee webpage. The GAC will be holding a live meeting/CLE in the spring in Tallahassee, as well as a meeting, CLE, and reception at the annual convention of The Florida Bar.

We are proud of the growth in membership and the opportunities for education and networking. We offer our thanks to our Board of Governor’s liaison, Braxton Gilliam, as well as former Board of Governor’s member Larry Sellers, for their leadership and support. If you are interested in joining the committee, please contact Joni Hooks at [emailprotected].

Kelly Kibbey Smith, Chair

Grievance Mediation and Fee Arbitration

This has been a year of accomplishments for the Standing Committee on Grievance Mediation and Fee Arbitration, which would not have been possible without the continuing hard work undertaken by the committee’s various subcommittees. The Rules, Recruitment, and Communication/Training subcommittees continue to be actively engaged, and report to the committee on a quarterly basis.

This has been a very busy year for the Communication and Training Subcommittee, chaired by Steven Lesser. As part of the subcommittee’s efforts to encourage lawyers, law firms and the general public to utilize the fee arbitration and grievance mediation processes, the subcommittee developed and produced (thanks to the persistence and dedication from subcommittee members and assistance from staff members) a video that serves to inform lawyers and consumers about the fee arbitration program. The video now appears on the committee’s page on The Florida Bar website (https://www.floridabar.org/about/cmtes/cmtes-cm/cmte-cm112/).

The Communication and Training Subcommittee also developed new training programming and videos. The programs feature committee members Christina Magee, Brenda Gordon, Linda Vitale, David Lichter, and former Committee member Louise Zeuli, and were approved for CLE credit. The videos are available on YouTube: Florida Bar Mediation Training — Dos Don’ts and What Ifs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odnvuzf3RBM); Selected and Thorny Issues in Florida Bar Fee Arbitrations (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S57ELtpqgPU).

The Rules Subcommittee, chaired by Chardean Hill, is currently working on a number of potential changes to the rules. One set of changes relates to the Committee’s pilot project to incorporate mediation into the fee arbitration process. Under this pilot project, a mediator is appointed at the same time as an arbitrator, and the parties are given the option to mediate their dispute ahead of the final arbitration hearing. Although we are still in the process of compiling the results of this pilot project, the preliminary assessment is generally favorable and that the option to mediate a fee dispute should be made a permanent part of the fee arbitration process. The Rules Subcommittee is also working on changes that will address the possibility that some arbitrations may require longer than 8 hours of hearing time, and for instances where it may not be possible to schedule the final hearing within 45 days from appointment.

The Recruitment Subcommittee, chaired by Charles Samarkos, has continued to grow the roster of approved arbitrators and mediators. The programs now boast 182 approved fee arbitrators, and 235 approved grievance mediators.

The success that the committee currently enjoys is due almost entirely to the efforts of its subcommittees, and most notably, to its subcommittee chairs who devote considerable time and effort to improve and draw attention to the fee arbitration and grievance mediation programs. The committee recognizes and thanks all three of these subcommittee chairs — Steven Lesser, Chardean Hill, and Charles Samarkos — for their efforts and continued hard work throughout the year.

Samuel A. Lewis, Chair

Health Law Certification

The Health Law Certification Committee oversees the certification of attorneys as health law specialists recognized by The Florida Bar. The Bar certified the first class of health certified specialists in 1995, and there are currently 127 health certified lawyers. Board-certified specialists in health practice under a myriad of Florida and federal laws, providing advice and counsel in transactional, litigation and regulatory practices. They work in a wide variety of settings including private legal practice and for government agencies and not for profit and for profit organizations.

The Health Certification Committee reviews the applications for those lawyers seeking initial certification, as well as the renewal applications for certified attorneys seeking recertification every five years. To initially qualify for health certification, lawyers must be a member of The Florida Bar for five years, be substantially involved (at least 40% of their practice) in health law, complete 60 hours of advanced CLE of approved health law credits, pass a rigorous peer review process, and pass a certification exam. The exam currently consists of 56 multiple-choice questions along with four essays.

The members of the Health Law Certification Committee include Vice Chair Ramona H. Thomas, immediate Past Chair William “Bill” Dillon, Jacqueline Bain, Karen Davila, Richard Brooderson, Jodi Laurence, Emily Katz and Elizabeth Shaw. We have been fortunate to have Kathleen Scholz-Jaffe provide us with assistance as our certification specialist. The committee members are responsible for the peer review process for initial and renewal applications as well as the drafting and grading certification exams. During the 2023-2024 term, the members worked diligently to propose slight modification to the rules that, if adopted, would render members of The Florida Bar working as compliance professionals for health care providers and health plans eligible to seek board certification in health law. As of the date of this report, those modifications are under consideration by the Health Law Section.

It has been my great honor to serve as chair of the committee this year. The work of the committee, while time consuming and complex, has been very rewarding.

Lisa D. Taylor, Chair

Immigration and Nationality Law

The 2023-2024 Florida Bar Immigration and Nationality Law Board Certification Committee consisted of Robert Bell (chair), Michael Harris (vice chair), Barry Lieber, Claudia Phaneuf, Denisse Ilabaca, Isadora Velazquez-Rivas, Jeffery Devore, Marcela Gyires, and William Gerstein. Chyra Reynolds of The Florida Bar served as our liaison. We are grateful for Chyra’s consistent support and assistance throughout the year.

The committee was assisted by five board certified immigration and nationality attorneys who served as pre-testers to provide expert feedback on the draft of our 2024 exam. We thank Carmen Arce, Elan Baret, Alexandria Friz-Garcia, Lourdes Guiribitey, and Jill Grucan for being generous with the time and knowledge to ensure the exam was clear, fair, and commensurate with the standards of the BLSE.

There are currently 79 Florida Bar board certified immigration and nationality law attorneys. During the 2023-2024 term, our committee received and approved 12 recertification exams and five initial applications to sit for the exam.

At the beginning of our term, we held a question-and-answer session for prospective applicants via Zoom. We explained the advantages of becoming a board certified attorney, topics covered on the exam, and sources of law to study. Several members of the committee volunteered to provide information to interested applicants.

Board certification should be a goal for any attorney specializing in their practice area. The exam is rigorous, and the study process requires that an applicant become proficient in a broad range of topics. Achieving this level of proficiency elevates the practice of law, and assists board certified attorneys to provide the highest level of legal services to their clients.

I strongly believe that board certified attorneys should volunteer to serve for a term on the board certification committee, as well as other volunteer activities in support of the board certification program. By doing so, attorneys will have the opportunity to work alongside other specialists in their practice area and to grow together in knowledge and professionalism. It has been my honor to serve on the committee for six years and to serve as committee chair.

Robert M. Bell, Chair

Intellectual Property Certification

The Intellectual Property Certification Committee certifies attorneys as experts in intellectual property law, which covers four substantive areas of law: patent law, trademark law, copyright law, and trade secret law. Attorneys who are board certified in intellectual property law may practice in only one of these substantive areas, or in some combination of substantive areas. However, to qualify for board certification, attorneys must demonstrate sufficient knowledge of all of the substantive areas encompassed within intellectual property law.

Last year was a very productive year for the Intellectual Property Certification Committee. As intellectual law often involves cutting edge technology and legal issues, the committee is always striving to ensure that those applying for certification or recertification have the special knowledge, skills, and proficiency, as well as the character, ethics, and reputation for professionalism, to be properly identified to the public as board certified in intellectual property law. In some ways, the committee went back to basics to help accomplish this.

First, the committee held its first in-person meeting since the global pandemic in Tampa in November 2023. During this meeting, multiple choice and short answer questions for the May 2024 examination were reviewed and revised. Additionally, recertification and initial applications were reviewed and discussed.

There are currently 132 lawyers Board Certified in intellectual property law. The Committee received and reviewed four new certification applications. All but one of these applicants have already been approved to sit for the upcoming certification exam. The remaining applicant is pending review. Nineteen recertification applications were received. All but one of these have already been approved for recertification. The remaining recertification application is pending review.

Second, the committee decided to include optional questions and received approval to include these optional questions in the May 2024 exam. The addition of optional questions to the May 2024 examination will allow the applicant to have the option of choosing to answer one of three essays in the following different subject areas: patent law, trademark law, and copyright law. As late as 2017, the examination included a mandatory portion, testing overall competency, and a subspecialty portion, allowing the applicant an opportunity to show an expertise in one of more specific subject areas that a Florida Bar certified lawyer should possess. The return implementation of optional questions should facilitate the evaluation of applicants.

Finally, the committee is critically analyzing the scoring of the essay model answers and short question model answers to ensure grading is uniform and readily understandable.

This year’s accomplishments are the result of significant time devoted by the committee’s vice chair, Kelly Swartz, the committee’s immediate past chair, Samuel Lewis, and by committee members Rick Fee, Kim Kolback, Andriy Lytvyn, Julee Milham, Janet Moreira, and John “Coy” Stull. The committee acknowledges with appreciation Kathleen Scholz-Jaffe, who never fails to provide us all with extraordinary support and assistance.

Paul D. Bianco, Chair

International Law Certification

The International Law Certification Committee has, since the start of the current term, carried out the following activities: 1) Expanded the number of members serving on the committee from five to eight. This provided intra-committee subject matter expertise with respect to all board certification exam topics less IP; 2) Reviewed and approved seven recertifiction applications and three initial certification applications. There had originally been a fourth initial certification application but this applicant passed away unexpectedly; 3) Prepared and disseminated “soft touch” email blasts to members of The Florida Bar who possess close to the amount of CLE required to sit for the certification exam; 4) Reviewed and revised, as appropriate, the entire multiple choice question bank with an eye to selecting 150 multiple choice questions for use in the certification exam to be administered this spring. All multiple choice questions presented for use on the certification exam align with the current state of the law, the materials available to a candidate, and Florida Bar question form requirements; 5) Reviewed and revised, as appropriate, the essay question/answer to be used in the certification exam to be administered this spring. This content aligns with the current state of the law, the materials available to a candidate, and Florida Bar question form requirements; 6) Identified International Law Deskbook (ILD) chapters in need of updating and confirmed the availability of committee-level ILD authors.

During the remainder of the current term, the committee will promote awareness of the international law board certification pathway and the work of board certified international law practitioners by running a profile piece on committee member Al Acevedo in the International Law Gazette. The committee will grade exams and work with the ILD committee on updating the International Law Deskbook 2020 with new chapters that cover more areas tested on the exam.

The chair thanks the entire committee for their commitment and support in this year-long endeavor. The chair also thanks Allison Armour for her steadfast support and guidance.

Robert Kossick, Chair

Juvenile Court Rules

This year, the Juvenile Court Rules Committee continued its focus on improving the administration of justice. The committee has filed several proposed amendments with the court and continues to work on numerous rule proposals.

In response to a referral from the Florida Supreme Court, the committee filed a proposal recommending that Rule 8.265 be amended to require a motion for rehearing to preserve for appellate review a challenge to the failure of the trial court to make required findings of fact in the final order. In response to recent legislation, the committee filed a proposal recommending amendments that outline providing e-mail addresses to the court, consenting to service by e-mail, and providing instructions for appearing via communication technology, when applicable. The committee also filed a proposal adding Spanish and Creole translations to the sample forms that were recently amended. The committee has also continued the labor-intensive work of reviewing the full juvenile rule set to identify areas for improvement and approve proposals that would re-write several rules for clarity and consistency.

Many thanks to Vice Chairs Brandy Merrifield, Sarah Rumph, and Sara Goldfarb for their dedication and leadership service to the committee. I also extend special thanks to David Silverstein for consistently keeping the minutes of the full committee and to Joel Silvershein for his willingness to consistently share his knowledge and experience with the committee. Thank you to all the committee members for their time, dedication, and service in improving the Juvenile Court Rules. Finally, my sincerest thanks to our rules committee liaison, Michael Hodges. His guidance, institutional knowledge, and commitment have been critical to the productivity and success of this committee.

