Bar Examiners given more time to review practice program for recent graduates
The Florida Public Defender Association will have to wait a little longer before the Board of Governors considers its proposal to create a practice program for recent law school graduates.
The Rules Committee was scheduled to present proposed amendments to Rule 11-1.8 (Practice After Graduation) at a May 12 board meeting but postponed the presentation to give the Florida Board of Bar Examiners more time to review it.
FPDA President Carlos Martinez, the veteran Miami-Dade Public Defender, wants the board to consider allowing recent law school graduates to practice for up to a year, under the supervision of an attorney, while they await Bar admission.
Participants would still have to undergo the Board of Bar Examiners character and fitness background checks.
“Essentially, it opens up all law [school graduates] to us, not just ones that [completed] a clinical program, or a law student practice program,” Martinez said.
The program would help offset a recruitment and turnover crisis that is also plaguing Florida’s 20 state attorneys, Martinez said. Legal aid organizations would benefit, too, he said.
“To me, it’s primarily an access to justice issue,” he said.
