Board sets priorities
Board sets priorities
Communication • Diversity • Member Benefits • Technology
Senior Editor
With six action items for the coming year, the Board of Governors has approved the Bar’s 2016-19 strategic plan.
President Bill Schifino presented the plan at the board’s July 29 meeting and said the annual strategic planning retreat, held last April, did not make any changes to the five main objectives of the strategic plan but did identify six issues that could be addressed immediately by the board.
Schifino also said the retreat was notable for the attendance of Supreme Court Justice Charles Canady, the first time a justice has participated in the Bar’s strategic planning meeting.
“We analyzed recent developments in the legal profession. . . analyzed survey research, reviewed Florida Bar member demographics, reviewed implementation of the most recent strategic plan, what had worked, what hadn’t, and what will The Florida Bar look like in the future,” Schifino said.
“These are some of things that we thought would be important to us: collaboration, professionalism, efficiency, diversity, communication, member outreach, lawyer regulation issues.
“We looked at what is influencing our members — competition from nonlawyers. We’ve heard a lot about that over the past year. Work/life balance is important. Client expectations, technology, how does it all work together.”
The Strategic Planning Committee also looked at the Bar’s and the profession’s strengths and weaknesses to define action plans for the coming months that go beyond the Bar’s day-to-day activities, Schifino said.
He listed the six areas and named a board member who was involved in the planning for that area:
• Educate Florida Bar members and the public about the upcoming Constitution Revision Commission process. “The most important aspect of this that we found was to make sure that we collaborate with other interested groups,” said board member Jay Cohen. “We believe that we need to create a strong brand like we have in other aspects of Bar efforts, such as the Vote Is In Your Court. We want to ensure that educational efforts include members of The Florida Bar, the general public, and law schools.. . . We want to expand the Bar’s Special Committee on the 2017 Constitution Revision Commission and include non-Board of Governors members. We think that is critical to various communities that all of you practice in.”
•Improving communications and relations with Bar members and the public. “We all know from last year and years before how crucial effective communication is,” said board member Michelle Suskauer. There will be three targets, she said: “Educating the public in terms of focusing on the value of hiring Florida lawyers. We’ve had some big disciplinary cases that we really didn’t get in front of in terms of communications; that’s something we need to identify and be proactive in. And improving Board of Governors education about our messaging, including education on the CRC and other special programs and continuing to improve our social media.”
• Improving the diversity on judicial nominating commissions and through that improving the diversity of the bench. Board member Paul SanGiovanni said: “We have to shape our culture to incorporate diversity. Diversity is not something that is an add-on; it’s not something to worry about after you get everything else done. It’s something that is integrated into everything that we do.” Improving the diversity on JNCs will advance the ultimate goal of diversity on the judiciary reflecting the diversity of the state, he said, including educating Bar members that they may have to apply more than once to win a JNC appointment.
• Aggressively pursuing new services and benefits for Bar members. Board member John Stewart said the Bar needs to be sure members receive the best value for products and services, including those offered through the Bar’s Member Benefits Program, and make sure members know what those benefits are. The Program Evaluation Committee is reviewing the Member Benefits Program this year, he said. “We’re going to work with outside consultants in the member benefits arena not only to ensure we have member benefits in the area of technology, but other areas that are conducive to the practice of law.”
• Streamlining Bar and court procedural rules. Board member Lanse Scriven said the rules can be convoluted, confusing, and take a long time to change. One suggestion is instead of having rule amendments sent to the Supreme Court as a case in controversy, use a collaborative process with the court. Schifino said that idea was supported at the strategic planning meeting by Justice Canady.
• Helping Bar members with technology. Board member Renée Thompson said, “Our priority was to find a way to let our Florida Bar members utilize technology, allowing them to handle the business of law. We also wanted to find a way to utilize technology to get our message out to the public.” Specific ideas, she said, included developing no-cost, error-free trust accounting software for Bar members (see story in the August 15 News) and increasing outreach about the Bar’s Practice Resource Institute.
“The next step will be to assign particular Board of Governors’ members to each of these six so we can make sure we are moving the needle, so to speak,” Schifino said.
The board unanimously approved the 2016-19 strategic plan with those immediate priorities.
The five main tenets of the plan remain unchanged, Schifino noted:
• Making sure the judicial branch remains a co-equal branch of government that is fair, impartial, adequately funded, and open to all.
• Enhancing trust by the legal profession and the public in lawyers and the justice system.
• Striving for equal access to justice for all and the availability of legal services.
• Continue enhancing the value of Florida Bar membership to Bar members and improving the relationship between the Bar and its members.
• Promoting diversity and inclusion in all aspects of the legal profession and the justice system.