Cheo Reid, Chair

Juvenile Law Certification

The Juvenile Law Board Certification Committee is responsible for overseeing the process of certifying attorneys as juvenile specialists, as recognized by The Florida Bar. The committee must review the applications of new attorneys seeking board certification and applications of current board-certified attorneys seeking recertification. Certification requirements include extensive peer and judicial review, completion of trials, demonstrating substantial involvement in complex juvenile law cases, and passing a comprehensive exam. The committee encourages those attorneys who meet the criteria for certification to join their colleagues in the select group who have been “evaluated for professionalism, tested for experience.”

As committee chair, I am pleased to report that we had a very active and productive year. The committee reviewed applications and scored last year’s exam. We learned a considerable amount. The committee addressed the main challenge to applicants taking the exam; most applicants specialize in delinquency law or dependency law, but not both. Consequently, applicants struggle with exam questions that are outside of their expertise. The committee reviewed the questions on this year’s exam to ensure that the questions were fair and met the exam specifications. The committee decided to draft some essay questions for future exams that include children who are involved in both dependency and delinquency proceedings so applicants could focus on their strengths. The committee is in the process of reviewing the exam specifications to ensure that the tested issues are relevant to the daily practice of juvenile law. The committee requested that the Legal Needs of Children Committee of The Florida Bar sponsor a juvenile law board certification exam review course. The Legal Needs of Children Committee is in the process of creating the course.

Of the over 100,000 members of The Florida Bar, 119 are currently board certified in juvenile law. Fifteen attorneys applied to take the 2024 juvenile law certification exam. The committee also timely and successfully reviewed and approved 28 recertification applications of this year.

I very much appreciate and applaud the members of the committee (Belkis Plata, Calianne Lantz, Candice Brower, Gina Leiser, Jeffrey Deen, Megan Leaf, Tamara Gray, and Whitney Untiedt) for all their excellent and hard work and our outstanding Bar staff Ashleigh Bolstridge and Aubrey Walker. We all work very well together as a team. I am especially grateful to Past Chair Gina Leiser, and Vice Chair Belkis Plata, for showing me the ropes. It has been an honor to serve as chair of the committee.

David Neal Silverstein, Chair

Labor and Employment Law Certification

The Labor and Employment Law Certification Committee oversees the certification of attorneys as labor and employment law specialists recognized by The Florida Bar. The Bar certified the first class of labor and employment law certified specialists in 2001, and there are currently 169 labor and employment law certified lawyers in The Florida Bar. Board certified specialists in labor and employment law practice under a myriad of public and private sector labor and employment laws, providing advice and counsel for both employee and employer representation in transactional, litigation and appellate practices.

The Labor and Employment Law Certification Committee reviews the applications for those lawyers seeking initial certification, as well as the renewal applications for certified attorneys seeking recertification every five years. To initially qualify for labor and employment law certification, lawyers must be a member of The Florida Bar for five years, be substantially involved (at least 50% of their practice) in labor and employment law, complete 60 hours of approved labor and employment law advanced CLE credits, pass a rigorous peer review process, and pass a certification exam. The certification exam currently consists of 50 multiple-choice questions, 20 short-answer questions, and four essays.

For the 2023-2024 certification year, the committee reviewed 17 recertification applications. All were approved. The committee also reviewed and approved nine initial applications, with eight of the initial applicants sitting for the exam on March 8, 2024.

The committee has met numerous times since July 2023 to review applications and draft the certification examination. The hard working and dedicated members of the Labor and Employment Law Certification Committee include Chair Bradley Paul Rothman, Vice Chair Sacha Dyson, and members Patricia Rose Sigman (past chair), Eric Keith Gabrielle, Ellen M. Leibovitch, Diane Patrica Perez, Kendra Dawn Presswood, Shaina Thorpe, and Cathleen Ann Scott. Thank you all for your tireless efforts, diligence, professionalism, and commitment to upholding the high standards of this certification. In addition, special thank you to our Florida Bar staff liaison, Kathleen Scholz-Jaffe. Her diligent assistance throughout the year is invaluable and much appreciated.

Bradley Paul Rothman, Chair

Law Related Education

The Law Related Education Committee (LREC) provides law related educational programs for high school students and young adults, with an emphasis on teaching the target audience about the legal system as well as citizenship, respect for people, and property rights. The committee seeks to maintain and enhance the cooperative efforts of attorneys, educators, and the judicial system in the field of law related education in Florida.

During this last year, the highlight of the work of the LREC was the growth of the Florida High School Appellate Brief Writing & Moot Court Competition, a two-part program offering a unique opportunity for Florida high school students to learn about the appellate process. Schools across the state were invited to participate in a brief-writing and oral argument exercise using a case problem drafted by members of the LREC’s High School Moot Court Subcommittee, under the leadership of subcommittee Chair Brenda Freeman and committee Chair Patricia Carbone. The case problem consists of two items, a fictional majority opinion and dissenting opinion by a panel of Florida’s fictional Seventh District Court of Appeal that addresses two legal issues, and a fictional order by the Florida Supreme Court that accepts jurisdiction of the case for briefing and argument on the two issues. In January, 28 student teams from 13 different schools across the state of Florida submitted briefs for the competition. Volunteers from the LREC and the legal community reviewed and scored the briefs. In the second year of the program, the LREC, with the invaluable assistance of the Appellate Practice Section, was able to hold a preliminary oral argument round in five of Florida’s district courts of appeal. One team from each district advanced to the semi-final round to present oral argument before Florida’s First District Court of Appeal on April 2, with the top two teams advancing to oral arguments in the final round before the Florida Supreme Court on April 3. Information on the winning team and the awards given for Best Brief and Best Oralist can be found in the separate press release about this year’s competition. Next year, the LREC’s goal is to expand the competition to include more teams in the oral argument round in each of the district courts of appeal. The committee would like to include a special thank you to the judges who volunteered their time to be a part of the oral argument sessions, both at the Florida district courts of appeal and at the Florida Supreme Court.

The committee also continues to work on The Florida Bar’s “Legal Survival Guide: Florida Laws You Should Know” project. The Legal Survival Guide is a website that features answers to frequently asked questions on topics like police encounters, criminal charges, driving laws, substance abuse laws, employment laws, family laws, self-defense laws, citizenship laws, and how the Florida court system is organized. Information in the guide is written in plain language and breaks down complicated legal concepts so that young people understand the laws that will have an impact on their adult lives. With the assistance of our consultant, Sachs Media, the LREC continues to draft new content for the website based on search engine optimization. Sachs Media also provides regular reporting on the performance analytics of the site. Allyson Smith and Jessica Travis lead the subcommittee responsible for making rolling updates to the content on the website so every section of the site remains current and reflects any new or major changes in the laws resulting from legislative action or judicial interpretation. This year, the Legal Survival Guide Subcommittee published two blog posts on the website: “Road Rules: Can You Wear Headphones While Driving?” and “Leash Law in Florida.” LREC members are in the process of drafting additional blog posts on frequently searched topics of Florida law.

To support and reinforce the work of the Legal Survival Guide Subcommittee, the Social Media Subcommittee coordinates the drafting of content for social media posts on the LREC’s Facebook and Instagram pages that also promotes the Legal Survival Guide. The subcommittee members drafted content that is consistently creative and informative. The Florida Bar communications department has provided the digital images for the captions. Sachs Media created ads that boost the performance of the social media accounts and tracks the user engagement with the posts.

I greatly appreciate the members who have stepped up to volunteer their time to work on this committee’s multiple projects. The leadership of Vice Chairs Allyson Smith and Judge Steve Jewett, as well as the subcommittee chairs has been exemplary. I look forward to working with the incoming committee chair and vice chairs to continue the growth of the Moot Court Competition during my last year on the LREC. I also thank The Florida Bar committee staff liaisons, Nellie Louis and Jennifer Krell Davis, who have helped keep the committee members engaged and provided me with guidance during the Moot Court Competition. I thank The Florida Bar presidents for giving me opportunity to serve on the LREC and for allowing me the honor to lead as chair. I have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of this committee and I am excited to see the future accomplishments of the LREC.

Patricia E. Carbone, Chair

Leadership Academy

The Wm. Reece Smith, Jr., Leadership Academy will graduate its 11th class during the 2024 Annual Florida Bar Convention. Class XI is comprised of 29 exceptional lawyers practicing law as solo practitioners, government lawyers, public interest lawyers, associates, and partners in law firms throughout Florida. The Leadership Academy Committee (LAC) consists of judges and attorneys charged with administering the Leadership Academy. The LAC is co-chaired by Komal Mirza and Lisa Capote, both Leadership Academy graduates.

Like previous years, this year’s LAC built upon the success of previous years to create a new and enhanced curriculum for Class XI. While continuing to meet the goals of the Program Evaluation Committee (PEC). The LAC currently has two subcommittees: the Curriculum Subcommittee, chaired by Brandon Sapp and Tiffany Hilton, and the Leadership Academy Alumni Relations Subcommittee (LAARS), chaired by David Thompson.

This year, the Curriculum Subcommittee worked diligently to create programming, which includes speakers, moderators, and panelists, for the Leadership Academy Class XI Sessions. This subcommittee also expanded the range of presenters and panelists to include Leadership Academy alumni, judges, legislators, Florida Bar leaders, senior law enforcement leaders, and locally elected officials. Session I was conducted at the Annual Florida Bar Convention, “Your Leadership Journey Begins.” During this session, the fellows learned about Board Certification from Kansas Gooden and a panel discussion from various Leadership Academy alumnus on how to make the most of the Leadership Academy experience.

This year, Session II, “Lawyers as Leaders,” was in Jacksonville, and the curriculum included a diverse group of presenters, including Past Bar President Henry M. Coxe, Kim Woods, Michael Orr, J. Owen Schmidt, Mayor Chris Offman of Jacksonville Beach, Mayor Curtis Ford of Atlantic Beach, and Mayor Elaine Brown of Neptune Beach, and Judge Pauline Drake and received their DISC assessments and attended training on their individual DISC profiles.

At Session III, “Mentorship,” included various presentations and panels with Judge Jessica Castello, Zachary Zuroweste, Stefano Portigliatti, Judge Catherine Peek McEwen, Matthew Hall, Philip Nichols, Luis Viera, Cornelius Demps, Judge Michael Bagge Hernandez, Judge Elizabeth Rice, Vivian Cortes Hodz, and Valeria Obi.

At Session IV in Tallahassee the fellows had an opportunity to tour the Florida Supreme Court complex and meet with Justice Grosshans.

As of the submission of this report, Session V will be held in Orlando and Session VII in Ft. Lauderdale, and both are in the finishing stages of planning implementation. The graduation for Class XI will be held in conjunction with the Annual Florida Bar Convention in Orlando, and we will welcome Class XII!

Each year, the Leadership Academy completes a class-wide project. This year, Class XI implemented a project focusing on cataloging the successes of the Leadership Academy. The project’s objectives are to highlight the importance of the Academy and the impact it has had on the Bar over the last 10 years. In addition, a number of the Class XI fellows have agreed to assist Judge Catherine Peek McEwan with a pro bono activity, helping to catalog the various pro bono requirements throughout the United States.

The stated mission of LAC is to identify and train lawyers for leadership within the ranks of The Florida Bar, the bench, the government, and the community. LAC has proven itself to be a highly effective means of realizing these objectives. To date, alumni of the Leadership Academy have been appointed and/or elected to serve in the judiciary, on the Bar’s Board of Governors, on law school boards, on public boards, and on private boards.

