Bar to ramp up promotion of its consumer pamphlets
The collection includes 46 titles that run the gamut from judicial elections and adoption, to wills, home buying, parenting and divorce, and power of attorney, to name a few
Josh Chilson
The Board of Governors has signed off on a plan for updating and more aggressively promoting The Florida Bar’s extensive library of consumer pamphlets, including expanded Spanish and Creole editions.
At a March 25 virtual meeting, the board voted unanimously to approve a Program Evaluation Committee review that resulted in nine recommendations.
Board member Joshua Chilson, who chaired the review subcommittee, said the pamphlets are an important public service and deserve higher visibility.
“The focus will be making these more available to the public,” Chilson said. “This is a wonderful resource that we have.”
Maintained primarily by the Consumer Protection Law Committee, the collection includes 46 titles that run the gamut from judicial elections and adoption, to wills, home buying, parenting and divorce, and power of attorney, to name just a few.
The subcommittee determined that the effort to keep the library current has suffered from some minor bureaucratic hiccups.
“For the most part, it seems the problem that existed was really in the area of staff turnover and a lack of consistency of carrying over the information from one staff to another,” he said.
The subcommittee recommended that the Bar no longer pre-print pamphlets unless requested by a specific group. The pamphlets should continue to be available on the Bar website in an easy-to-print format, Chilson said.
“We’re really moving away from paper,” he said.
The Consumer Protection Law Committee should review and update the collection every two years — half of the pamphlets one year, half the next, the subcommittee recommended.
Bar staff should develop and maintain a database indicating which titles have been reviewed and when, and each pamphlet should indicate when it was last revised, the subcommittee recommended.
The subcommittee also recommended that the Consumer Protection Law Committee consult with various Bar sections and substantive law committees to make sure each pamphlet reflects current law.
The collection should be expanded, Chilson said.
“We are also recommending to CPLC that they develop policies on how to identify subject areas,” he said. “Some are timely with regard to the development of various technologies and the internet that probably should be addressed.”
Another big issue is translation, Chilson said.
Many pamphlets are available in Spanish but translating all of them would be too time consuming and costly, Chilson said.
“We’re going to absolutely insist on the pamphlets being translated into Spanish, and also Creole as necessary,” he said. “We’re recommending that CPLC develop a policy as to which pamphlets will need translation in the future.”
