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Committee to study regulating paralegals

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Committee to study regulating paralegals

The Bar’s review is being undertaken at the legislature’s request

Bar President Alan Bookman has appointed a 21-member committee to study a legislative request on the regulation of paralegals.

Two bills were filed in the legislature earlier this year calling for such regulation, but after discussion with the Bar, neither was heard. But the bill backers, and two other lawmakers, wrote the Bar and asked it to look into the matter and warned if the Bar doesn’t act the legislature may in the 2006 session.

Bookman noted that legislators had originally asked for the Bar to make a recommendation by this fall, but that isn’t enough

time.

“I’m asking this committee to try to come up with a proposal by February or March [when the next session starts],” he told participants at a recent Bar legislative strategy meeting.

The Special Committee to Study Paralegal Regulation includes Rep. Juan Zapata, R-Miami, who introduced the paralegal bill in the state House earlier this year.

Bookman said he sought a wide range of people to serve, including lawyers, lawyers who teach paralegal courses, paralegals, and a law office administrator.

The panel is chaired by Pensacola attorney Ross Goodman, a member of the Bar Board of Governors and a personal injury attorney who also teaches paralegal courses at the University of West Florida. The vice chair is Jacksonville paralegal Tara J. Stringfellow.

Bookman invited participation from Bar sections, and at their behest appointed 10 members to the committee. They are Susan Fox from the Appellate Practice Section, Lou Conti from the Business Law and Tax sections, David Rogero from the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Section, Juliet Roulhac, (former president of the Young Lawyers Division) from the Equal Opportunities Section, Scott L. Rubin from the Family Law Section, Linzie Bogan from the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section, Shane Munoz from the Labor and Employment Law Section, Eric Virgil from the Practice Management Section, Brad Powers from the Trial Lawyers Section, and Z. Felicia Jordan from the Young Lawyers Division.

Other members include Orlando attorney Joe Amos, Clearwater attorney Susan Demers, Tallahassee paralegal Sherry Elson, Tampa attorney and chair of the Law Office Management Assistance Service Committee Rafael Gonzalez, Coral Springs attorney John Hume, Clearwater paralegal Karen S. McLead, Tallahassee paralegal Johanna Phillips, and Tallahassee attorney and Tallahassee Community College Coordinator of Paralegal Studies Michelle R. Vasalinda.

“The charge of the special committee is to study the status of paralegals in the state of Florida in light of the proposed legislation filed during the 2005 legislative session, which sought recognition and/or regulation of the paralegal profession,” Bookman wrote in his letter to the members telling them of their appointment. “The committee should expect to make a final report to The Florida Bar Board of Governors prior to the start of the 2006 legislative session.”

The committee’s organizational meeting is set for August 17, and it will meet again in September at the Bar’s General Meeting of Sections and Committees in Tampa.

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