75 Years of Raising the Bar
In 1996, a renewed call for professionalism led to the creation of what is now the Henry Latimer Center for Professionalism
As The Florida Bar marks its 75th anniversary, the News is revisiting pivotal moments that helped define the profession Florida lawyers know today.
In 1996, amid growing concern about civility, ethics, and public trust, Bar leaders took a decisive step. The Board of Governors voted to create a Center for Professionalism — a joint initiative of The Florida Bar and the Florida Supreme Court — dedicated to promoting the ideals of character, competence, civility, and commitment within the legal system. Today, that initiative is known as the Henry Latimer Center for Professionalism, and its mission remains clear: to instill and uphold the fundamental values that sustain public confidence in the justice system.
The movement that led to the center’s creation did not arise in a vacuum. It echoed the aspirations set decades earlier when the Bar was unified in the early 1950s. At its 1952 Annual Convention, The Florida Bar adopted six long-range objectives that would guide its development — from improving the administration of justice and maintaining high standards of professional conduct to expanding access to justice and earning the public’s trust. Professionalism was not an afterthought; it was foundational.
The column that follows, originally published in the October 1996 issue of The Florida Bar Journal, captures that moment of reflection and resolve. Then-Bar President John W. Frost II shared letters from lawyers across the state responding to a call for renewed commitment to professionalism. Their words — invoking concerns about commercialization of the practice, public perception, mentorship, and even the admonitions of Abraham Lincoln — reflect both anxiety and optimism about the profession’s future.
Three decades later, the themes remain strikingly familiar. As the Bar celebrates 75 years of service, this look back reminds us that professionalism is not a static achievement, but an ongoing commitment — one lawyer at a time.
President’s page
Keep Those Card and Letters Coming
“Gonna serve not take
Gonna be awake
To the needs around me”
— Yohann Anderson
John W. Frost II
This comes as no surprise after knowing Florida lawyers for more than 25 years, that members of the legal profession in our state have some pretty strong feelings about how law should be practiced. It has been a real pleasure to read your written responses to the Bar’s call for renewed commitment to professionalism.
Some of your letters have said, better than I could express it, how important professionalism is to you and to the legal system. Here is a sampling:
Craig Massey of Lakeland included a news clip of a speech by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist in which the justice took lawyers to task for making profit an overemphasized priority. “Market capitalism has come to dominate the legal profession in a way that it did not a generation ago,” Rehnquist said. He added the caution that public perception of lawyers as money-hungry sometimes rings true: “This observation, that the practice of law is today a business where once it was a profession, has considerable truth.”
In agreeing with Rehnquist, Massey said, “Although I and all attorneys need to make a living, which should be on a professional level, we used to consider our service to our client and to justice far more important than simply a bottom line.”
Jonathan Commander of West Palm Beach wrote to confirm the idea that there has been “serious erosion in the quality and integrity of lawyers and judges.” He considers that problem one of the three major difficulties facing the legal profession, identifying the other two as the “public’s perception of lawyers” and “the unrelenting intrusion into the practice of law by nonlawyers.”
From Miami, Tod Aronovitz, a new member of The Florida Bar Board of Governors, suggested the board must lead the state’s movement toward more ethical and more civil behavior by lawyers: “I fundamentally believe that professionalism and legal ethics must be tackled, confronted and espoused at the Board of Governors level in order to improve our profession.” Charles Dodson of Tallahassee wrote, “I firmly agree with you that we need much more professionalism among lawyers.”
One of the most heartening facets of the letters that keep coming in is that usually, somewhere in the letter, the writer offers his or her time in service to try to start making a difference “one lawyer at a time,” as one letter said. Many of you have taken time to write, and have offered to spend future hours working to change things. This response proves there are plenty of lawyers willing to spend time which will be nonbillable to bring higher levels of professionalism to our work and service.
Not only have many of you offered your time, which is in some ways your most precious commodity, you have also offered specific suggestions for raising the professional standards that should govern us all. Ideas included structuring mentor programs for young lawyers wherein there would always be a more experienced lawyer in a community working with a new law school graduate. The mentor would inculcate high ethical standards and model civil behavior toward opposing counsel and clients as well.
A South Florida lawyer who wanted to be anonymous said, “My initial response is simple: address the situation when it occurs. If another lawyer acts in such a way as to demean my profession, I will call him [or her] to task. I will remind him that he represents myself and 40,000 other attorneys, and that he is doing a lousy job of representing our profession.”
A letter from a nonlawyer bar executive director focused on the fact that one contact can go a long way toward changing client attitude. Bobbi F. Bullington, executive director of the Seminole County Bar, recalled showing an angry client the June issue of The Florida Bar Journal. The client was bringing a malpractice suit against a lawyer . . . invited her to relax and read . . . “ said Bullington, who directed the client to Bar efforts to promote civil, ethical practices. The client seemed to get the clear message that the term “lawyers” includes some strong and idealistic individuals who want to keep ethics and service at the center of the legal system. The message was effective. She still wanted to pursue her “malpractice” case, but “her attitude regarding all attorneys had changed somewhat,” Bullington said.
Robert W. Wilson forwarded the text of an essay written by Abraham Lincoln. His quoted words indicate the professionalism problem is certainly not new. (Lincoln said these words before the time of political correctness; although the gender-related words are left unchanged here, it is true that both male and female lawyers are needed to bring new honor to our profession.)
Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser — in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.
Never stir up litigation. A worse man can scarcely be found than one who does this. Who can be more nearly a fiend than he who habitually overhauled the register of deeds in search of defects in titles, whereon to stir up strife, and put money in his pocket? A moral tone ought to be infused into the profession which should drive such men out of it.
There is a vague popular belief that lawyers are necessarily dishonest. I say vague, because when we consider to what extent confidence and honors are reposed in and conferred upon lawyers by the people, it appears improbable that their impression of dishonesty is very distinct and vivid. Yet the impression is common, almost universal. Let no young man choosing the law for a calling for a moment yield to the popular belief — resolve to be honest at all events; and if in your own judgment you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer. Choose some other occupation, rather than one in the choosing of which you do, in advance, consent to be a knave.
It is the knaves, my mail is telling me, who must go or must be stifled or rehabilitated so that the legal profession can act on its ideals, can serve the public better, and earn the public’s trust.
Is all this change to ethical, civil behavior even possible? Can a campaign to change values make a dent in people’s operating systems? We’ll find out. But several of you have said we must do what we can. And perhaps we are most effective — each of us—just taking a stand for professionalism one lawyer at a time. Bob Rasmussen writes from Tampa to encourage the campaign for professionalism. “By the way,” he said, “one person can make a difference.”
From Miami, Kathy Ezell writes to support the Bar’s statewide drive to change things. She said she will be one lawyer who will “strive to be noble and . . . try to give more than I take from this profession.”
If we believe, like Tod Aronovitz, Kathy Ezell, and Bob Rasmussen, that one person can make a difference, think of the heights to which we can raise this profession if each of us makes the commitment to speak for and stand for ethics, civility, and service as a professional.
Thank you for your letters. Keep them coming. You have been a tremendous encouragement to me.
John W. Frost II
