Board of Governors Meeting Preview – September 2022

The following items are up for action or discussion at the September 30, 2022, meeting of the Board of Governors. 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, a major priority of President Gary Lesser, is expected to deliver a progress report. The special committee has been directed to develop programs for lawyers with three or fewer years of experience and who work in firms of three or fewer attorneys. Co-chaired by Katherine Hurst Miller and Zack Zuroweste — both former Young Lawyers Division presidents — the committee has been given until the end of the calendar year to complete its mission.

The board could be asked to decide whether a Northwest Florida law firm’s TV ads, which feature children portraying insurance agents, are permissible under Bar rules. Bar staff determined the ads are “inherently deceptive or misleading” (impermissible under Bar Rule 4-7.13(a)), and a comparison of the lawyer’s services that “could not be objectively verified” in violation of Rule 4-7.13(b)(3). The Standing Committee on Advertising overruled the staff determination after the advertising firm agreed to remove a line of dialogue in which an agent says — “let’s do our best to settle.” The Board Review Committee on Professional Ethics will determine whether the Standing Committee on Advertising’s decision conflicts with a Board of Governors decision in a previous advertising matter.

That committee is also expected to review proposed amendments to Rule 4-7.13 and Rule 4.7.15 that stem from a previous advertising matter. The proposed amendments would allow lawyers and law firms to feature the truthful testimonials of current and former clients in their advertisements, regardless of whether the clients are also celebrities.

Another proposal would amend Bar Rule 3-7.2 (Procedures on Criminal or Professional Misconduct) by adding a new subdivision (i) “Use of Expunged or Sealed Records stating: “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.” The proposal is on the agenda for first reading and a final vote could come as early as December. The proposal would then be forwarded to the Supreme Court for final consideration. Read more in the Bar News.

In other business, the board will deliberate a proposed amendment to Rule 1-3.7 (Reinstatement to Membership), that would create an “undue hardship” exception to completing certain continuing legal education or basic skills courses. The amendment would give the executive director the authority to waive or extend deadlines for completing the education requirements in cases of undue hardship.

The board is also expected to weigh the following proposed rule amendments, which would still require Supreme Court approval:

• A Civil Procedure Rules Committee proposal to amend Rule 1.110 (General Rules of Pleading). The proposed amendment would “require pleadings with affirmative defenses to contain a short and plain statement of the ultimate facts supporting the affirmative defense,” according to a staff analysis. The proposal originated with a Florida Bar attorney, according to the staff analysis.
• A Family Law Rules Committee proposal to amend Form 12.975 (a) (Petition for Grandparent Visitation with Minor Children), Form 12.975 (b) (Petition for Grandparent Visitation with Minor Children When One Parent Has Been Found Criminally or Civilly Liable for the Death of the Other Parent), and Form 12.975(c) (Order on Grandparent Petition for Visitation with Minor Children). The proposed amendments were prompted by recent legislation.