June 1, 2016 Letters
Letters
Fair Funding
As Florida clerks of court and members of the Bar, we are an effective partner in the effort to increase access to justice for all Floridians.
On April 19, Supreme Court Chief Justice Jorge Labarga participated in an Access to Justice panel at the White House as reported in the News. Two issues were discussed that directly relate to clerk duties. First, the overuse of suspension of driver licenses as a collection tool. Second, that fees charged by attorneys and collection agencies add costs, making payment of fines overly burdensome.
Justice Labarga’s remarks suggest that clerks have an option rather than a mandate in these areas. Like the courts, clerks are governed by law. F.S. §322.245 provides that the clerk shall notify the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, who then suspends the obligor’s driver license. Similarly, F.S. §28.246(6) states that clerks shall pursue the collection of delinquent fees through a private attorney or collection agent. Clearly, clerks are only performing their statutorily mandated duties when notifying DHSMV and referring delinquent cases to collections.
We are taking unprecedented steps to help citizens pay fines and fees and reinstate licenses. In 2015, clerks hosted “Operation Green Light,” wherein collection fees were waived if outstanding court fines and fees were paid. Additionally, “Operation Fresh Start” has allowed the establishment of payment plans to reinstate licenses and resolve outstanding warrants. We believe these events demonstrate our commitment to access to justice, our statutory duties, and make both economic and common sense.
Clerks and courts receive only a nominal percentage of the court fees and fines that judges order and clerks collect, with the largest percentage being sent to the state’s general revenue fund. This unbalanced legislative distribution makes it difficult to perform our constitutional roles.
The Legislature’s budget methodology for judicial branch funding relies on the collection of fines and fees. The shortcomings of this system and its impact on the poor must be addressed. Clerks have proposed alternate solutions that are not regressive and will continue to fight in the Legislature for reform.
Don Barbee
Hernando County
Sharon R. Bock
Palm Beach County
Dwight E. Brock
Collier County
Angelina Colonneso
Manatee County
Hunter S. Conrad
St. Johns County
Tiffany Moore Russell
Orange County
Kirk Reams
Jefferson County
Good Job, YLD
I am largely retired and have never been a sole practitioner, but I cannot think of a more appropriate Bar function than the YLD’s initiative in establishing the “How to Start Your Own Law Firm” website.
The information on the site would stand as well for two or three new lawyers who want to establish a firm.
Sam Rothman
Washington, D.C.
Bar Exam
I have been a member of The Florida Bar since 1987 but no longer live in Florida and have never practiced in Florida.
I am responding to James M. Hammond’s May 1 letter relating to the bar exam. Mr. Hammond complains of “the weakening of our bar requirements” in the context of being able to “best serve the citizens of Florida” by being educated in all areas of Florida law.
In my opinion, this is nonsense. I graduated from the University of Miami. The only specifically Florida law I learned came from the bar review course I took prior to taking the exam.
Even then, I ended up having to make up answers on the exam. Obviously, I did well enough to pass the exam, but I am hardly “educated in all areas of Florida law.” Despite this, I would be eligible to practice law in Florida.
It seems quite clear that the bar exam is simply a screening device that has little to do with a person’s legal ability or knowledge of the law.
I suspect the concern about maintaining the bar exam requirement is much more related to the concern that eliminating the bar exam “will simply make it too easy for out-of-state attorneys to continue to fill our state” than it is with concern over the quality of legal representation available to Florida citizens.
Marc W. Schneider
Washington, D.C.
A Profession
A recent letter defending the president of The Florida Bar (a subject on which I am both neutral and uninterested) explained that “as an industry, we may need a paradigm shift in order to address factors in the marketplace.”
An industry? I always thought we were a profession.
Barry Jay Warsch
Ft. Lauderdale