The Leadership Academy program would not succeed or be as effective without the contributions of our Florida Bar staff leaders. The Leadership Academy’s activities were expertly coordinated by Arnell Bryant-Willis, prior to recent retirement and are now coordinated by Rebecca Bandy and Katie Young of the Henry Latimer Center for Professionalism. We thank these Florida Bar staff members, LAC members, our supporters, and sponsors for always doing their utmost to maintain the success of the Wm. Reece Smith, Jr., Leadership Academy.

Komal Mirza and Lisa Capote, Co-Chairs

Legal Needs of Children

The Legal Needs of Children Committee (LNOCC) has undertaken as its primary focus this cycle, a comprehensive analysis of its mission implementing the recommendations of The Florida Bar’s Commission on the Legal Needs of Children, Final Report of June 2002. The commission, created in 1999 was tasked with identifying the legal needs of children in state courts, identifying which needs were unmet, and proposing solutions to meet those needs. Some two decades later and after substantial progress in many areas, the LNOCC is examining the extent to which the commission’s recommendations have been realized, and recognizing that there is still further progress to be made, together with evolving issues affecting children in a changed legal landscape, the LNOCC is also in the process of redefining its mission and overarching objectives.

During the LNOCC’s ongoing review of the 2002 Commission Report, the committee identified human trafficking as a significant area needing further attention. As a result, a Human Trafficking Subcommittee was created and has been diligently working at developing a practice guide to assist attorneys and other practitioners in advocating for children, families, victims, and others affected by human trafficking during or through court proceedings. The subcommittee’s initial goal is to provide a robust set of guidelines, which will provide stakeholders with valuable insights, best practices, resources, and sample documents designed to improve the experiences and outcomes for those impacted by human trafficking. After completing the guide, the next step for the subcommittee will be to put together trainings by experts in the field to the legal community with the aim of inspiring the local circuits to each implement, adopt, and enhance practices in legal proceedings that may intersect with human trafficking. The LNOCC welcomes and invites input from the larger legal community towards these ends.

The LNOCC has also identified the significant need for enhanced cross-training for legal professionals that work with youth in the joint systems of care and consequently has created a subcommittee on Dually Served Youth (children with dependency and delinquency cases). The committee has been reviewing the Charge Reports from the Family and Children in Courts Steering Committee and discussing the importance of understanding what other groups have been researching and recommending. The subcommittee has been collaborating with the Public Interest Law Section on providing statewide training. Meetings are ongoing and a virtual training is anticipated for the Fall. Training will include overviews of each system of care, the roles of various parties, and avenues for increased communication/collaboration for improved outcomes for the child.

The number one priority identified by the commission is how best to represent children in court. A Juvenile Training/Certification Subcommittee was formed with the focus on improving the quality of representation and access to training for attorneys representing children. This subcommittee is developing a virtual training gearing towards juvenile certification that will be accessible to all attorneys representing children.

Thank you to Vice Chairs Kristen Solomon, Matthew Wilson, and Roseanne Eckert; and the entire committee for their ongoing dedication and invaluable contributions to improving the lives of the children in Florida. It has been a tremendous honor and privilege to serve.

Usha Maharajh, Chair

Marital and Family Law Certification

The Marital and Family Law Certification Committee is responsible for overseeing the process of certifying attorneys as marital and family law specialists, as recognized by The Florida Bar, and reviewing the applications of current board certified attorneys seeking recertification whose terms are expiring. Certification requirements include extensive peer and judicial review, trails and substantial involvement in complex marital and family law cases, and passing a comprehensive all-day exam. The committee encourages those attorneys who meet the criteria for certification to join their colleagues in the select group who have been “evaluated for professionalism, tested for experience.”

As committee chair, I am pleased to report another successful year. The committee is comprised of nine board certified attorneys who work throughout the state, as follows: Belinda Lazzara (chair); Sarah Kay (vice co-chair); Karen Weintraub (vice co-chair); Bonnie Sockel Stone; Judge Sandy Karlan; Christopher Bruce; Catherine Rodriguez; Sandy Fox and Philip Schipani. The committee had its first telephonic meeting in the fall and conducted regular meetings thereafter (both virtual and in-person) to draft the 2024 examination and to review initial and recertification applications. During that time, the committee worked diligently to continue the prior committees’ improvement of the quality of the certification exam to meet the high standards expected by committee members and The Florida Bar. Through a group collaborative effort, we have crafted a thoughtful, intelligent, and appropriately challenging exam, given the criteria as stated in The Florida Bar guidelines.

Of the over 100,000 members of The Florida Bar, 272 are currently board certified in marital and family law. Thirty-two attorneys applied to take the 2024 marital and family law certification exam. Fourteen of the 32 applicants submitted the short form applications after either failure or nonattendance at the 2023 exam. Ultimately, 27 applicants sat for the 2024 exam. The committee also timely and successfully reviewed and approved 48 recertification applications this year.

The marital and family law certification exam contains five essay questions, 30 multiple-choice questions, and 25 short-answer questions. The exam is written to assess a marital and family lawyer’s fundamental knowledge of the law, analytical reasoning, and skill in applying knowledge to practical situations. On March 8, 2024, handwritten examinees in Orlando and remote examinees, answered these questions in two, three-hour blocks. Grading is scheduled for late April and the results will be announced by the Bar by June 1.

The committee is grateful to the judges and lawyers who participate in the confidential peer-review and pre-testing process. Without candid commentary, the committee’s ability to properly review applicants’ qualifications would be severely curtailed. The committee emphasizes to Bar members and judicial officers that commentary is confidential and will not be divulged to any applicant.

Finally, I am grateful to my committee members for their dedication to this committee and for their efforts to elevate the standards of practice, ethics, and candor to colleagues and to the tribunal in our practice. We all strived to work collaboratively in our assigned tasks, and we had a productive and successful year. A special thanks to Florida Bar staff Maritza M. McGill and Aubrey Walker for their dedication and diligent assistance.

Belinda Lazzara, Chair

Member Benefits

The mission of the Member Benefits Committee is to review and evaluate existing member benefit programs for Florida Bar members, evaluate potential new programs and services offered to The Florida Bar for members, and to make recommendations to the Board of Governors on changes or additions to existing member benefits and the overall benefits program.

The Florida Bar Member Benefits Program includes products and services specifically discounted for Florida Bar members. There are approximately 70 approved member benefit providers in a variety of categories including: financial services, internet marketing, insurance, legal forms, legal publications, legal research, trust accounting, practice resources and software, retail, shipping, and entertainment.

During the past year, the committee worked diligently to monitor existing approved providers and review potential new member benefit proposals. The committee reviewed a variety of proposals from potential Bar member benefit providers during the 2023-2024 fiscal year and approved five new member benefits for recommendation to the Board of Governors and the board directly added one new member benefit. Among the new benefits approved by the committee this year are Nota trust accounting, Prudent Student Loan Repayment Counseling, a group excess personal liability product, SmartDraw software, and Savi Student Loan Repayment Assistance.

The full offering of approved benefits can be viewed at Member Benefits at a Glance.

The committee will review two to three additional potential member benefit proposals during the June 2024 meeting of the Member Benefits Committee during the 2024 Annual Florida Bar Convention. Chair Mark Ragusa encourages Bar members to visit The Florida Bar Member Benefits Program to take advantage of the wide array of discounted professional and personal services offered to Bar members through The Florida Bar member benefits program.

Mark Ragus, Chair

Mental Health and Wellness of Florida Lawyers

The Mental Health and Wellness of Florida Lawyers Committee, consisting of 30 members, has a primary goal of improving mental health within the legal community to both improve the provision of legal services within the state and to help lawyers avoid committing acts that can subject them to grievances and hearings. The committee aims to reach this goal through two primary methods.

The first method is to educate lawyers, judges, and law students to identify mental health issues among Florida lawyers, as well as providing information on the prevalence and the potential deleterious effects of such issues. The committee emphasizes the importance of balancing personal life and career obligations through various educational initiatives, including a one-hour session in the required CLE for first year attorneys, Practicing with Professionalism. It offers health and wellness programs to Florida lawyers to help them cope with the pressures of their practices and collaborates with voluntary bar associations to enhance local-level support and develop new CLE programs focused on mental health and wellness. The educational programs created in whole, or in part, by the committee are generally made available for download in the Mental Health and Wellness Center on The Florida Bar website, free of charge: https://www.floridabar.org/member/healthandwellnesscenter/

The second method is to provide resources and actionable steps for lawyers to take in order to avoid experiencing issues, which could lead to regulatory action. The primary resource created by the committee’s work is the Florida Lawyers Helpline, 833-FL1-WELL (833-351-9355). The Helpline is a free and completely confidential resource by which Florida Bar members can receive five free therapy sessions each year, which has seen a doubling of users since last bar year. Other resources available in the Mental Health and Wellness Center are discounts on mindfulness programs, physical fitness centers, healthy meal delivery services, and additional video counseling. The committee also works closely with Florida Lawyers Assistance to help create support groups for lawyers in different seasons of life.

This year, Richard Rivera from Smith, Gambrell & Russell LLP chairs the committee and L.A. Perkins from Perkins Law serves as vice chair. For this year, the committee has adopted a theme of destigmatization of mental health and wellbeing issues in the legal profession. The stigmatization of such issues has prevented lawyers and judges from discussing, or even questioning, the way they feel in large part. Destigmatization, along with education, allows people to get curious about what/how they are feeling, which leads to the ability to address it.

In 2023, the Education Subcommittee, chaired by Devona Reynolds Perez, produced a series of webinars focused on mental health and wellness. These sessions covered various topics, including coping with compassion-fatigue, managing burnout, and considering cultural contexts for attorney well-being. The webinars received positive feedback and are available on LegalFuel.com’s Free CLE page for convenient on-demand access.

The Education Subcommittee is in ongoing discussions regarding a future CLE session centered on burnout, this time featuring male panelists. The subcommittee remains dedicated to tailoring its CLE offerings to address pertinent aspects of legal practice.

The Communications Subcommittee, chaired by Arielle Capuano, is actively engaged in putting together the informational package regarding bar resources that is provided to Voluntary Bar Associations. Additionally, the subcommittee is exploring strategies to effectively disseminate this information, promote upcoming CLE events, and continue driving usage of the Helpline up year-over-year.

The Judicial Subcommittee, Co-Chaired by Judge Alicia Latimore and Judge Andrea Wolfson, hosted a private judicial roundtable at the 2023 Annual Florida Bar Convention, which offered a closed-door area where judges could discuss their concerns without fear of the information being used against them. The Subcommittee is working to host a second private judicial roundtable at the 2024 Annual Florida Bar Convention. The aim is to facilitate discussions among judiciary members on destigmatizing mental health and increasing educational resources for judicial staff. Additionally, the subcommittee has worked to have mental health resources distributed during the new judges college and to develop mental health programming for court staff.

The Best Practices Subcommittee, chaired by Alexandra “Cookie” Echsner-Rasmussen, is a new subcommittee for the 2023-24 Bar year, which has been created to help President Westheimer with his vision of developing a comprehensive guide to assist attorneys in prioritizing well-being in the current law practice landscape. This guide will highlight the importance of implementing mental health practices to maintain providing high level legal services and avoiding ethical issues.

We extend our gratitude to the committee members and staff liaisons for their unwavering dedication and hard work for the committee. Additionally, the committee specially thanks BOG liaison, and former committee Chair Karl Klein for his unwavering support of the committee and its work.

