10 questions for The Florida Bar president-elect candidates
10 questions for The Florida Bar president-elect candidates
The following questions were posed by the News to Bar president-elect candidates Michelle Suskauer of West Palm Beach and Lansing “Lanse” Scriven of Tampa. Ballots for the contested election will be mailed to eligible voters on or before March 1. Voters will have the option of voting online in lieu of returning their paper ballot. All votes must be received before midnight, March 21.
1. In one sentence, what advice would you give to a recent Bar admittee, fresh out of law school and just sworn-in?
Scriven: Take your oath seriously and be determined to make a difference.
Suskauer: You have been given an opportunity to belong to a profession that can profoundly impact lives and it is important to find a mentor who can guide you, to join local voluntary bar organizations, and to remember you are building your reputation and credibility in your local and legal community from day one.
2. The Bar has more than 100,000 members and is expected to grow; what challenges will this present to the Bar?
Suskauer: As one of the fastest growing states in the country and the third largest Bar, there are significant challenges in absorbing this growth. As lawyers are searching for employment and transitioning into different practice areas, many are starting their own firms without adequate guidance and mentoring. The Bar must be able to provide for its members by continuing to offer CLEs in technology and other practice management areas free of cost. The Bar must continue to promote training through the Practice Resource Institute to assist all our members with the tools they need to practice effectively, and the Bar must continue to fund and staff our Lawyer Regulation Department to protect our growing profession and the public.
Scriven: Maintaining the integrity of a unified Bar is one of the principal challenges facing our Bar, exacerbated by the influx of lawyers into the profession. The increase in the number of lawyers; the diversity of our practices; the geographical distance at which we practice from our colleagues; and the increased use of technology as the principal means of communication among lawyers, clients and even the court, all tend to divide us as a profession. Having a Bar president who has successfully run a solo practice for over 10 years; who has worked in a Florida firm for over 15 years; and who has practiced for two years in a national firm with a Florida presence presents the Bar with a person prepared to protect the interests of ALL lawyers. Any narrative that pits small-firm lawyer against big-firm lawyer, or one practice area over another, misapprehends the role of the president of The Florida Bar. The Bar’s able section leaders and practice leaders have as their principal charge to press the issues of their individual constituent groups. The president’s role is to serve the unified Bar assuring, as our mission statement suggests, that The Florida Bar: “inculcates in its members, the principles of duty in service to the public, to improve the administration of justice, and to advance the science of jurisprudence.” This challenge has existed for years and is not likely to abate in the near future. As early as 1947, the leaders of our Bar recognized that “only through a unified organization could all Florida lawyers receive uniform education on changes in the law and legal procedures. An integrated bar association would also pave the way for a uniform discipline system, capable of weeding out unethical lawyers and assuring the public that only those with high standards will be allowed to practice.” Those principles are more important today than they were in 1947 and will continue to serve as a goal and a challenge to the Bar that I feel well equipped to address.
3. The legal marketplace is being revolutionized by online tech companies like Avvo, LegalZoom, RocketLawyer, and many other service providers. How can the Bar help its members successfully compete?
Scriven: The core value that we provide to our clients is our ability to draw on our experience and years of training to help them resolve their problems. Although the advent of online companies has not displaced lawyers, it has, or will, require lawyers to better differentiate the value we provide. Among other things, lawyers have always provided dispassionate representation and advocacy in dispute resolution. Those functions cannot be displaced by technology; however, technology is forcing us to re-assess our core functions and the services we provide that cannot be commoditized through technology. The Bar can assist members by providing training on the technology resources they need and helping members better communicate the value they provide that cannot be replicated by online technology resources.
Suskauer: Technology is revolutionizing the practice of law allowing lawyers to practice more efficiently, effectively, and securely.
Some online service providers are filling voids lawyers have not traditionally filled and we need to find areas where lawyers and these companies can collaborate for the benefit of the consumers of legal services. For lawyers to successfully compete in the new marketplace: 1) Lawyers absolutely have to learn how to use technology to improve their delivery of legal services to their clients and the legal consumers at large. 2) Advertising restrictions placed upon lawyers have to be meaningfully reviewed.
4. What can the Bar do to help The Florida Bar Foundation, which continues to struggle with low IOTA receipts because of continuing low interest rates?
Suskauer: Although The Florida Bar Foundation’s main source of funding is derived from the Interest on Trust Accounts (IOTA) Program, the Bar must continue to promote support of the Foundation to our membership through education, encourage lawyers to volunteer their time and expertise to assist with Foundation programming and projects, and to support Children’s Legal Services. The Bar must also communicate to the membership to financially support their local legal aid programs and to accept cases as often as possible.
