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49 Fla. B.J. 1 (1975)

handle is hein.barjournals/florbarj0049 and id is 1 raw text is: . yF- I urs NEWS DN~ ZED REJA Im THE FLORIDA BAR CARAVAN- Hearing it like it is! Wow, what a week! We heard it like they saw it! This was the reaction of three officers of The Florida Bar, together with John McNutt of Jacksonville, chair- man of the Bar's Local Bar Associ- ation Liaison Committee, and Bob Foss, the Bar's director of public affairs, when they concluded their whirlwind tour around Florida early last month. Bar leaders from more than 30 local bar associations spent a day with these of- ficers on an eyeball-to-eyeball basis discussing everything connected with the legal profession in Florida. Succinctly, these are some of the comments that came forth during the five days of conferences. On Discipline Irritated and angered, remarked one bar president when commenting on those lawyers disbarred for stealing who are permitted to return to the prac- tice of law after a relatively short two or three-year period. Concern was ex- pressed about lawyers, under discipli- nary charges, being permitted to resign and then readmitted soon after resigna- tion. Local bar presidents requested immediate notice of those lawyers pub- licly reprimanded, suspended or dis- barred in their respective localities. Disciplinary proceedings take too long, cried one bar president there. If we don't do a good job policing our own ranks, we will soon lose this responsi- bility, commented another. New ad- mittees to the Bar have no conception of what the role of the lawyer is and the importance of professional ethics and responsibility, voiced another con- feree. More and better investigations are essential prior to admission to the Bar. This is a disaster, exclaimed a Central Florida Bar leader when refer- ring to the fact that members of The Florida Bar, convicted of felonies, are permitted to continue to practice law in VOL. 49, NUMBER 1 ' JANUARY, 1975 Florida courts. Has The Florida Bar a committee investigating ways and means to strengthen the overall profes- sional ethics programs both in and out of law school? Fee Arbitration Almost complete endorsement of fee arbitration committees came from those persons attending The Florida Bar Caravan. The Clearwater, Jackson- ville, Tampa, Dade and more recently the Brevard County Bar Associations have functioning fee arbitration com- mittees. One president remarked that 90% of the complaints he received as president of a local bar association in- volved fee disputes and that through the use of the Fee Arbitration Commit- tee the complaints were resolved and the public satisfied with the ultimate recommendations of the committee. One such committee satisfactorily re- solved an $18,000 fee dispute last year. One bar president is recommending to his bar that a nonlawyer be appointed to the Bar Association Arbitration Panel. Public Relations Lawyers do not spend enough time with their clients explaining their fees, the services they render and keeping the client informed about the status of his legal matter. The Florida Bar ought to do a better job in publicizing our disciplinary program and through an aggressive public relations effort, in- form the public that the profession is concerned about disciplining lawyers and that it is interested in hearing the grievance complaints from members of the public. A better and a more expeditious sys- tem was suggested for communicating with local bar presidents the official position of The Florida Bar on current issues of public interest. President Urban suggested to the local bar associ- ation presidents on this point that they 11\16

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