Richard Rivera, Chair

Military and Veterans Affairs

The Military and Veterans Affairs Committee (MVAC) serves as The Florida Bar’s liaison with our state’s military lawyers and aims to support military veterans, lawyers, and their families. Its function is to address issues unique to representation of military members, their families, and veterans in both civil and criminal matters. The committee also works to enhance cooperation and communication between local bar associations, legal offices, and judge advocates of the various military installations within the state. Additionally, MVAC presents the Military Law Symposium every year at the Annual Florida Bar Convention. We invite all Bar members to this symposium. You do not need to be a veteran or a service member to attend the symposium or even to serve on MVAC.

During the 2023-2024 year, MVAC continued is efforts to improve the practice of law for military servicemembers, veterans, and their families residing in Florida. We aimed to increase the awareness of these issues within the Bar and within the state as a whole. This year we continued efforts to have The Florida Bar recognize veteran/military-status as a category on attorneys’ profiles on The Florida Bar’s website. At The Florida Bar Winter Meeting, Army Veteran and Sixth Circuit Judge Steve Berlin presented a CLE in concert with the MVAC meeting at which committee members earned much coveted technology CLE credit. Also, we are very excited for the Military Law Symposium that will be held at the Annual Florida Bar Convention in June. This year’s symposium will address topics including tips for dealing with veterans as client, Veteran Treatment Court updates, a primer on the PACT Act and other veteran benefits issues, and the SCRA. We are also extremely excited to welcome author, veteran, professor, and advocate Daniel Gade as a keynote speaker at the symposium this year.

We thank all our committee members for another great year with MVAC. Vice Chairs Judge Berlin and David Veenstra were instrumental in the function of the committee. Thank you to Ted Howard for his efforts as Symposium chair and for the great support from our Board Liaison Donald Workman. A special thank you and recognition goes for all the hard work of our amazing Bar liaison, Emily Young, who does so much to keep this committee on track and moving forward year after year.

Matthew F. Hall and Andrea DeMichael, Co-Chairs

Prepaid Legal Services

The Prepaid Legal Services Committee — as it has been for all times since the Board of Governors of The Florida Bar first created this Public Service Standing Committee in 1974 — expressly entrusted with the responsibility to ensure that legal services plans submitted by members in good standing of The Florida Bar are in full and complete compliance with the rules and regulations of Chapter 9, Rules Regulating The Florida Bar.

Moreover, the committee’s work furthers The Florida Bar’s longstanding public policy position in support of the concept of legal services plans in the state of Florida, as so expressly codified in Rule 9-1.2, which provides, in relevant part, as follows:

“Every citizen of this state should have access to the legal system.. . . To this end, it is the policy of The Florida Bar to support the concept and to actively encourage the establishment, operation, growth, and development of legal services plans as 1 means of increasing a person’s ability to obtain legal services at an affordable cost in order to have the opportunity to better gain access to the legal system (emphasis supplied).”

Further, in addition to fulfilling its stated mission, the committee has, over the years, expanded its scope and focus to include educating the membership of The Florida Bar on the various rules and regulations that govern the operation of plans in the state of Florida, including:

1) The entrepreneurial aspects of the creation and establishment of Plans by and under Ch. 9 (being a “Chapter 9 Plan”) — as fully set forth in the “Chapter 9 Plan Application Packet” [effective April 2, 2012], and made readily available, via. pdf fillable format, to all members of The Florida Bar on the committee’s following described website [https://www.floridabar.org/public/prepdsrvs/];

2) The availability of those certain other legal and business opportunities provided in the “Legal Expense Insurance Act”, as so codified by and under the provisions of F.S. Ch. 642 [providing authority for the organization of a legal expense insurance corporation (being a “Ch. 642 company”)].

During this 2023-24 Bar year, the committee has successfully carried out its responsibilities upon undertaking and completing various tasks and projects throughout the year. First and foremost, the committee has had the opportunity, throughout this Bar year, to review, by and through duly appointed Plan Review Subcommittees, a “Request for Approval of Chapter 9 Plan Application by Managing Attorney” for three newly proposed Ch. 9 Plans; and, including two of which shall be on the meeting agenda at the committee’s 2024 annual meeting to be held at the Signia by Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek & Waldorf Astoria.

Second, the committee has also had the opportunity, since the first of the New Year, to oversee the annual Ch. 9 renewal process whereby some 14 Ch. 9 plans were scheduled for renewal for this calendar year 2024.

Third, the committee is once again making arrangements to exclusively sponsor an informative CLE seminar during the 2024 Annual Florida Bar Convention at the Signia by Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek & Waldorf Astoria, beginning on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. As of the time of this writing, the committee is in the process of finalizing the details of this year’s three-hour seminar: “Chapter 9 Legal Services Plans and Chapter 642 Legal Expense Insurance Corporations: Gateways for Florida Attorneys to Expand Their Practice.”

Finally, the undersigned chair would certainly be remiss not to acknowledge the performance of certain individuals whose good and great work has contributed significantly to permitting the committee to accomplish its goals and, in turn, further its mission, during this Bar year.

As such, I take this opportunity to, first, publicly thank and acknowledge the work of the committee’s program administrator, Jenny Dorminy, for her fine efforts to keep both the undersigned chair and the committee on task during the course of this Bar year.

In addition, I take this opportunity to personally thank the committee’s vice chair, Michelle Garcia Gilbert, for all of her great efforts this Bar year to continue to move the committee’s work forward; and, in particular, when the undersigned was unavailable, due to personal health-related reasons, during the greater part of the first six months of this Bar year in 2023.

In conclusion, it has certainly been an honor and privilege for the undersigned to serve — for the 11th time — as chair of the Prepaid Legal Services Committee during this past Bar year. As always, I look forward to assisting and supporting the committee in any and all of its future endeavors as it continues to fulfill its mission moving forward, during the upcoming 2024-25 Bar year, and beyond.

John Schaefer, Chair

Pro Bono Legal Services

During The Florida Bar year 2023-24, the Pro Bono Legal Services Committee worked on a number of initiatives and projects.

During this past Bar year, the following is what the busy committee has been doing. The committee launched its Judicial Advisory Council (JAC), comprising 12 judicial officers (listed below) at various levels of the state and federal judiciary. The JAC is chaired by U.S. District Court Judge Patricia Seitz, a former Florida Bar president. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Laurel Isicoff serves as the committee’s liaison to the JAC. The JAC agreed to gather information regarding unmet legal needs of underserved Floridians from the perspective of the judiciary and share this information and potential solutions to the issues they identify, including initiatives and ideas for pro bono programs and projects that council members learn of in their geographic and judicial office communities. As of the creation of this recap, the JAC has already submitted two comprehensive reports. The members of the JAC include First Judicial Circuit Judge Gary Bergosh, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jay Brown, 13th Judicial Circuit Judge Wendy DePaul, Fourth Judicial Circuit Judge Steve Fahlgren, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Robert Luck, Fifth District Court of Appeals Judge Scott Makar, 17th Judicial Circuit Judge Stephanie Moon, Ninth Judicial Circuit Judge Eric Netcher, Hillsborough County Court Judge Leslie Schultz-Kin, and 12th Judicial Circuit Charles Williams.

Based upon Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Muñiz’s suggestion, the committee recommended that The Florida Bar’s Board of Legal Specialization and Education consider an amendment to Rule 6-10.3 of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar to permit Florida Bar members to receive one general CLE credit hour for each four hours of pro bono service as defined by the rules, not to exceed five CLE credit hours per year. The committee further recommended that no CLE credit be awarded for monetary donations made under Rul. Reg. Fla. Bar 4-6.1.

Based on the request of Bar Division Director of Programs Terry Hill, concerning the Florida Supreme Court’s consideration (and later adoption) of a rule on limited-scope representation, the committee agreed to prepare a proposed best-practices limited-scope representation tool-kit for submission to the Lawyer Regulation Department. Committee member Jayme Cassidy headed up this drafting project.

Through its Circuit Committees Subcommittee, the committee organized a virtual meeting of the chairs of all of the Florida Supreme Court-mandated circuit pro bono committees (CPBC) in the state. The meeting, held in March, was last held pre-pandemic. Subcommittee Chairs Judge Mary Alice Nardella and Sarah Lahlou-Amine led the meeting, reminding the CPBC chairs of their charge as well as best practices for running the circuit committees.

The committee enlisted the assistance of the Bar’s Wm. Reece Smith, Jr. Leadership Academy to canvas the pro bono rules of other states and territories to gather ideas for improvements to Florida’s rule. If the current class is unable to complete the review of all the nation’s pro bono rules, then the committee hopes that the next class will volunteer to complete the task. The Rules Subcommittee, co-chaired by Donny MacKenzie and Circuit Judge Virginia Norton, will consider the results of the review and bring to the full Committee any suggestions for recommendations of rule amendments.

Through its Law Firm Subcommittee, headed by Robert Johnson and Juliette Lippman, the Committee undertook a project to update the widely touted Best Practices Guide for A Firm Pro Bono Policy, originally produced by the Bar’s Business Law Section 10 years ago.

The committee continued to monitor and coordinate the hugely successful Florida Free Legal Answers, Florida’s version of the American Bar Association program. Florida is second in volunteer attorneys (out of 42 participating jurisdictions providing service), with 12,700 volunteers as of this writing. Florida’s statistics for calendar year 2023: Total volunteer attorneys 1,129; Total client accounts 6,716; Total questions asked 6,073; Total questions answered 2,526; Overall answer rate 42%; and Number of clients served 2,359.

Florida Free Legal Answers also connects individuals in need with online intake programs run by various legal service providers throughout the state. By partnering with the providers, this next level of help provides the customers with even more access to free legal service.

The committee continued to monitor the status of the committee’s prior recommendation to the Bar that the private profile portal of each Bar member include the number of pro bono hours and monetary donations reported on the member’s annual bar membership renewal form, starting with reports from five years ago. The reason is to give members a non-public visual cue of how much (or little) pro bono service and support they have given. The Bar’s IT Department will review the recommendation to see if it is technologically feasible to implement.

The committee continued to monitor the implementation of the committee’s recommendation to revise the questions on the Bar’s annual membership fee statement concerning the Rule 4-6.1 pro bono reporting requirement. The questions will be reviewed and possibly implemented for the 2024-25 statement.

The committee continued to promote the distribution and viewing of the new One Promise campaign videos that were produced in the prior Bar year. The videos make the case for both the importance of pro bono work and how gratifying the work is. The committee asks all Bar sections and committees to show one of the videos at a meeting during Bar year 2024-25. Additionally, the committee urges all local bar organizations, committees, and Inns of Court to display one of the videos annually at an upcoming meeting. The videos are available at this site: https://thefloridabarfoundation.org/one-promise/ (the general video is at the top; scroll down to see versions for emeritus and young lawyers).

The committee continued to monitor Florida’s pro bono reporting compliance and trends in hours performed and monetary contributions compared with past years’ data. The committee notes that the 2022-2023 data shows 1,528,856 hours reported and $7,495,000 in contributions; both hours and monetary donations increased over the prior Bar year.

The committee continued its project to update and digitize the Circuit Pro Bono Committee Chair Handbook for dissemination to CPBC chairs.

The committee thanks its subcommittee chairs, all mentioned above, and the JAC for their creative work the past year. The committee is also grateful for the express recognition by Bar President Scott Westheimer and President-elect Roland Sanchez-Medina, Jr., of the committee’s essential work in the pro bono sphere. The committee thanks Francisco-Javier P. Digon-Greer for his many years of exceptional service to us as our Bar staff liaison, and we wish him well in his new position with the Bar. We warmly welcomed Diana Kellogg who has big shoes to fill but has already hit the ground running to make sure that we stay on track with our many initiatives.

