Board of Governors Meeting Preview – December 2022
The following items are up for action or discussion at the December 2, 2022, 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. Read The Florida Bar News for additional details.
The Special Committee on Mentoring New Lawyers is expected to present on a proposed new mentoring program that would be focused on assisting attorneys with three or less years of experience and who work in firms with three or fewer lawyers. The committee has recruited a vendor that offers an app-based mentoring program to Fortune 500 companies and is designing a curriculum that will guide participants through “milestones,” including such things as career planning, lawyer/client relationships, lawyer advertising, and local civic and charitable service. The program would give opportunities to beginning lawyers to complete “real world” activities, such as attending court proceedings or monitoring real estate closings.
The board is expected to weigh a proposed amendment to Bar Rule 3-7.2 (Procedures on Criminal or Professional Misconduct) that would add a new subdivision (i) “Use of Expunged or Sealed Records.” The subdivision would state: “The Florida Bar may use sealed or expunged arrest or court records of a Florida Bar member in a disciplinary proceeding in the bar’s possession or obtainable by the bar regardless of the record’s expunction or sealing.” Another provision of the proposed amendment would strengthen notice requirements that apply to state prosecutors when an attorney has been charged with a felony. The provision would add language to Subdivision (c) that would require the state attorney “whose office is assigned to the case,” to provide a copy of the indictment or information to the Bar’s executive director “within 10 days of its entry if the state attorney is aware the defendant is a member of The Florida Bar.” The current rule requires prosecutors to provide the Bar with copies of a lawyer’s felony indictment or information, but it does not establish a time frame. If the board approves the proposal, it would be forwarded to the Supreme Court for a final determination. Read more in the Bar News.
The board is also expected to consider revisions to Bylaw 2-3.6 (Election), and Bylaw 2-4.6 (Election of President-Elect), that would promote electronic voting. The proposed changes would shorten the election period to two weeks as an interim measure and, as a permanent measure, when the Bar’s process permits, the bylaw would be amended to “by electronic ballot only and the election period is shortened to 10 days.” Eliminating the postage for mailing paper ballots would save thousands of dollars, and the long term goal would be to move to electronic only ballots as they are less expensive and more efficient.