The Florida Bar Citizens Advisory Committee Charter
Mission
Provide a vehicle for two-way communication between Florida’s citizens and The Florida Bar to inform and educate the public about significant legal-justice issues and to gain public understanding and support.
Objectives
- Identify and monitor the interests and concerns of Floridians relating to the state’s legal- justice system and associated issues.
- Identify opportunities for educating the public about the role and contributions of lawyers in our communities, in our American system of government, and in assuring our rights, protections and quality of life.
- Serve as a feedback mechanism and a sounding board on Bar plans and programs addressing key issues.
- Establish rapport with key citizen constituencies to provide a communications conduit that can be utilized in gaining public understanding and support on issues of significance to the Bar.
Scope of Responsibility
The committee will function in an advisory capacity to The Florida Bar, its Board of Governors, divisions, sections, committees and staff offering recommendations, suggestions and opinions relating to existing or prospective Bar programs and activities.
Membership
Committee membership shall consist of up to no more than three lawyers and no fewer than 12 nonlawyers who are Florida residents for a total of 15 members. The Chair or Vice Chair must be a current or past member of The Florida Bar Board of Governors. The other officer shall be one of the 12 citizen members. One lawyer member shall be a member of The Florida Bar Board of Governors Communications Committee. The nonlawyer members should be representative of the diversity of the citizens of Florida, including location of residence/geography, age, ethnicity, gender, and professional work/experience.
The Chair, Vice Chair and lawyer members are appointed by the Bar President-elect to one-year terms and may be reappointed for no more than three terms. Citizen members are appointed by the Bar President-elect for staggered three-year terms and are not eligible for consecutive reappointment. Interim vacancies that occur are appointed by the President for the remainder of the existing term. Appointees to interim vacancies may be appointed to a full consecutive term.
By no later than March 1 of each year, Board members, former Board members, past presidents, Bar section chairs and current and former Citizens Advisory Committee members will nominate representatives of citizen constituencies for open seats. In the years when a new public member of the Board of Governors is appointed by the Supreme Court, the two recommended applicants who are not appointed will be automatic nominees by the Public Member Screening Committee.
The Communications Committee will screen nominees and make recommendations to the President-elect.
Meetings
The committee shall meet at least two times each year with the Board of Governors and at a major Bar meeting or function and may also meet by teleconference as needed. Additional committee meetings may be called by the President, Executive Committee or Board of Governors.
Expenses
The Florida Bar will reimburse public members for their out-of-pocket travel expenses associated with attending meetings consistent with policies governing travel for Bar staff employees.
Additional Benefits
Along with the benefits noted under objectives above, the committee can serve as a focus group to help the Bar plan and fine-tune planned public education/communications initiatives, such as public awareness campaigns and public communication supporting the Bar’s legislative objectives (in coordination with grassroots key contact efforts). In general, the committee would significantly benefit the Bar simply through the direct contact established with other citizens around the state.
Approved by Board of Governors, May 22, 1998; subsequent revisions by Board of Governors, April 9, 1999, December 15, 2000, February 9, 2001, February 1, 2002, August 26, 2005, June 2, 2006, October 4, 2013, January 30, 2015 and May 18, 2018.