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40 Fla. B. News 1 (2013)

handle is hein.barjournals/flabn0040 and id is 1 raw text is: By Jan Pudlow Senior Editor The idea to strive to become president of The Florida Bar was sparked 14 years ago, when Greg Coleman led the Young Lawyers Division and watched lawyers he respected in action as leaders. I wanted to aspire to accomplish what they accomplished, Coleman said of 1998 Bar President Howard Coker, of Jacksonville, and 1999 Bar President Edith Osman, of Miami. That aspiration has now become a reality for 49-year-old Coleman, a partner at Burman, Critton, Luttier & Coleman in West Palm Beach. !Waen the clock struck 5:01 p.m. on December 17 and no other caiddidates made the deadline to challenge him, Coleman officially became president-elect designate of the Bar, with more than 95,000 members. Coleman will be sworn in as president-elect at the Bar's Annual Convention in June, when Ft. Lauderdale attorney Gene Pettis becomes president. Coleman's year-long term as president will begin in June 2014. As a member of the Bar's Board of Governors for six years, representing the 15th Judicial Circuit, Coleman said he's had the privilege and honor to meet such incredibly diverse, intelligent, and driven people. It's human nature to want to lead that group, because it's such an honor, really. The Stetson University double graduate - who practices See Coleman, page 5 est. 1974 The Florida Bar News Volume 40, Number 1 floridabar.org January 1, 2013 At issue are plea bargains prohibiting claims of ineffective assistance orprosecutorial misconduct By Gary Blankenship Senior Editor Representatives from all three of Florida's U.S. attorney offices traveled to Amelia Island last month with a simple goal: convince a Bar Board of Governors committee and then the board itself to reject a proposed ethics opinion that a waiver used in some plea bargains is unethical for both defense attorneys and prosecutors. They had little success. After'more than 90 minutes of debate, the Board Review Committee on Professional Ethics voted on December 6 to recommend Proposed Advisory Opinion 12-1 by IT MI A I C UIIF. EENB- ERG..K R I G UlIti recently neld its week-long community service initiative -T I ,ares mat included volunteer activities and a collection drive to support Share-A-Pet, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Children's Home Society of Rorida, Camillus House, and Chapman Partnership. Led by Greenberg Traurig attorneys and business staff members desig- nated as the event heroes' activities included two weekends of volunteer opportunities in which the firm's attorneys, business staff members, family members, and friends participated. We are excited by the success of our new GT Cares initiative and the positive feedback we have received from the community, said the firm's Jaret L Davis. Greenberg Traurig has always been committed to helping the community, and we hope this becomes part of an ongoing annual tradition at the firm. Pictured from the left are Mason Morales, Sharon Morales, RJ Costello, Sandy Grossman, Betty Sanchez, Lauren Center, Tatanisha Brown, Nieman Anderson, Tangela Anderson, Bai Pastemack, and Anne Katz. The group helped prepare and serve lunch, donated by the firm, to clients of Chapman Partnership, an organization that assiststhe homeless in Miami. E'aud(uzw©MRZ m(I JL ~ ~ D2DW, oe a' D'UO® I By Gary Blankenship Senior Editor For only the third time in 30-plus years, the Bar Board of Governors is recommending the Supreme Court not adopt a legislatively approved change to the statutory evidence code into the procedural rules of evidence. At issue is a law passed in 2011 requiring that out- of-state experts in medical and dental malpractice cases register with the Florida Department of Health, pay a $50 fee, and be subject to possible review by the department, including allegations that they provide misleading testimony. The board has been debating the recommendation from the Code and Rules of Evidence Committee since last May and sent it back once for reconsideration by the committee. The committee made some minor changes to its proposal in September, but by a 14-13 vote kept to its core recommendation that the court should adopt the change made to F.S. §766.102(12) into the rules of evidence. (See story in the October 15 Bar News.) At their December 7 meeting on Amelia Island, board members said this is one of the rare instances when statutory changes to the evidence code should not also be included in the evidence rules because it raises constitutional issues and conflicts with other procedures. Substantively, this is a statute where the Legislature tells the court that the court can't hear testimony from certain witnesses unless the executive branch gives them a license, board member Bill Davis said. Board member Jay Cohen argued that the statute sets no standards for evaluating the out-of-state experts but does See Experts, page 6 a 7-0 vote. On the following day, the Board of Governors without discussion accepted the BRCPE advice with only a few dissenting votes. At issue was the practice - commonly used by some U.S. attorney offices and rarely in others -of adding a condition to plea bargains prohibiting the defendant from later raising a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel or prosecutorial misconduct. It goes too far, said Southern District U.S. Attorney Wildredo Ferrer. It is basically an absolute See Ethics, page 4 Electronic service of notices and case documents, will eveniuly be included as part bf the Florida'court's new statewide electronic filinig system, but the authority overseeing thelporthl that i's the entrance-tO the system plans to ask the Legislature for money forthe authority's operation and to help eduite users.-*I The Florida E-Filing Authority Board Chair Tim Smith; Iutnam.County.clerk of the court, reported at the authrityfsDecember 13 meting that it special staffer has been hired to work on e-service-issues. - Carolyn'Weber has joined the.Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers, which the authority-hassubcontracted for the developnent ofthe portal, and she will'concentrate on th-ee-cervicecomponentS 'sith said. Thrdughout th*e fallestius hadbeen raised about whethere-seryice was includ.ed n the services that would be provided flee forlawyers troughthe portal, orwhether See E-flle. pane B. MouDwyev Stffma 8fl Lawyers may allow nonlawyer staff under their supervision to use the lawyer's login and passwords to electronically file court documents through the new state court electronic portal, according to an ethics opinion recently approved by the Bar Board oftGovernors. The board had asked the Professiotial Ethics Committee to look into whether there were any concerns about nonlawyer staff filing documents through the portal, which is the access point for the statewide court electronic filing system now being set up. As the system now operates, only lawyers can be registered to file documents; there is no provision for staff to file documents. Board Review Committee on Professional Ethics Chair Carl Schwait t olId th e board at its December t - 1 meeting that there were concerns, a b o u t- a I I o w i n g <i ;1 nonlawyerg SC-WAT to access the system through a lawyer's password, but he said the Professional Ethics Committee likened the access to a nonlawyer employee delivering documents to the courthouse. You have complete responsibility for your staff, and, therefore, they can use your login name and See Staff, page 8 CULEMAN

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