Justices to lead convention seminar on Florida’s civil justice reforms
The Florida Supreme Court will anchor the Bar’s diamond anniversary celebration at the 2025 Annual Florida Bar Convention with an hour-long seminar that includes discussion of landmark civil justice reforms.
The “Keynote Discussion with the Florida Supreme Court,” sponsored by the Annual Convention Committee, begins at 9 a.m., Thursday, June 26, at the Boca Raton resort.
“Topics include how the new Florida Rules of Civil Procedure are working in practice, The Florida Supreme Court’s latest order on professionalism, ethical hypotheticals, the workgroup on accreditation, and expansion of judicial circuits and district courts of appeal,” sponsors note.
Course number 9245 is classified “Intermediate” and has been approved for CLE credit for 1 hour General and 0.5 hour Ethics credit.
The civil justice reforms grew out of Judicial Management Council workgroup recommendations that were refined by rules committees in a series of phased referrals and implemented four Supreme Court opinions in 2024. They began taking effect January 1.
Justices stress that the process is ongoing and designed to promote fairness in the discovery process, prescribe meaningful deadlines for case progress, and require judges to more actively manage cases from the outset.
"The amendments created a framework for the active case management of civil cases with a focus on adhering to deadlines established early based on the complexity of the case, while providing room for customization by judicial circuit,” justices wrote in a December 5, 2024, opinion.
On June 12, the Supreme Court announced that chief judges in each of Florida’s 20 judicial circuits have issued administrative orders to provide guidance on local practices for managing civil cases. (The local orders are posted on the Florida Courts website: Civil Case Management Resources - Florida Courts).
“We think that the new rules will give better effect to the promise of the civil justice system, which, after all, is to…secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action,” Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz said in January.
Veteran judges and civil practitioners say the reforms are the most significant in 50 years. A reform-themed ABOTA Ft. Lauderdale/ABOTA Florida webinar that was live-streamed January 15 has since attracted nearly 7,000 viewers. Now on YouTube: Practical Aspects of the 2025 Revisions to Fla. R. Civ. P.
The convention seminar will be moderated by Bar President Roland Sanchez-Medina, Jr., a Miami transactional lawyer, and President-elect Rosalyn Sia Baker-Barnes, a board-certified civil trial lawyer from West Palm Beach.
Chief Justice Muñiz and Justices Charles T. Canady, John D. Couriel, Renatha Francis, Jamie R. Grosshans, Jorge Labarga, and Meredith Sasso will be panelists.
Annual Convention Co-Chair Jordan Dresnick will offer an introduction.
