Board of Governors Meeting Preview – December 2020

The following items are up for action or discussion at the December 4, 2020, virtual meeting of the Board of Governors as of today; changes may occur before the meeting. Please contact your board representative(s) if you have any input or questions. This Florida Bar News article provides additional details.

The Board Technology Committee is expected to present proposed guidelines for making remote proceedings more uniform to assist Bar members in navigating various videoconferencing platforms, or in following different procedures such as evidence submission and document sharing. This Florida Bar News article covers additional ongoing committee projects to help members during the pandemic. The Bar’s COVID-19 Information & Resources webpage is updated frequently with announcements, member resources and free LegalFuel practice management CLEs, court orders and links, medical/health information and more.

The Professional Ethics Committee is asking the Board to authorize an ethics opinion that would provide guidance for attorneys responding to negative online reviews by non-clients. Under Bar rules, the board will have to determine whether the issue “is likely to be of widespread interest or unusual importance to a significant number of Florida Bar members” before authorizing the opinion.

Also on the Board’s December 4 agenda:

• An update from the COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery Task Force. At its November 17 meeting, the task force discussed, among other things, plans for a major Bar survey to ask members to indicate which legal proceedings they believe should continue to be conducted remotely after the pandemic subsides.
• A report from the Communications Committee recommending increased advertising on the Bar website.
• Proposed amendments to clarify Rule 4-5.8 Procedures for Lawyers Leaving Law Firms and Dissolution of Law Firms.