News Releases

FLORIDA BAR REPORTS ELECTION RESULTS FOR BOARD OF GOVERNORS, PRESIDENT-ELECT

In elections for The Florida Bar’s governing board, 16 incumbent members of the Board of Governors were re-elected to additional two-year terms without opposition; three unopposed candidates will serve as the new board member in the 2nd, 9th and 15th circuits; and three seats in the 11th, 17th and out-of-state circuits have contested elections.

In addition, one member was elected without opposition to president-elect: Roland Sanchez-Medina, Miami.

Ballots for contested elections will be emailed or mailed to eligible voters by March 1, 2023. Any runoff elections will be conducted in April 2023. New terms will begin on June 23, 2023.

Incumbents re-elected without opposition for additional two-year terms, 2023-25, are:

• 4th Circuit, Seat 2: W. Braxton Gillam IV, Jacksonville
• 5th Circuit, Seat 1, Gordon Glover, Ocala
• 6th Circuit, Seat 2: Sandra F. Diamond, St. Petersburg
• 8th Circuit, Seat 1: Stephanie Marchman, Gainesville
• 11th Circuit, Seat 2: Nikki Lewis Simon, Miami
• 11th Circuit, Seat 4: Jorge Luis Piedra, Miami
• 11th Circuit, Seat 6: Leslie Rothenberg, Miami
• 12th Circuit, Seat 1: Jesse R. Butler, Sarasota
• 13th Circuit, Seat 2: Amy S. Farrior, Tampa
• 13th Circuit, Seat 3: J. Carter Andersen, Tampa
• 15th Circuit, Seat 4: Michael J. Gelfand, West Palm Beach
• 16th Circuit, Seat 1: Wayne LaRue Smith, Key West
• 17th Circuit, Seat 3: Lorna Brown-Burton, Ft. Lauderdale
• 17th Circuit, Seat 5: Adam Rabinowitz, Plantation
• 19th Circuit, Seat 1: Gregory S. Weiss, Stuart
• 20th Circuit, Seat 2: John D. Agnew, Fort Myers

The new members elected for a two-year term beginning in June 2023 is:

• 2nd Circuit, Seat 2: David Grimes, Tallahassee
• 9th Circuit, Seat 2: Diego “Woody” Rodriguez, Orlando
• 15th Circuit, Seat 2: Manuel Farach, West Palm Beach

In the contested elections:
In the 11th Circuit, Richard Cole, Karl Klein, and Sabrina Vora-Puglisi, all of Miami, are vying for Seat 8. In the 17th Circuit, Jamie Finzio Bascombe and Brian H. Koch of Ft. Lauderdale are running for Seat 2. In the Out-of-State Circuit, incumbent Eric Meeks of Cincinnati, OH, is being challenged by G.C. Murray II, of Washington, DC.

The Board of Governors is the governing body of The Florida Bar with exclusive authority to formulate and adopt matters of policy concerning the activities of the state bar, subject to limitations in the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar. The Florida Bar is an arm of the Florida Supreme Court charged with lawyer regulation and other professional activities. The 52-member board is composed of:

• The president and president-elect (one-year terms);
• The president and president-elect of the Young Lawyers Division (one-year terms);
• Representatives elected by members of the Bar from each of the state’s 20 judicial circuits;
• Four out-of-state representatives elected by members who reside outside of Florida;
• Two public/non-lawyer members appointed by the Florida Supreme Court. As of Dec. 1, The Florida Bar has 111,201 members, with 92,330 of those eligible to practice.

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About The Florida Bar

Founded in 1949, The Florida Bar serves the legal profession for the protection and benefit of both the public and all Florida lawyers. As one of the nation’s largest mandatory bars, The Florida Bar fosters and upholds a high standard of integrity and competence within Florida’s legal profession as an official arm of the Florida Supreme Court. To learn more, visit FloridaBar.org.