Kathleen S. McLeroy and Judge Catherine Peek McEwen, Co-Chairs

Professional Ethics

The Professional Ethics Committee is responsible for providing guidance to Bar members on the Rules of Professional Conduct. Formal committee opinions are available on the Bar’s website at www.floridabar.org. The committee also provides informational packets and topical information on the website. A link to “Rules, Ethics, & Professionalism” is at the top of every page of the website. This link leads to a landing page with a link to the main Ethics page. The Ethics page includes links for Formal Ethics Opinions by subject and by number, the Rules of Professional Conduct, Informational Packets, Bar News and Bar Journal articles on ethics issues, and other topical information relating to lawyer ethics.

The committee is staffed by the Bar’s Ethics Department. The Bar’s ethics attorneys research and draft informal staff opinions and maintain the toll-free Ethics Hotline for Bar members. The committee reviews informal written opinions issued by the Bar’s ethics attorneys and reconsiders them sua sponte if the committee deems it appropriate or if the inquiring attorney seeks review of an informal staff opinion. In addition, the committee sponsors an annual professional ethics seminar. The committee met three times this year to consider a variety of ethics issues.

• Formal Advisory Opinion Procedures — The Florida Bar Procedures for Ruling on Questions of Ethics govern the process by which ethics attorneys issue informal oral and written staff opinions and by which the committee issues formal opinions. The committee may issue formal opinions on review of staff opinions and existing formal opinions. Additionally, the Board of Governors of The Florida Bar may request that the committee issue a formal opinion concerning the application of the ethics rules to certain facts. When issuing proposed formal opinions, the committee publishes an official notice in The Florida Bar News, inviting members to comment. The committee values the input provided by these comments and encourages bar members to comment on proposed ethics opinions.

• Proposed Advisory Opinion 00-4 (Reconsideration) — The committee is considering modifications to Florida Ethics Opinion 00-4 which addresses online representation. Proposed Advisory Opinion 00-4 (Reconsideration) will provide updated guidance to lawyers about online practice. The updated guidance includes the lawyers’ obligations to protect client confidentiality with encryption when communicating via email, to make reasonable efforts to prevent the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of confidential information, to keep up with their technological competence, and to properly supervise other lawyers and nonlawyers in the firm. Proposed Advisory Opinion 00-4 (Reconsideration) was published for comment with a deadline of April 1, 2024. The committee will consider the proposed opinion and any comments received during its June 2024 meeting.

• Review of Written Staff Advisory Opinions — At its meetings, the committee reviews written staff advisory opinions in response to inquiries submitted by the lawyers. During the summer of 2023, the committee affirmed a staff opinion concluding that Rule 4-8.6(c) prohibits a law from giving a nonlawyer the title “Chief Executive Officer” of a law firm. The opinion cautions that the rule prohibits a nonlawyer from having the CEO title even where the nonlawyer 1) will not perform a policy-making function, 2) will not supervise the practice of law, 3) will be paid a salary and bonuses unconnected to the law firm’s profits, and 4) will report directly to the law firm’s managing partner. The committee’s decision was affirmed by the Board of Governors.

• Opinion 10-2 — The committee considered proposed revisions to Florida Ethics Opinion 10-2 suggested by the Cybersecurity and Privacy Law Committee. Florida Ethics Opinion 10-2 addresses a lawyer’s use of devices such as printers, copiers, scanners and facsimile machines that store information and the lawyer’s duty to take reasonable steps to ensure that client confidentiality is maintained when using such devices, including making sure that the devise is sanitized before its disposition. The committee considered the proposed revisions and referred the draft back to the Cybersecurity and Privacy Law Committee after making a change to a portion of the proposed revision.

• Rule 4-8.6(c) — The committee formed a subcommittee to consider the Board Review Committee’s proposed amendments to Rule 4-8.6(c) and make recommendations regarding the proposed amendments to the full committee.

• Masters Seminar on Ethics — The committee’s yearly CLE program addresses ethical issues of great significance to Bar members at the Annual Convention in June. Steven Teppler chairs the seminar subcommittee. The other members of the subcommittee are Robert William Borr, Caroline Johnson, Christina Ann Leger, Pamela England Rogers, and Carolina Saavedra. Seminar attendees will earn 4.0 hours of general CLE credit (4.0 Ethics/1.5 Technology). The 2024 Masters Seminar on Ethics will include a presentation regarding the disciplinary process and current trends in disciplinary cases, a presentation regarding common ethical issues lawyers face, and a technology presentation regarding ethical issues with generative artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. The seminar will conclude with a judicial panel featuring experienced judges discussing the ethical issues that have occurred in their courtrooms and how they addressed those issues. Speakers scheduled to participate include Judge Michael C. Baggé-Hernández, Judge Wendy Williams Berger, Judge Elizabeth Gibson, Caroline Johnson, Mary Frantz, Patricia Ann Toro Savitz, Steven Teppler, and John Yanchunis.

• Informal Advisory Ethics Opinions Service — The advisory ethics opinion process continues to rate as among the most desirable services on membership surveys. The committee is committed to providing ethics guidance to bar members. The committee would like to thank the staff members of the Ethics Department for their dedication, assistance and support in providing such guidance throughout the year. For fiscal year 2022-2023, staff had another busy year on the Ethics Hotline, handling 19,616 hotline calls, in addition to providing written staff opinions and other ethics correspondence.

Finally, the committee thanks our Board of Governors liaison Michael J. Gelfand; Ethics and Consumer Protection Division Director Gypsy Bailey; Ethics Counsel Jonathan Grabb and our hardworking staff: Assistant Ethics Counsels Valerie Blocker, Joy A. Bruner, Nick Cavallaro, Susan Gray, Jeffrey M. Hazen, Deanna Rahming, and LiliJean Quintiliani; and Paralegal Donna Hostutler. Without the participation, guidance, experience and hard work of these individuals, the business of this committee could not be accomplished.

Phillip H. Hutchinson, Chair

Professionalism

The Florida Bar Standing Committee on Professionalism (SCOP) is a permanent and long-standing committee under the umbrella of The Florida Bar’s Henry Latimer Center for Professionalism (the center). Through its working groups, SCOP assists the center “to promote the fundamental ideals and values of the justice system within the legal system and to instill those ideals of character, competence, commitment, and civility in all those persons serving and seeking to serve therein.”

This year, Chardean M. Hill serves as chair of The Florida Bar Standing Committee on Professionalism, Rebecca Bandy serves as director of The Florida Bar Henry Latimer Center for Professionalism, and Katie Young serves as assistant director. Alongside each working group chair and the remaining members of SCOP, we continued the march towards promoting, instilling, and advocating professionalism and the ethical practice of law by providing numerous CLE offerings, blogs, podcasts, articles, and other resources aimed at educating the legal profession — law students, lawyers, and judges. Our theme this year is “Each One, Reach One”.

Supreme Court Mandated Professionalism CLE: The center was charged with planning, preparing, and promoting a required CLE on professionalism, which all attorneys licensed in Florida would be required to take. “Professionalism Expectations: A Mandatory CLE for Members of The Florida Bar” is a two-hour course that was taped at the Bar’s headquarters and features some true professionalism champions: Mike Tanner, 2021-2022 Florida Bar President; Chardean M. Hill, 2023-2024 chair of the Standing Committee on Professionalism; Anisha Patel, 2023-2024, President, Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division; Brian Tannebaum, Bar ethics expert; Judge Anthony Miller, Leon County Court; John Schifino, member of The Florida Bar Board of Governors; Kara Link, past chair of the Standing Committee on Professionalism and member of the Special Committee on Professionalism; Paul Lipton, 50-year member of The Florida Bar; and Magdalena Ozarowski, 2023-2024 vice chair of the Standing Committee on Professionalism. It is my personal belief that this CLE will move the needle towards reporting unprofessional conduct and correcting such behavior to improve the perception of the legal profession within the profession and with the public.

The center was charged with planning, preparing, and promoting a CLE on vexatious litigation. Director Rebecca Bandy leaned on SCOP to help with this endeavor, and rounded up some awesome speakers: Steven Lesser, Standing Committee on Professionalism; David A. Rowland, general counsel, 13th Judicial Circuit; Judge Monique Richardson, Leon County Court; Ashley E. Davis, chief deputy general counsel, Florida Department of State; Paul R. Regensdorf, sole practitioner; and Chardean M. Hill. “Florida’s Playbook on Vexatious Litigation: We’re Not Gonna Take It” first aired on December 1, 2023, and is available to view on the center’s website, by clicking on the “CLE/Podcast” link. The CLE helps practitioners define a vexatious litigant and explores tips and strategies for dealing with bad litigants who do not meet the statutory definition.

Led by Chair Chardean M. Hill, the Awards Working Group is charged with soliciting and reviewing nominations, and ultimately selecting the recipient of professionalism awards in three categories. The William H. Hoeveler Judicial Professionalism Award recognizes an active judge who best exemplifies strength of character, service and competence as a jurist, lawyer, and public servant. The Group Professionalism Award recognizes a program instituted and coordinated by a bar association, judicial organization, inn of court, or law school organization aimed at enhancing professionalism among lawyers and law students. The Law Faculty/Administrator Professionalism Award recognizes a faculty member or administrator of one of Florida’s law schools who best exemplifies the mission of the Standing Committee on Professionalism. Nominations have been submitted and will be reviewed in March by this working group. Winners will be announced shortly thereafter and recognized at the Annual Florida Bar Convention Judicial Luncheon in June 2024.

Led by Chair Dora Kaufman, the Education and Resources Working Group is charged with assisting the center with researching, developing, and implementing innovative programs to best share the center’s professionalism resources with all TFB members. This working group continues its focus on submission of Pro-Tip Tuesday videos and materials for the center’s newsletter and social media platforms. This working group also ensures that SCOP members are registered for The Florida Bar’s Speaker’s Bureau and designated as professionalism experts. It also gathers information on professionalism programs and events around the state, to include the presentation of professionalism awards by local bar associations. This working group has also been planning a one-hour professionalism panel discussion CLE to occur in April or May 2024.

Led by Chair Abby Spears, the Gender Empowerment Working Group is charged with developing materials and programming related to gender empowerment as it relates to and impacts upon the practice of law and the legal profession. The working group assisted Judge Desai with the “Never Contemplated” podcast series. This season, Judge Desai has focused on women in the state legislature and other high-powered positions. The working group has been working on gender empowerment materials to create a separate landing page on the Bar’s website related to these issues and their impact upon the practice of law and professionalism. Also in the works, is a CLE related to why women leave the practice of law/law firms, which is expected to be held in April 2024.

Led by Chair Hailey Goldman, the Mental Health and Wellness Working Group is charged with researching, reviewing, and disseminating information related to health and wellness, and aiding in the development and production of a CLE on health and wellness related issues. This year, the working group has been focusing on the development and production of CLEs on health and wellness related issues, such as fitness, mental health, suicide awareness, loneliness, mindfulness, emotional intelligence, nutrition, social well-being, travel, parenting, aging, and coping with life-changing events. The working group is putting together a CLE that focuses on mental health and addresses how members of the Bar can both support good mental health practices, including support from supervisors, and encourage members of the Bar to take advantage of the resources available. It is our goal to create a series of CLEs that address mental health in the legal profession with the first CLE in the series to launch by late spring/early summer 2024.

Led by Chair Jason Berger, the Mentoring Initiatives Working Group is charged with highlighting mentoring programs and initiatives aimed at assisting lawyers with professionalism, civility, and diversity. This year, the working group will be presenting “Mentoring Makes a Difference IV,” a two-hour statewide CLE via Zoom Webinar in April 2024. The speakers for the Webinar will be Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles T. Canady, 15th Judicial Circuit Judge Carolyn Bell, Florida Bar Past President Gary Lesser, and a mentoring pair from The Florida Bar’s new Counsel to Counsel Mentoring Program led by Zack Zuroweste. Further, this working group will also be presenting a one-hour statewide CLE via Zoom Webinar in May 2024 on “Attorney Burnout,” which will be hosted by 13th Judicial Circuit Senior Judge Claudia Isom.

