Bandy leads the Latimer Center for Professionalism
Rebecca Bandy, the new director of The Florida Bar Henry Latimer Center for Professionalism, is focused on getting the word out about its services to members.
“I think we are a hidden gem in the Bar,” said Bandy, who joined the center as assistant director in March 2017 and was recently promoted.
The center is responsible for encouraging professionalism across the state by managing three boards: the Florida Supreme Court’s Commission on Professionalism and Civility chaired by Justice Fred Lewis, the Standing Committee on Professionalism (SCOP), and the Student Education and Admission to the Bar Committee (SEABC).
The center publishes a quarterly newsletter, The Professional, and develops curriculum and teaches seminars on ethics and professionalism, as well as continuing legal education courses.
Bandy said she wants to bring the professionalism message to more law students before they actually practice law.
“Civility and professionalism are the expectation in Florida,” Bandy said. “When I graduated from law school in 2005, they taught us to aspire to be professional. Now in Florida, it’s an expectation. You are expected to be professional, and this ranges from timeliness, to responding appropriately in email correspondence, to being careful what you post on social media. It’s also about being civil in practice and managing relationships with clients, staff, opposing counsel, and the judiciary,” Bandy said.
Another area Bandy said she is passionate about is also high on the priority lists of Bar leadership: wellness and balanced lifestyles.
“A lot of workshops we have done in the past have centered on the balanced lifestyle and how to evaluate and improve emotional intelligence and better understand personality profiles so that attorneys are not overwhelmed in practice,” Bandy said. “We want to be a wellness resource and to send the message out that mental and emotional health is a top priority.”
Another key message, Bandy said, is communicating the importance of mentors and bridging the generation gap.
“We are hoping not only to encourage people to build mentoring relationships but to give them tools, so that some of our more seasoned lawyers can better connect with those newer to the practice of law. Attorneys can share their mentoring stories and photos in our newsletter and on social media using #MentoringMatters.”
Before joining the Bar, Bandy was an associate attorney at the Law Office of Thomas L. Powell, P.A., in Tallahassee, where she litigated in the areas of family and criminal law. Most recently, she taught college-level courses at Tallahassee’s Lawton Chiles High School, where she helped co-found the school’s award-winning mock trial team along with Judge Mark Walker and attorneys David Frank and David Grimes. Bandy previously served as director of Alumni Relations at Florida State University College of Business and as the assistant director of Alumni and Development at FSU College of Law, where she also earned her law degree. A native of Nassau County, she earned her bachelor’s degree in communications with honors from Jacksonville University and her teaching credentials at Georgia Southern University. Bandy is active in her church and volunteering in the community.