Scriven: Probably the greatest obstacle the Foundation needs to overcome is a lack of awareness of what it is and what it does. As reflected in the Bar’s most recent Membership Opinion Survey, only 15 percent of Bar members are “well aware” of the Foundation and its purpose, and 35 percent are not aware of the Foundation at all. Therefore, one of the biggest contributions the Bar can make is to continue spreading the word about who/what/why as to the Foundation and help build the Foundation’s profile. The Bar’s leadership has visibly increased its support of the Foundation in recent years and helped foster a wonderful partnership. We will continue along that path.
5. How may the Bar help ensure equal access to legal services and the court system, especially for low- and moderate-income consumers who don’t qualify for legal aid but can’t afford traditional legal services?
Scriven: There are some promising initiatives underway with respect to access to legal services for low- and moderate-income consumers. Going forward, our immediate challenge will be to understand that all of these initiatives (many technology-based) are still in their infancy and have not progressed to a point where their effectiveness can be fully evaluated. In the meantime, we should support the Supreme Court Commission on Access to Civil Justice and the recommendations that group has put forth. We should also support the Florida Justice Technology Center and its implementation of the Florida Legal Access Gateway (FLAG). As envisioned, FLAG will serve as an electronic triage system that will ask consumers a series of questions, and then based on those answers, help consumers with a referral to legal aid, a lawyer, or perhaps generating a form for filing. The Florida Bar Foundation is currently undergoing its own “strategic reset,” which the Bar should likewise explore ways to support.
Suskauer: The Florida Bar should continue to support the efforts of the Florida Supreme Court Commission on Access to Civil Justice to evaluate and examine ways of expanding access to civil justice for low- and moderate-income individuals not eligible for legal aid/legal services including: developing user-friendly forms and instructional videos in noncomplex legal matters for pro se litigants which would be available online and at courthouses, libraries, colleges, and universities.
The Bar should work with the clerks of the courts to establish self-help centers similar to the one operating successfully in Palm Beach County where pro se litigants can purchase approved legal forms for a reasonable price and have the opportunity to speak with an attorney for a nominal fee to assist with preparing the forms.
In some areas of the practice, we should consider expanding the use of unbundled legal services to allow litigants to purchase the services of an attorney for one or two legal matters in a case but not for the entire case; and establish programs within firms which would operate on a sliding scale to provide representation to low- and moderate-income individuals.
6. How do you rate the Bar’s disciplinary operations? Do you have any suggestions for change?
Suskauer: For the past six years I served on the Disciplinary Review Committee of The Florida Bar, the last two years as it’s chair. This experience offered me a unique perspective of how the Bar regulates our lawyers. We have dedicated staff attorneys in five branch offices around the state handling thousands of inquiries. During my tenure, we ensured greater transparency in the process with a series of articles published in The Florida Bar News. I think there is always the ability to improve and I would hope we could move cases quicker through the disciplinary process.
Scriven: As a member of The Florida Bar Board of Governors, I have overseen the grievance committee in my circuit for several years. Additionally, for the past 22 years I have been privileged to serve as a special prosecutor for the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission, helping to investigate and try, where probable cause is found, misconduct cases against judges. From my observation, the Bar remains committed to weeding out those lawyers and judges who refuse to live up to the high standards by which we are governed. This commitment ensures that our profession remains self-regulated and that the public can have confidence in the quality and integrity of our lawyers. Thus, I think the Bar’s disciplinary process operates very well and is staffed by some very dedicated professionals. Having said that, we should continue to explore ways in which the disciplinary process can be improved.
One of the ways we can improve our disciplinary system is reducing the number of cases that actually move into the system. As an example, historically technical compliance with trust accounting rules has been a recurring problem. The Bar is currently working with a software programmer on developing software that would automatically handle trust accounting duties for small and mid-sized firms. Given the amount of resources the Bar devotes to trust accounting issues, coupled with the fact that many of the required trust accounting records would be automatically generated, this could be a win-win for the Bar and our members.
7. If you were addressing a class of high school seniors, would you encourage them to become lawyers? Why or why not?
Scriven: I would encourage those seniors to examine their motives for wanting to become a lawyer. If their motivation is to help others and protect freedom, then I think becoming a lawyer is still among the noblest of professions. If, on the other hand, they view the law as simply a default career choice or, worse, a path to prosperity, I would encourage them to rethink their career option. I once read, that “the law is no more there to provide a living for lawyers than ill health exists to offer a livelihood for doctors. It is not the purpose of law to keep lawyers in business. The purpose of lawyers is to help support society’s needs of the law.”
Suskauer: I would encourage them to learn as much as they could about the legal profession, but try to dispel misconceptions that there will be a guarantee of financial success just by having a law degree. I would speak to the increased competition and changes in the profession, but stress that if they are passionate about impacting the lives of so many through the law, they should consider pursuing it.
8. With the upcoming Constitution Revision Commission and the threat of judicial term limits and other judicial “reforms” on the horizon over the next two years, how can the Bar better work with the executive and legislative branches of government to support the judicial branch and achieve its goal of a fair and impartial judiciary?