Led by Chair Charise A. Morgan, the Local Professionalism Panels (LPPs) Working Group is charged with hosting an LPP Summit, collecting LPP reporting forms and ensuring their compliance with SC2023-0884, and assisting the center with keeping updated LPP contact list. Planning for a virtual LPP Summit for all the LPPs in the state is underway and slated for June 2024. In preparation for the summit, the working group intends to request from each circuit’s chief judge, LPP chairs and committees copies of current local administrative orders regarding LPPs with any proposed changes or recommendations, feedback on LPP member’s experiences serving on LPPs, and an overview regarding professionalism issues raised in the circuit.

My sincere thanks and appreciation go to the 48 members of the Standing Committee on Professionalism, Vice Chair Magdalena Ozarowski, Director Rebecca Bandy, Assistant Director Katie Young, Program Assistant Sapphire Austin, and Florida Bar President Scott Westheimer, I extend my deepest gratitude for the tireless work you have done and will continue to do towards emphasizing professionalism in Florida. Without you, the hurdles would be high like mountains to climb. With you, the hurdles are more like speed bumps in the road. It has been my absolute honor and pleasure serving as your chair of the Florida Bar Standing Committee on Professionalism for the 2023-2024 year.

Let’s all remember the center’s mission and our oath of attorney as we continue our leaps and bounds towards advancing the legal profession. “Each One, Reach One.”

Chardean M. Hill, Chair

Real Estate Certification

For the year 2023-2024, members of the committee are Chair Ofonedu-Ime Goodwyn of Coral Gables; Vice Chair Rebecca Wood of Gainesville; Kenneth Lee Bohannon of New Smyrna Beach; Wiley Boston of Orlando; D. Michael Chesser of Shalimar; Leslie Hudock of Tampa; Jacqueline Marzan of Doral; Ashley Rogers of Santa Rosa Beach; Robert M. Schwartz of Boca Raton; and W. Jeffry Stein of Oviedo.

The committee is charged with evaluating and approving lawyers who apply to become board certified in real estate law, evaluating and approving existing board-certified real estate lawyers for recertification (every five years), and preparing and grading the annual certification exam. The latter process takes up the bulk of the committee’s time and effort.

As dictated by the Florida Supreme Court, the evaluation of applicants involves the determination of whether an applicant meets the highest standards of professionalism and ethics. This process is often difficult and is taken very seriously by the committee members. The committee strives to prepare the exam from year to year in a manner that best tests those high standards as well as the knowledge, proficiency and skill expected of members of The Florida Bar holding themselves out as board certified experts in real estate law.

The real estate certification program was established in 1986 with the first-class becoming board certified in 1987. Real estate has historically been the second-largest area of certification in terms of number of individuals who are board certified by The Florida Bar. There are currently 5,145 board certified lawyers in Florida with 424 being certified in real estate law. This year, we have 37 applicants wanting to sit for the 2024 exam.

The present format of the exam includes 45 multiple-choice questions, six short-answer essay questions, a long-answer homestead essay question, and a long-answer transactional analysis law question. The exam is divided into two three hour modules. While not everyone will pass the exam, we regularly receive feedback that the process of preparing for the exam causes every examinee to be a better real estate lawyer. Of those who do not pass the exam on the first try, many find success in the year that follows.

We encourage all experienced and eligible lawyers to apply for board certification. Certification identifies a lawyer to the public and to other lawyers as having specialized knowledge, skills, and capabilities. We also encourage board certified lawyers to apply to serve on the committee; it provides invaluable exposure to other real estate law experts in a collegial and intellectually stimulating setting, and awards 15 CLE credits for your service on the committee.

As chair of the committee, I thank the members for their hard work and dedication to the exam preparation and applicant review process. Additionally, the committee extends its thanks and gratitude to those who have graciously volunteered their time to serve as exam pre-testers: Michael Mirrington, Linda Monaco, William Kramer, and Amanda Hersem. The committee members thank David Willis, our BLSE liaison to the committee, and acknowledge the hard work and service of Nathan McClure, our Bar staff certification specialist. Our jobs would be impossible without Nathan’s talented assistance and dedication to the committee.

Ofonedu-Ime Goodwyn, Chair

Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration

The Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration Committee (RGPJAC) consists of 53 members, some of whom are representatives of the other rules committees, the Board of Governors, and the clerks. The committee is responsible for rules amendments to this set of rules as well as serving as the central rules coordinating committee.

The committee has had another busy year. Five reports to the court have been filed. On August 21, 2023, a report was filed with proposed amendments to Rule 2.535 on court transcripts (SC2023-1170). The committee proposed numerous amendments to address ADA compliance for fonts, pagination, margins, and page limits. The discussions were robust, and comments were received. The committee filed a response to comments on January 30, 2024.

On September 21, 2023, a rules package with amendments aimed at making the rules easier to use by pro se litigants was filed (SC2023-1321). On October 5, 2023, a report to amend Rule 2.140 on the process to amend court rules was filed (SC2023-1373). This report is intended to streamline and expedite that process based on recommendations from Elisabeth Kiel’s report on court rules committees.

On October 11, 2023, the committee filed a comprehensive rules package to update the rules regarding electronic filing based on advances in technology and to align them with current practice (SC2023-1401). Two comments were received to that report, and the committee responded by adopting revisions suggested by the commenters and proposing those changes to the Supreme Court.

On January 11, 2024, a fast-track report was filed in response to legislation regarding confidentiality of records (SC2024-0059).

In its role as the central rules coordinating committee, all other court rules committees send their committee’s approved amendments to us for review and determination if the proposed amendment affects any other committee’s rules. The liaison subcommittee has reviewed rules from almost every other rules committee this year.

Collaboration is an important part of the committee’s work. The committee works closely with the Florida Court Technology Commission (FCTC). A referral regarding service on judges is currently under consideration by a subcommittee that has sought input from the FCTC. The committee has also collaborated with the Board of Governor’s Special Committee on AI. At the request of the special committee, the committee re-examined its rules to consider whether they adequately address misconduct related to AI. The committee anticipates that AI may be an important issue going forward, and is considering the creation of an ad hoc subcommittee to monitor these issues.

My year of service as chair was a rewarding one, and one that went smoothly because of the demonstrated commitment of the committee’s members and their willingness to roll up their sleeves and take on fairly complex topics. I thank all of the committee members for their hard work. I specifically acknowledge and commend Sandy Solomon, who acted as our liaison to the FCTC; Tom Hall, who provides exceptional service to the committee; and the committee leadership: Santo DiGangi, vice chair; Sorraya Solanges-Jones, secretary; Judge John Newton, parliamentarian; and subcommittee Chairs Gregory Borgognoni, Michael Ufferman, Corinne Hodak, Antonio Jaimes, Judge Samantha Lee Ward, Elisha Roy, Keith Park, Michael Debski, and Martin Alexander. The committee also greatly appreciates Justice Meredith L. Sasso, our liaison to the justices of the Florida Supreme Court; Sia Baker-Barnes, our liaison to The Florida Bar Board of Governors; and Judge John Tomasino, clerk of the Florida Supreme Court, who regularly attends meetings and offers his insight. Lastly, personally and on behalf of the committee, I extend many thanks to bar staff Elizabeth Clark Tarbert and Kelly N. Smith, who are accomplished attorneys who draft our filings, oversee the process, and keep the committee running like a well-oiled machine. The work could not be done without their extensive efforts and guidance.

Kristin Ann Norse, Chair

Senior Lawyers

The Senior Lawyers Committee (SLC) works to serve the interests and needs of the legal profession by fostering an interchange of ideas, sharing the accumulated knowledge and experience of its members, and addressing issues that are of particular significance to senior lawyers. The committee consists of Florida Bar members who are appointed after submitting The Florida Bar committee preference form. To serve on the committee you must be a Florida Bar member in good standing, pursuant to Bylaw 2-8.1. The committee preference form is online at the Florida Bar website each year from December 1 through January 15.

The SLC leadership consists of Chair Randi B. Starrett; Vice Chairs Maria E. Antonatos, Colleen Sachs, and Arlene Udick. The SLC’s Board of Governors liaison is Clifford C. Higby. The Florida Bar staff for the SLC are Brittany Baxter and Whitney R. Jobson.

Special subcommittees of the SLC include the Retired Lawyers Inclusion Subcommittee, co-chaired by Maria Antonatos and John Roman, and the Accessibility Subcommittee, co-chaired by Sharon Langer and Andromeda Monroe. Standing subcommittees of the SLC include the CLE Subcommittee, co-chaired by Judge Stephanie R. Silver and Randi B. Starrett, the Newsletter Subcommittee, chaired by Susan Healy, the Webpage Subcommittee, chaired by Colleen Sachs, the Membership Focus Group, co-chaired by Sharon Langer and Andromeda Monroe, and the 50-Year Member and Senior Counsel Luncheon Advisory Subcommittee, chaired by Arlene Udick.

The SLC met in October 2023 and January 2024. During the October meeting which was held virtually, the subcommittees reported on their activities and a free CLE was held. The CLE, “Transitioning To Retirement — When Should A Lawyer Stop Being A Lawyer?” and offered a review of The Florida Bar rules on retirement and a discussion on the pros and cons of early and late retirement and retiring with dignity. The program presenters were John Berry, retired director of The Florida Bar’s Legal Division and Elizabeth Tarbert, director of The Florida Bar’s Regulation Division.

During the January meeting, which was held during The Florida Bar Winter Meeting, the subcommittees reported on their activities and upcoming events.

Another free CLE is planned for March 2024, “The Risks of AI Tools and What Lawyers (and Senior Lawyers) Need To Know as AI Becomes More Prevalent,” featuring presenters Ashley Hallene and Jeffrey Allen.

The SLC produces a newsletter, titled “Experience Matters.” The Fall 2023 issue included an article on how an SLC leader became an associate producer on a social impact film, notable quotes from lawyer movies, a book review and a poem written by a solo practitioner.

The SLC will meet during The Florida Bar Annual Convention in June 2024 along with hosting the luncheon, which honors 50-year members of The Florida Bar and senior counsel.

Randi B. Starrett, Chair

Small Claims Rules

The Small Claims Rules Committee had another productive year, thanks to the active participation of its members. The committee consists of 24 members. We value input from the public, encourage participation in our committee and subcommittee meetings, and welcome all comments and suggestions regarding the Florida Small Claims Rules.

During the past year, a number of proposals affecting the Small Claims Rules were reviewed and evaluated. A rules package was filed with the court with proposed amendments to two rules. In Rule 7.110, amendments add that a defendant’s counterclaim remains pending even if the plaintiff voluntarily dismisses unless the defendant also agrees to dismissal. In Form 7.310 (Caption), edits to the caption form add clarity and ease of use.

There are currently two pending matters under consideration by the committee. A new proposed form for the return of residential security deposits is under consideration by a subcommittee. Amendments to Rule 7.020 to clarify the applicability of the civil rules to small claims matters is also under consideration by a subcommittee.

The committee has also been monitoring the online court piloting program created in administrative order AOSC23-41 and is ready to review changes to the rules, if necessary, in response to the implementation of that program after the pilot program has concluded.

I am very grateful for the significant amount of time and effort invested by numerous members in ensuring that the Small Claims Rules continue to allow the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of small claims actions. On behalf of the committee, I sincerely thank Andres Montero, vice chair; Judge Augustus Davis Aikens, Jr., Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration liaison; Scott Stigall, Civil Rules Committee liaison; Lloyd Comiter, subcommittee chair; and Judge Kristine J. Van Vorst, subcommittee chair. I also extend our heartfelt appreciation to Kelly N. Smith, our Florida Bar Rules liaison. The commitment and enthusiasm of each of you has made it an honor and privilege to lead this committee. I continue to encourage all Florida attorneys to apply for appointment to the Small Claims Rules Committee, and thereby help our citizens obtain justice in our courts.

