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39 Fla. B. News 1 (2012)

handle is hein.barjournals/flabn0039 and id is 1 raw text is: Find Weekly Legishative Updates at wwvw:FloridaBai: org/201 2LegislativeSession Peftis to lead the Bar Contested board elections set in four circuits, 20 reelected without opposition Ft. Lauderdale attorney Eugene K. Pettis has become The Florida Bar's president-elect designate and will be the first African-American in Bar history to hold the top job. No other candidates came forward to challenge Pettis in this year's Bar elections. Pettis, who has served on the Bar Board of Governors since 2005, will be sworn in as president-elect at the Bar's Annual Convention in June 2012, when Tampa's Gwynne Alice Young will be sworn in as president. He will take the oath as Bar president in June 2013. Our Creed of Professionalism states: 'I will further my profession's devotion to public service and to the public good.' I can't think of a better way to fulfill our creed than to serve The Florida Bar, Pettis said when his election became official. The reach of the Bar and its members' contributions to public good is unparalleled. Through my travels across the state, I have seen hundreds of lawyers who are using their skills in service to their communities. These observations have ignited in me even greater pride in our Bar. A founding partner of Haliczer Pettis & Schwamm, Pettis is a trial attorney who has been practicing law since 1985. In 2005, he was elected to the Board ofGovernors 17th Judicial Circuit. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors and co-chairs The Itawkins Commission, which is perlorming a comprehensive See Pettis, page 6 est. 1974 The Florida Bar News Volume 39, Number 1 floridabar.org January 1, 2012 Third-party opinions report now available By Mark D. Killian Managing Editor The Business Law Section and the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section have finalized their Report on Standards for Third- party Legal Opinions of Florida SCHWARTZ Counsel. The project, a collaboration of both sections' legal standards committees, is intended to provide guidance to Florida attorneys who render third-party legal opinions to both Florida and out-of-state attorneys who, on behalfoftheir clients, receive third-party legal opinions from Florida attorneys. It addresses the nature and meaning of the content of legal opinions and articulates the diligence required to render such opinions. The committees believe that the report is a major step forward in the guidance available regarding third-party legal opinions in Florida and will be a great benefit to business lawyers in our state, said Philip B. Schwartz ofMiami, chair of the Business Law Section's Legal Opinion Standards Committee and the chair of the steering committee (consisting of members of both the Business Law Section committee and the RPPTL committee), which spearheaded the effort. The more than 200-page report, which has been in the See Report, page 15 ON A BRISK THURSDAY MORNING in Gulfport, Professor Ellen Podgor offered a crowd of Stetson University College of Law students prepping for exams some key study tips while her exuberant dog, Hans, distributed puppy kisses. Hans is a registered therapy dog. Professor Podgor is the editor of the highly ranked White Collar Crime Prof Blog. Hans and Professor Podgor visited the atrium of the law library to work with law students to help them de-stress around exam time. Three different dogs and their handlers were available for about an hour each day for seven days during the exam period, starting at the end of November, at Stetson Law. We hope that this project will provide a relaxing change of pace for our students, allowing them to step away from their studies for a few minutes, said Professor Rebecca Trammell, director of the law library at Stetson. Stetson animal law expert, Professor Peter Fitzgerald, brought in his dog, Duncan, pictured above with first-year students Cayelan Loucks and Jil Majka. Board lays out legislative communications effort Focus will be on keeping members informed The 2012 legislative session will begin on January 10, and with it comes a new Bar plan for keeping members informed of Bar- related legislative activities. The session is also expected to be less contentious than the 2011 version, which saw attempts to remake the Supreme Court, remove the Bar from its participation in choosing some members of judicial nominating commissions, and have the Legislature take over from the Supreme Court the writing of court procedural rules. Reapportionment will take all of the oxygen out of the room, Bar Chief Legislative Counsel Steve Metz told the Bar Board of Governors on December 9. That's good news forus;ittakes legislators' eyes off us and the courts - maybe. Legislation Committee Co-chair Ed Scales said the Bar will begin its new legislative communications program for Bar members See Session, page 4 Board members quiz Trippe about judicial By Gary Blankenship Senior Editor Gov. Rick Scott is looking for judicial applicants with character, who know the limits of their office, and who will also practice judicial restraint, according to Scott's general counsel, Charles Trippe. Trippe attended the Bar Board of Governors December 9 meeting to discuss the role of his office and Scott's approach to selecting judges and Governor's budget holds the line on court funding By Mark D. Killian Managing Editor Instead of relying on fickle foreclosure filing fees, most funding for the courts would shift to general revenue sources in Gov. Rick Scott's proposed budget that asks lawmakers to appropriate the same amount of dollars to the third branch of government as they did a year ago. The governor's proposed budget, released December 7, also calls for maintaining the same level of funding for the state attorneys, public defenders, capital collateral representatives, regional conflict counsel, and the statewide guardian ad litem program. While the proposal calls for a 4 percent reduction in the clerks of the court budgets, it also would exempt the clerks from an 8 percent general revenue service charge they're now required to pay the state for services they don't use. Gov. Scott's proposed budget for the state courts includes a thoughtful means of addressing revenue problems that have made the funding for Florida's state courts chaotic for well over a year now, Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canady said. Most significantly, it largely eliminates our current overdependence on volatile mortgage foreclosure filing fees. Of equal importance, Canady said, the governor's budget recognizes the reductions the courts have previously sustained and proposes no additional cuts in funding or personnel. Chief Justice Canady said: We are very grateful to Gov. Scott for his efforts in support of funding for SCOTr Florida's courts. In 2009, the Legislature shifted the lion's share of court funding from general revenue sources to the State Court Revenue Trust Fund, which receives the bulk of its money from foreclosure filing fees. But when major foreclosure players imposed a moratorium on filings due to the faulty paperwork scandal, foreclosure filings dramatically dropped off, appointments appointing members to the state's 26 judicial nominating commissions. He also took questions from board members, which ranged from why Scott had rejected certain JNC- nominated slates of j ud ic ia I TRIPPE candidates to the importance of diversity in the review ofnominees. There was also praise for Scott's oposed 2011-12 budget, ich does not cut funding for the courts and seeks to stabilize court funding by using more state general revenues and decreasing the reliance on fluctuating court filing fees. Trippe said that part of the general counsel's tasks is to advise the governor on judicial nominations. Scott, he said, is looking for nominees with character, academic qualifications, trial skills and experience,judicial temperament, respect among peers, and commitment to judicial restraint. The governor also wants diversity, including geographic and area of practice, as well as gender, racial, and ethnic variety. We interview each nominee who is sent to us by the JNC, Trippe told the board. See Budget, page 9' See JNCs, page 7 PETTIS

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