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12 Fla. B. News 1 (1985)

handle is hein.barjournals/flabn0012 and id is 1 raw text is: January 5 Is reservations deadline for Midyear Meeting. Use forms In January Bar Journal. The Fl orida Ba.rNews January 1 1985• Vol. 12, NO. 1 Board to discuss mandatory CLE Mandatory continuing legal education will top the list of topics to be taken up by the Board of Governors at its January 10-1-2 meeting in Clearwater. The topic has been studied by a task force following Board review of a Long Range Planning Committee recommendation favoring the concept. Dean Tom Read, chairman of the Mandatory CLE Task Force, will appear before the Board to explain the task force's preliminary report. The report recommends that: * Three years should be allowed Bar members to obtain mandatory CLE hours. 9 A member's birthday be the reporting date for CLE credits. Another suggested option is reporting six months from date when dues are due. ' Mandatory CLE course work of 12 to 15 hours annually or 36-45 hours over three years. The Bar's CLE committee has suggested a l0-hour annual alternative since most CLE courses are live hours long. Thus two courses would be needed each year. * Sponsors include ethics as part of lectures rather than offer separate ethics courses. 9 Only lawyers on active military duty be exempt from CLE requirements: judges get credit, for judicial education and nonresidents get credit for courses taken in another state. 9 Deficient CLE credits be made up within 90-days. e Mandatory bridge-the-gap.courses not be mandatory for first year Bar.admittees. * Credit be given for teaching CLE courses or writing CLE publications. Additional credit be allowed for programs of more than 20 hours to encourage intensive programs. * Mandatory CLE costs be met through dues increases, registration fees or charges to sponsors. Sam Smith. chairman of the lawyer advertising and solicitation subcommittee of the Long Range Planning Committee will address the Board on its recommendations. The recommendations include assisting interested Bar members on how they may advertise ethically. The LRP Committee also advised the Bar to be more active in establishing guidelines for format of advertising by providing examples the Supreme Court of Florida considers acceptable. Evaluations will be given for the Clients' Security Fund and Lawyer Referral Service programs by the Program Evaluation Com- mittee of the Board, as periodic review required. under Board policy of all Bar programs. The committee will also make a recommendation regarding.expansion ol the program of the. Special Committee on Alcohol Abuse to include substance abuse and an intervention program. Jim Rinaman. chairman of the Special Committee on Representation of Death Sentenced Inmates. will appear before the Board with a status report. A status report will also be given by Bill Henry. chairman of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission. The Board will also hear a legislative report from Legislation Committee Chairman Steve Zack. General Counsel Rayford Taylor and legislative counsel Richard McFarlain. The Board will also hear a legislative report from Legislation Committee Chairman Steve Zack. General Counsel Rayford Taylor and legislative counsel Richard McFarlain. The report will include status reports on equitable distribution, medical malpractice and judicial trust fund legislation, the unitary tax and the key contact program. Court commission adopts Council suggestions By Paul F. Hill, Directyi m Cmuni41nsM Divion The Court Efficiency Commitiee appoint- ed by Florida's chief justice has approved in principle virtually every recommendation for judicial management reform made three months ago by a court improvement com- mittee of the Florida Council of 100, a group of influential business leaders. Some of the more provocative aspects of the reiommendiio1s invlve theestablish- law suits strengthcning'of judges' inherent p wers to control their dockets,and creation 0f audIciai management council ofjudicial, Barand public members to advise the chief justice. Every measure considered by the Supreme Court Committee received a .unanimous voice vote during the group's five-hour session held on Friday, December 14 at the Judicial Meeting Room in 'the Supreme Court Building in Tallahassee. Among those recommended actions approved by the Court Efficiency Committee are: e Aggressive use of autorfiation in judicial administration,, using a standard state- funded system. While some Florida counties possess automated court management support, the variety of systems and the extent of use is varied; the problem is further complicated by a mixture of state and local funding throughout various judicial circuits. * Development of data bases within all courts to reflect current inventories of pending cases showing filing date, name of case, last activity and status. The information would be furnished by each judge to the appropriate chief judge on a monthly basis: Here, the Court Efficiency Committee shortened the Council of..100's suggested three-mohth time frame for reporting case data. * Mandatory judicial education via observance 4f the minimurp criteria for continuingjudicial education adopted by the Council of Chief Judges of the United States: the Council of 100 recommendations envi- sioned the criteria mandated by Florida Supreme Court rule. Justice Ben F. Overton, chairman -of the Supreme Court's Court EfficiencyCommittee, in speaking for the meastire, observed that America is the only countiy inthe world that does not train its judgem judges. e Aiimialrieview ofjudicialcompensation: inherent in the Council of 100's iecommenda- tions is that* the Judicial Management Council will recommend to the legislature a level at which such salaries should be set. e Changes in the manner that chief judges of each circuit are selected: The Council of 100 had recommended that a Supreme Court rule require appointments by the chiefjustice. The Court Efficiency Committee only agreed that rotational and seniority-based systems are not ideal methods to assure firm manage- ment within the various circuits. This issue, and the details of many other items addressed by the Supreme Court Efficiency Committee, apparently will be addressed by a sub- committee of the study group. THE MATTER of docket control brought acknowledgement from