Alison Verges Walters, Chair

State and Federal Government and Administrative Practice

There are 71 board certified lawyers in state and federal government and administrative practice. Our committee covers a broad practice area that includes state and federal rulemaking, administrative adjudication, and agency interaction, along with state and federal government practice areas.

This year, five attorneys applied for certification, and seventeen attorneys applied for recertification. We are working closely with the Administrative Law Section to encourage administrative practitioners to apply for certification. The committee has revised the scope and specifications of the exam to focus more on state law rather than federal law, as most section members practice state administrative law. Through the section we have altered potential candidates to the revised focus of the exam, which has increased interest in obtaining certification. We are supporting section efforts to identify possible modifications in our certification rules and requirements and will continue to do so.

The 2023-2024 committee has been very active and dedicated. Members have spent a great deal of time reviewing our current examination and drafting a new question bank to assure viability, compliance with BLSE requirements, and our revised examination focus. Our new Bar liaison, Aubrey Walker has stepped into her new role with ease. We greatly appreciate her hard work and assistance.

If you have any questions about certification in state and federal government and administrative practice, please visit The Florida Bar’s website, or call Aubrey Walker at 850-561-5768.

Kristin M. Bigham, Chair

Student Education and Admission to the Bar Committee

The Florida Bar Student Education and Admission to the Bar Committee (SEABC), through its working groups, assists The Florida Bar preparing law students and newly admitted lawyers to ensure they are best prepared for the legal profession. The committee maintains an excellent relationship with all Florida law schools to partner in the development of resources for students as they transition to become members of The Florida Bar.

With the upcoming changes to the Florida bar exam and The Florida Bar’s focus on mentoring, our committee focused on creating programing, content, and resources that will serve as a foundation for law students and newly admitted lawyers as they build and launch their legal career.

The Mentoring Initiatives Workgroup was led by committee Vice Chair Iman Zekri. This workgroup is charged with developing and hosting a joint CLE on the importance of mentoring in collaboration with the standing Committee on Professionalism. They worked hard this year to promote and support The Florida Bar’s mentoring initiatives, including the recently launched Counsel to Counsel program.

The Law School Professionalism Panels Workgroup was chaired by Joseph Corsmeier. This workgroup was charged with developing and coordinating two professionalism CLE panels for law students and new lawyers. The first webinar, “Professionalism Pitfalls: How to Avoid Miscommunication with Clients, Opposing Counsel, and the Court,” was hosted on February 16, 2024. The panel included Joseph Corsmeier and Jorge Piedra and was moderated by Alexis Deveaux. A second webinar is scheduled to be held prior to the annual convention and will focus on topics that are critical for the success of law students and newly admitted lawyers to The Florida Bar.

Led by Tanique Lee, the Law Student and New Lawyer Education and Resources Workgroup was charged with creating two to five-minute videos providing professional tips and advice to law students and new lawyers. The videos are housed on the Center for Professionalism’s page under the tab for Resources for Students.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to serve as chair of the Student Education and Admission to the Bar Committee. The work of the committee is the product of a group of committed lawyers, law school deans, and faculty members who are committed to the success of law students and lawyers. Thank you to Iman Zekri for your service as vice chair this year. Special thanks to Workgroup Chairs Joseph Corsmeier, Iman Zekri, and Tanique Lee for your leadership in carrying out the committee’s charges. Our committee owes a huge debt of gratitude to Director Rebecca Bandy, Assistant Director Katie Young, and Sapphire Austin of The Florida Bar Henry Latimer Center for Professionalism for providing guidance and support to our committee. Thank you all so very much for the opportunity to serve!

Tequisha Myles, Chair

Tax Law Certification

It is with great pleasure as the 2023-2024 chair of the Tax Law Certification Committee that I submit this report. Members of the committee are responsible for certifying attorneys recognized by The Florida Bar as tax law specialists, reviewing applications of current Florida Bar board certified tax attorneys seeking recertification, improving the tax certification examination, and reviewing and approving continuing legal education courses for tax law certification credit.

Generally, certification in tax law consists of four requirements: 1) having an active practice in tax law; 2) obtaining satisfactory peer review references; 3) meeting continuing legal education requirements in tax law; and 4) passing the certification examination.

The committee is comprised of nine board certified tax law attorneys who practice throughout the state. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the committee meet virtually and continued this method during the 2024 term. The committee held its kick-off meeting in early August 2023 to discuss drafting responsibilities for the 2024 certification exam and reviewing initial and recertification applications.

One of the committee’s core objectives during this term was to improve the overall tax certification exam. The committee’s focus was to draft questions that tested an examinee’s mastery and expertise of frequently addressed tax concepts and issues facing practitioners involving all aspects of federal and state tax law.

Three attorneys have applied to sit for the tax certification exam. Of the more than 100,000 members of The Florida Bar, 176 are currently board certified in tax law. The committee also reviewed 45 recertification applications and is grateful to the lawyers who participate in the confidential peer review process.

It has been a pleasure for me to serve as chair of the committee this year with my distinguished and talented co-committee members such as, Brian Harris as vice chair, Curtis Cassner, Mitchell Goldberg, Kelly Hellmuth, Taso Milonas, Scott St Amand, Christopher Weeg and Shawn Wolf.

I would be remised if I did not give a special shout-out to our staff liaison, Chyra Reynolds. Ms. Reynolds’ commitment and dedication to our committee is immeasurable.

Gerrard L. Grant, Chair

Technology

The Standing Committee on Technology consists of 41 members with a stated interest and competence in technology, data security, and privacy. For the 2023-2024 Bar year, the committee aimed to focus its efforts on developing technology-related continuing legal education courses and materials for Florida Bar members. The scope and function of the Committee on Technology is to interact regularly with LegalFuel: The Practice Resource Center of The Florida Bar to ensure that technology tools for lawyers and educational assistance concerning technology related to practice management are readily available to Florida lawyers. The committee is chaired by Diane P. Perez (Diane Perez, P.A., Miami) with Carlos A. Baradat (Law Office of Carlos A. Baradat, P.A., Naples) and Leslie A. Evans (Dinsmore & Shohl, LLP, Orlando) serving as vice chairs of the committee.

This year, the committee has been primarily focused on the Technology Symposium. Plans for the all-day symposium with a focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) are well underway with presentations from a number of different experts in the field. The committee has confirmed all speakers, including speakers from Clio and Smokeball, and the final symposium schedule has been finalized. The Programming Subcommittee, chaired by Emily Cabrera (Miami), is also finalizing its work on a webinar on e-discovery, which will be presented by Professor William F. Hamilton of the University of Florida. The Practice Management Subcommittee, chaired by Nicole Kwapisz (Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP, Miami), has assembled a workgroup to handle the committee’s ongoing review of the LegalFuel website specifically focusing on the website’s Technology Section. Finally, the New Member Benefits Subcommittee, chaired by Vanessa Ferguson (Ferguson Legal, PLLC, Tampa), is searching for new technology-related new member benefits for Florida Bar members.

We thank the committee officers, members, and the staff liaisons for their hard work and dedication. We could not do it without them.

Diane P. Perez, Chair

Traffic Court Rules

The Traffic Court Rules Committee has concluded another year of diligently working to improve the Rules of Traffic Court.

This year, the committee has filed three proposals with the Florida Supreme Court. In response to a referral from the Florida Supreme Court, the committee filed a proposal to amend Rule 6.630 to allow traffic hearing officers the authority to administer an oath or affirmations to witnesses. The committee also filed proposals that would require certain citation amendments to be made in writing in advance of the scheduled hearing, amend the sample forms under Rule 6.340 to make the forms simpler and easier to understand for pro se litigants, require dismissal as a penalty for discovery infractions, allow dismissal as a possible remedy for irregularities in the charging instrument, and give all defendants at least 30 days to pay any imposed fines.

The committee has also voted to recommend amendments to Rule 6.445 to clarify the speed measuring device type that should be listed on a citation and to require that stopwatches used as speed measuring devices be engraved with a unique identification number that cannot be reused.

I express my appreciation to Vice Chair Tina Seifert and subcommittee Chairs Ted Hollander, David Haenel, Mary Ann Etzler, Rick Silverman, and Rand Leiber for their excellent performance of the leadership roles they hold in the committee. I also thank all the committee members for their service and dedication to continuous improvement to the Rules of Traffic Court.

Howard J. Williams, Chair

Unlicensed Practice of Law

The standing committee had a busy year addressing formal advisory opinion requests. Under Rule 10-9 of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, an individual or organization seeking guidance as to the applicability of the state’s prohibitions against the unlicensed practice of law may request a formal advisory opinion from the standing committee. After holding a public hearing to receive input from interested parties, the standing committee, at its discretion, may file a proposed formal advisory opinion with the Florida Supreme Court containing its interpretation of the law. The court then reviews the proposed opinion and can approve, modify, or disapprove the advisory opinion with the ensuing opinion having the force and effect of an order of the court. The standing committee declined to hold a public hearing in a formal advisory opinion request it received, finding that current Florida Supreme Court caselaw and Bar rules provide appropriate unlicensed practice of law guidance in the area.

Last year, the standing committee filed its proposed formal advisory opinion with the Florida Supreme Court in a Goldberg request for advisory opinion in the case of Wildstein v. Core Contents Restoration, LLC. The petitioner, the plaintiff in a Palm Beach County Circuit Court case (Case No. 50-2020-CA-006656-XXXX-MB), alleged, among other things, that one of the defendants engaged in the unlicensed practice of law by acting as and holding themselves out as a Florida company’s general or in-house counsel without being a member of The Florida Bar or certified as an authorized house counsel under Ch. 17 of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar. Because the litigants in the underlying circuit court civil action that formed the basis for the proposed advisory opinion settled their case, the court dismissed the proposed formal advisory opinion case.

The standing committee and The Florida Bar UPL staff continued their efforts to protect the public from UPL. The committee approved litigation for injunctive relief against individuals and businesses for holding themselves out as attorneys, providing legal services in immigration matters, representing others in court, and against foreign attorneys who are holding themselves out as being able to provide legal services in areas in which they are not authorized.

We continue to receive complaints against out-of-state licensed lawyers for assisting individuals with Florida legal issues. Under the MJP (multijurisdictional practice of law) rules, out-of-state lawyers may provide limited legal services in Florida on a temporary basis under certain circ*mstances. The rules also subject out-of-state lawyers to the disciplinary authority of the Florida Supreme Court while providing those legal services. Thus, while out-of-state lawyers may not be engaged in the unlicensed practice of law if their activity falls within the rule, they can be disciplined for unethical conduct. The MJP rules also require out-of-state lawyers who appear in a Florida court or arbitration to file a copy of their pro hac vice motion and verified statement, respectively, with The Florida Bar. To check whether opposing counsel has complied with these filing requirements, you can contact the UPL Department at 850-561-5840.

As we conclude this year, I thank all the public members and lawyers on the standing committee for their dedicated service. It has been my sincere pleasure working with you. The standing committee gives a special thanks to the circuit committees; we know you are the unrecognized heart and soul of UPL enforcement for the court. All committee members, who contribute their valuable time and energy in protecting the public, are especially appreciated.

I also thank and recognize Jeffrey Picker, UPL director; and UPL branch counsels Jacquelyn Needelman (Miami), Maria Torres (Tampa), Ali Vazquez (Ft. Lauderdale), and Tanya Downs (Orlando), and their excellent support staff. These dedicated and hard-working public servants do an incredible job year after year.

It has been my honor and pleasure to work with you all.