Suskauer: A fair, impartial, and well-funded judiciary is not a “lawyer” issue; it affects all citizens in the state.
It is crucial that we have leadership in place who can forge relationships with our executive and legislative branches to effectively communicate the Bar’s positions.
Scriven: It is imperative that all parties approach the convening of the Constitution Revision Commission (CRC) with the right objectives. Although no branch of the government should be considered beyond reform, the CRC process should not be viewed as an opportunity to alter the fundamental separation of powers. Thus, the motivation underlying any proposed reforms of the judicial branch should not be grounded in a view that judges should be “reined in” because their decisions do not coincide with popular opinion. Any changes proposed for that reason are harmful to our democracy and would only further erode public confidence in the impartiality of judges. The Bar will stand as a ready resource to assist CRC members as subject-matter experts on substantive areas (not just those involving Art. V of the State Constitution), but more importantly, to help CRC members understand the proper role of the courts in our democracy.
9. What are the top three issues facing Florida lawyers and what can the Bar do to address them?
Scriven: First and foremost, lawyers in all size firms continue to adjust to the disruption occurring in the legal market, principally due to changes fueled by technology. The Bar can assist lawyers by providing technology training and helping lawyers better communicate the value that lawyers provide. For instance, although online legal forms of all types are now readily available to consumers, in many instances online forms will not suffice to protect consumers. Until recently, lawyers enjoyed a virtual monopoly on all aspects of the legal system. We now know that with technology advances and the fact that computer processing capabilities are soon expected to reach or exceed that of the human brain, some tasks that were exclusively left to lawyers (such as document searches, basic research) may now be enhanced through artificial intelligence. Thus, lawyers will have to re-engineer some aspects of their practices. Other industries have successfully passed through this stage. The Bar can certainly provide training to our members on how we navigate this disruption in our profession as well.
As mentioned previously, the Constitution Revision Commission is an issue of utmost importance to the profession. While the leadership of the Bar will be closely monitoring the activities of the commission, it is incumbent upon all of our members to stay abreast of the commission’s activities and be prepared to push back against any judicial reforms that are motivated by improper objectives.
Finally, the Bar must continue its legislative advocacy to ensure that our court system remains adequately funded.
Suskauer: 1) Quality of life: Although technology has transformed our profession and our lives for the better, it has also caused increased stress, mental health and addiction issues, and dissatisfaction with the practice. We are connected 24/7 and have little or no-time to recharge. Lawyers do not want to admit they are unhappy, stressed, or do not have the tools necessary to cope with the pressures of the practice. The Bar has an obligation to take care of all of its attorneys, and we must start having the conversation about ways to assist attorneys and provide resources to improve their professional lives.
2) Training and Mentoring: The Bar has an obligation to assist all of its lawyers, no matter what stage of practice they are in. Whether they are a young lawyer just starting out, a more seasoned attorney transitioning practice areas, or an attorney winding-up their practice.
3) Funding for the judicial branch: The Bar must continue to advocate for a well-funded independent judiciary. The implications and consequences otherwise would affect every citizen in the state of Florida. We must continue to build strong relationships with our legislative and executive branch to ensure access to justice for all.
10. Tell us about one defining moment in your legal career when you stopped to think, “I am proud to be a lawyer.”
Suskauer: In 25 years of practicing law, I have helped countless individuals and their families navigate through the criminal justice system. But one case in particular stays with me: I represented a high school junior, a gifted student in an IB program. He was falsely accused by the 5-year-old daughter of a family friend of sexual battery. We vigorously defended this boy and confirmed through deposition and further discovery that these false accusations were fabricated by the child’s mother. When this was discovered, the charges were ultimately dismissed by the state and this young man is now attending a top college as a pre-med major.
Scriven: Several years ago, I was approached by the Volunteer Lawyers Resource Center of Florida (“VLRC”) and asked to take on a criminal matter. The mission of the VLRC was to recruit and provide assistance to private counsel who represented indigent death-row inmates on a pro bono basis in post-conviction proceedings. At the time, there was a substantial backlog of post-conviction death penalty cases in Florida. After receiving the “blessings” of my firm management, I accepted the representation.
Shortly after our firm’s representation began, the governor signed a death warrant for the inmate’s execution. The signing of that death warrant set in motion a cascade of events that ultimately required the assistance of four other attorneys in the firm and countless other resources. Due to our firm’s work and the willingness of the State Attorney’s Office to engage in some meaningful negotiations just prior to the beginning of an evidentiary hearing in which our client’s life hung in the balance, we were able to negotiate a resolution whereby our client’s death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Since that time, I have experienced the ebbs and flows of cases I’ve won and lost as a civil lawyer, but I have never experienced the emotion I felt the day I was able to tell my client his life had been spared.
