Board of Governors Meeting Preview – January 2023
The following items are up for action or discussion at the January 27, 2023, meeting of the Board of Governors; 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.
Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz is scheduled to address the Board of Governors when it meets January 27 in Tallahassee. The appearance is traditionally used to announce court priorities in the upcoming spring legislative session or entertain questions from the board.
In other business, the board will receive an informational report on the recent Supreme Court order declining to adopt the proposals by the Judicial Management Council Workgroup recommending extensive changes designed to increase efficiencies in Florida’s civil litigation system. The Court instead decided to phase in changes through referrals to the Civil Procedure Rules Committee, the Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration Committee, the Florida Courts Technology Commission, and the Trial Court Budget Commission. Read more in the Bar News.
The board is also expected to consider a Disciplinary Procedure Committee proposal to amend Bar Rule 1-3.3 (Official Bar Name and Contact Information). In addition to changing the reference to “Contact” in the title, the proposed amendment contains a new subsection that would require all Florida Bar members to report other jurisdictions where they are admitted to the practice of law.
The Florida Bar participates in an ABA-sponsored, nationwide database to report discipline, but adding the new requirement “would give the bar another tool to report disciplinary action to those other jurisdictions.” If approved, the proposed amendments would be submitted to the Supreme Court for final determination.
The board is also scheduled to consider a Board Review Committee on Professional Ethics proposal to amend Rule 4-7.15 (Unduly Manipulative or Intrusive Advertisements), and Rule 4-7.13 (Deceptive and Inherently Misleading Advertisements). The proposed changes contain a new subdivision (c) to Rule 4-7.15 that states that a lawyer “may use a testimonial of a celebrity who is a current or former client if the testimonial complies with the requirements of subchapter 4-7.”
The proposed revision to Rule 4-7.13 updates the rule’s comment to reflect “that a celebrity may offer a truthful testimonial if they are a current or former client, and the testimonial complies with the existing requirements in Rule 4-7.13(b)(9).” If approved, the changes would be forwarded to the Supreme Court for final consideration. The proposed revisions were prompted by a staff opinion last year that an advertisement was impermissible because it featured a testimonial by a notable athlete who was a previous client. The staff opinion was subsequently reversed by the Board.