Susan Papagikos, Chair

Voluntary Bar Liaison

In 2023-2024, the state of Florida boasted more than 300 voluntary bar associations consisting of a wide-range of subgroups of community-involved lawyers across the state. The Voluntary Bar Liaison Committee serves as the connection between The Florida Bar and these organizations. The committee is composed of both attorney and executive director representatives. The mission of the committee is multi-faceted and includes: 1) Improving communication between The Florida Bar and voluntary bar associations; 2) Coordinating programs of The Florida Bar involving voluntary bar associations; 3) Advising the Communications Department on the public relations needs of the voluntary bars; 4) Providing a resource and information bank with activities and tools to address the problems of voluntary bar associations; and 5) Advising the Board of Governors regarding interpretation of The Florida Bar programs to voluntary bar associations and individual members.

Every July, the committee hosts the Voluntary Bar Leaders Conference, which is the culmination of the committee’s yearlong planning efforts. The 2023 conference was held July 14-15 at the W Ft. Lauderdale. The event was themed as a “Let the Good Vibes Roll” to assist leaders at all levels achieve their goals for Bar leadership. Beth Feder and Braulio Rosa served as co-chairs of the conference. The committee secured speakers throughout the state, representing all facets of bar organizations. Dr. Keita Joy, a nationally recognized speaker, was the keynote speaker, and she shared valuable skills from her life experiences to empower, enrich and encourage bar leaders to lead in a life full of purpose and passion. Sponsorship goals were surpassed and reached an all-time high exceeding $53,000, which enabled an affordable registration fee and higher than average attendance.

The committee continued its efforts to connect and communicate outside the annual convention. To this end, with the leadership and assistance of The Florida Bar Communications Team, three online initiatives were maintained: 1) Facebook Group for Voluntary Bar Leaders. A Facebook group continued the exchange of ideas among leaders across the state. The group has nearly 300 members and is often the first stop for leaders to ask questions and bounce off ideas; 2) Facebook Page. To promote and recognize voluntary bars, while continuing the sharing of ideas, a Facebook page created for Florida voluntary bars continued to grow. The page shares news, events, and other announcements about the splendid work of Florida’s voluntary bar organizations with more than 600 bar leaders; 3) Voluntary Bar Center. The Voluntary Bar Center houses a collection of resources and information to assist Florida’s local and specialty bar associations with leadership, operations, and membership. The database also has served as a resource for The Florida Bar when attempting to collect data on certain programming activity. Recognizing the success of the Voluntary Bar Center website (https://www.floridabar.org/about/volbars/), the committee continues its efforts to expand the database and available resources.

Voluntary Bar Leaders Mentorship Initiative is a peer-to-peer program continued to provide opportunities for firsthand guidance and skills in leading a voluntary bar. The program is founded on the premise that experienced and accomplished current and past leaders can contribute to other likeminded up and coming leaders’ success and advancement. It is the hope that others are encouraged and inspired as a result to provide further service with The Florida Bar. This effort allows the exchange of ideas and learning opportunities to extend beyond the annual conference. The concept builds upon committee members’ knowledge and expertise and provides an invaluable resource to Bar leaders.

The Committee Appointments Initiative continued its efforts to ensure circuit representation and for recruitment of future Voluntary Bar Liaison Committee members. All circuits are now represented, and the committee has received the benefit of new members. The committee continues to monitor vacancies anticipated due to term limits. Committee members have performed extensive outreach seeking interest and the results have been recognized by leadership.

The Voluntary Bar Liaison Committee looks forward to hosting an amazing Voluntary Bar Leaders Conference July 12-13, 2024, at the Margaritaville Resort Orlando. The event is themed, “Make A Splash,” to assist leaders at all levels and help them achieve their goals for bar leadership. Ani Rodriguez-Newbern and Lauren Baugh are co-chairs of the conference. The committee is working diligently to secure engaging speakers throughout the state, and actionable programming for all-sized organizations. The 2024-2025 Florida Bar President Roland Sanchez-Medina, Jr., and President-elect Sia Baker-Barnes will also be headliners in this year’s conference. This year’s sponsorship efforts are expected to surpass the high goal set by the previous conference.

Thank you to everyone who participates in the voluntary bar program and to our Florida Bar staff. Without them, the committee’s accomplishments would not be possible.

Beth Feder and Kyleen Hinkle, Co-Chairs

Wills, Trusts and Estates Certification

The Wills, Trusts, and Estates Certification Committee consists of nine board certified attorneys. Anthony Guettler currently serves as chair of the committee with Jennnifer Okcular serving as vice chair. Other committee members include Duane Pinnock, Forrest Bass, Joshua Keleske, Seth Marmor, David Shulman, Gary Leuchtman, and Louis Nostro.

The committee worked diligently to prepare new and revised exam questions, and to carefully review each application. During our meetings, we discussed ways to improve the exam and various topics specific to certification in wills, trusts, and estates. We also discussed ways to encourage attorneys to sit for the exam. In the last year, the committee reviewed 37 recertification applications and 20 initial applications. The 2024 exam will be held on Friday, May 10, 2024, in Orlando. The number of lawyers applying for certification is increasing; in 2023, we received 24 initial applications.

It has been my pleasure to serve as chair of the certification committee. I thank each of the committee members and The Florida Bar certification specialists for their hard work and dedication to the committee. A special thank you goes to our committee’s certification specialist, Laurinda Jackson. To those that are currently certified in the area, thank you for encouraging other qualified lawyers to consider certification and thank you for upholding our high standards for competence and professionalism. To those aspiring to become certified in the area, we look forward to your participation and we are here to help you meet your goals.

Anthony Guettler, Chair

Workers’ Compensation Certification

The Workers’ Compensation Certification Committee is charged with overseeing the certification of practitioners as specialists recognized by The Florida Bar in the area of workers’ compensation law. The committee takes that responsibility very seriously, and countless hours are spent vetting applications for certification, as well as for recertification, paying particular attention to an applicant’s legal experience and their reputation among their colleagues and the judges they appear before. We also dedicate a significant amount of time to drafting, revising, and then grading the exams. The committee’s hard work and dedication this year helped us successfully navigate the new exam requirements issued by the Board of Legal Specialization & Education in June 2023.

The dedicated members of this year’s committee include Vice Chair Matthew Carrillo, Judge Frank Clark, Lawrence Anzalone, Frank Wesighan, Kenneth Hesser, Mark Eckels, Tracey Hyde, and Mary Spagnola-Hills. I am thankful to each committee member for their time, diligence, hard work, and professionalism in carrying out their responsibility of ensuring the highest standards of board certification in the area of workers’ compensation law. This year, we were also honored to have a liaison committee member from the BLSE, Barry Stein. A special thanks also goes to those workers’ compensation board certified attorneys who served as pre-testers, as well as to the exam consultants for their comments on how to improve the proposed exam and comply with the recent changes in the exam requirements. Last, but certainly not least, the committee thanks our Florida Bar staff liaison, Charlotte Bell. Our committee could not have accomplished as much as we have, smoothly and professionally, without her dedication and attention to detail.

The committee met numerous times throughout the year, primarily by Zoom, but also in-person in August at the Annual WCI Workers’ Compensation Educational Conference held in Orlando. For the 2023-2024 certification year, the Workers’ Compensation Certification Committee is reviewing seven initial applications and has approved 47 applications for recertification. We look forward to our upcoming meeting in June when we grade the exams of those applicants who we approved to sit for this year’s test.

This year, the committee went beyond reviewing applications and drafting/grading exams by promoting the benefits of board certification among those workers’ compensation practitioners who have not yet achieved this honor. We familiarized ourselves with a valuable resource from The Florida Bar, “Promoting Board Certification Talking Points”, so that each member is prepared to promote board certification to young lawyers in the workers’ compensation field. We are not limiting our reach to younger attorneys, however, but have also promoted board certification to seasoned attorneys who want to take that next step in their career.

It has been my honor and privilege to serve as chair of this committee, my experiences and the friendships I have gained are priceless!

Juliana L. Curtis, Chair

Workers’ Compensation Rules Advisory

The Workers’ Compensation Rules Advisory Committee is charged with the duties of regular review and evaluation of the Rules of Procedure for Workers’ Compensation Adjudications promulgated by the Office of Judges of Compensation Claims (OJCC) and assisting the OJCC, and its agency head, the director of the Division of Administrative Hearing (DOAH), in the drafting of rules of workers’ compensation procedure “to advance orderly and inexpensive procedures in the administration of justice.” Fla. R. Jud. Admin. 2.140(a)(5).

In the two years prior to my term as chair, the OJCC, DOAH, and the WCRAC have worked very hard together to make significant changes to our rules so that we keep pace with the most recent technological advances. Much of the heavy lifting was done by my predecessors: James Fee, Wendy Loquasto, and Jodi Middleton. Special recognition and thanks are also due to Judge David Langham for spearheading the OJCC efforts and Judges Jack Weiss and Jeffrey Jacobs for their attention to the details and language utilized for the proposed changes that the WCRAC suggested.

Nevertheless, the WCRAC has made a few proposed rule changes during my tenure as chair. These proposed revisions were made after careful thought, review and input was had by the applicable subcommittees and the full committee discussion and vote. First, the committee suggests amending 60Q- 6.102(6) (Definitions) amending the language defining “electronic signature.” Specifically, deleting the current language contained in the rule and substituting the definition of “electronic signature” as found in the Fla. R. Gen. Prac. Jud. Admin. 2.515(c). In so doing, we will be eliminating any disparities that otherwise exist between the Florida Workers’ Compensation Rules of Procedure and those of the Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration.

Second, the committee also recommends amending 60Q-6.114(2) (b) (Discovery). Specifically, the amendment obviates the need to seek judicial approval for depositions to be taken by phone or video teleconference. Furthermore, it allows the administration of the oath via video teleconference as long as the person who administers the oath can see and hear the witness being sworn. This change allows the Florida Workers’ Compensation Rules of Procedure to be consistent with the Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.310 and Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.530 and F.S. §117.231.

Finally, the committee recommends amendments to 60Q- 6.124 (4) (a)-(c) (Payment of Disputed Attorney Fees and costs — Appellate). Lengthy amendments were recommended to make it clear when the verified motion for fees and costs must be filed, the specific content required for said motion and the time allowed for a responsive pleading thereto and it’s required content.

The WCRAC has continued to work cooperatively with The Florida Bar and other Bar committees and groups. The WCRAC has maintained official liaisons to the Workers’ Compensation Section’s executive board, Conference of the Judges of Compensation Claims, Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration Committee, and Appellate Court Rules Committee. In my nearly six years on this committee, those liaisons have played a very vital role in keeping the WCRAC advised as to important matters and legal developments taking place outside the confines of our committee.

As chair, I extend my thanks and appreciation to each and every member of the WCRAC for dedicating their time and service. The committee includes Vice Chair Neil Ambekar; Secretary Robert “Bob” Swain: Parliamentarian Dawn Traverso; subcommittee Chairs Roberto Mendez, Elaura Hodgetts, and Mark Touby; Bar Board of Governors liaison Lorna Brown-Burton; and members Monica Amor, Chelsea Bellew, Matthew Carrillo, Eric Christiansen, Juliana Curtis, Paolo Longo, Dana Olesky, Matthew Pope, Kenneth Schwartz, Brian Sutter, and David Wieland.

Finally, I extend a special thanks to our Florida Bar liaison, Michael Hodges. He has been an enormous help and an invaluable asset. He has always been accessible and ready to provide advice and much needed input to myself and the committee. We are also thankful to all those at The Florida Bar and Board of Governors for allowing us to continue as a standing committee of the Bar. We look forward to continuing in our role to provide input and advice to The Florida Bar and the Office of Judges of Compensation Claims.

Frank J. Taddeo, Chair