the Court Efficiency Committee (composed of judges, attorneys, business leaders and/or officials) that lawyers often control the docket unless a judge can be made aware of when pleadings are filed, and elects to rule on occasional issues without a hearing. Any rule change should clarify and make explicit what's inherent in ajudge's power right now, said committee member William 0. Birchfield of Jacksonville, who also sat on the Council of 100's Committee for the Improvement of the State Judicial System. Although the Court Efficiency Commit- tee's December 14 agenda envisioned the adoption of specific guidelines for disposition ofappellate and trial court cases, and'a state- funded pilot program for computer aided transcription of criminal cases at the circuit court level, much of the session focused on the Council of 100's Committee recom- mendations. Only one of the-council's preexisting recommendations was tempo- rarily bypassed by thSui tme Court group: An offer ofs~ett~eneeated, stating that when an offer of Settlement is refused and the offerer secures a more favorable result at trial, the loser pays attorneys' fees incurred after the settlement offer. The provi- sion was endorsed by The Florida Bar's Tort Litigation Review Commission in a report issued last year. Acknowledging that the Council of 100 wants to help improve the Florida judi- ciary, the Court Efficiency Committee expressed its hope to maximum the council's political muscle where legislative support for reform might be needed. Chief Judge Clifford B. Shepard of Jacksonville's Fourth Judicial Circuit added, We need help and are looking for it. The Court Efficiency Committee was appointed two months ago by Chief Justice Boyd, with the charge to propose measures to bring the courts into the 20th century and speed up the judicial process. Members of the Court Efficiency Commit- tee besides Overton, Barkdull and Birchfield, are: Upchurch and Shepard. Judge John M. Scheb, 2nd District Court of Appeal; Judge Gavin H. Letts, 4th District Court of Appeal; Chief Judge Warren H. Cobb, 5th District Court of Appeal; Judge J. Lewis Hall, Jr., 2nd judicial Circuit; Judge Bernard R. Jaffe, Dade County Court; Judge Karl B. Grube, Pinellas County Court; Gerald F. Richman, president of The Florida Bar; Patrick G. Emmanuel, president-elect of The Florida Bar; Delphene Strickland, Tallahassee attor- ney; and Council of 100 member Phillip D. Lewis. . I Development of specific time standdrds for disposition of cases will await further committee action. However, the group acknowledged that any standards would likely contain some distinction for the unique work of the Florida. Supreme Court. The Court Efficiency Committee meets again at IQ a.m., Tuesday, January 15, in Tallahassee. Chairman Overton said the group needs a package for legislative consid- eration no later than Match I, 1985. The suggested judicial management council would function as the governing board of the judicial system, according to the Council of 100's recommendations, announced last September by Florida Power and Light's Board Chairman Marshall MacDonald, speaking before The Florida Bar Board of Governors. The goal of the judicial management council would be attracting, developing and retaining an out- standing judiciary and providing rules, resources, authority and skills necessary for the efficient administration of our judicial system. John J. Upchurch IV of Daytona Beach- also a member of both the Supreme Court and Council of 100 groups-told the Effi- ciency Committee that there was likely wisdom in consolidating certain court- related committees among the various judi- cial conferences, and that The Florida Bar's Board of Governors was a potential model for any judicial management advisory body. Third District Court of Appeal Judge Thomas H. Barkdull of Miami added that lay participation in Florida's former Judicial Council had been a positive feature of that body worth continuing in any modern version. 800 expected for Midyear Meeting With only 85 registered by December 17 for the Midyear Meeting that Bar officials hope 800 will attend January 23-26 in Miami. the Bar meetings and conventions department sent lawyers an urgent plea to make reservations. Pat Giglio, meetings coordinator, said the deadline for reserving rooms at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Miami, Midyear Meeting site, is January 5. Reservation and registra- tion forms are printed in this issue of the News and in the January issue of'The Florida Bar Journal for the convenience of Bar members. Giglio said it is important that lawyers register in advance, rather than when they arrive at the meeting, so that seminar rooms will be assigned to accommodate the number attending...A frequent problem at Bar conventions is too small rooms for, some seminars and too large for others, based on estimates rather than actual registrations. Lawyers attending the Midyear Meeting January 25 will have an opportunity to hear one of America's preeminent attorneys, Louis Nizer, share the wisdom of his 60 years experience as a practicing attorney. Nizer will be the *guest speaker at the all member luncheon that day, according to Herman Russomanno of Miami, chairman of the meeting. Nizer achieved fame, not only through the practice of law. but also as author of nine best-selling books, including My Life in Court,- Reflections Without Mirrors, The Implosion Conspiracy, and Thinking on Your Feet. A chapter of one of Nizer's books was presented as a play on Broadway in which Van Heflin played Nizer. That play, A Case of Libel, waslIso BEST COPY AVAILABLE presented as a motion picture on television. The daily registration fee for attorneys is $75. However, for nonlawyer members of the public, attendance at the children's right seminar and the medical malpractice symposium is free of charge. A complete schedule of events appears elsewhere in this issue of the News. Hotel reservations should be made directly With the Hyatt Regency Miami, 400. S.E. Second Avenue, Miami, FL 33131. Reservations received after that date will be subject to availability. Accommodations are $72 for a single or double occupancy plus 10% state and local tax. For additional information regarding registration for the meeting, call The Florida Bar meetins and convention department at (904) 22-5286.

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