Proposals to test allowing nonlawyer ownership in law firms, fee splitting with nonlawyers, and broadly expanding the work paralegals could perform “would be so profoundly transformative of the practice of law in Florida that they should not be allowed, even on a test basis, without clear and compelling empirical data that they will help solve…
The concept of having a statewide legal lab to test new ways of providing legal services has been unanimously rejected by the Bar Board of Governors at its meeting on December 2. The Supreme Court’s Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services had conceptually approved the legal lab and recommended the court give…
Proposals to test allowing non-lawyer ownership in law firms and for lawyers to split fees with nonlawyers have been unanimously opposed by the Bar Board of Governors, but the board was considering a scaled back idea on allowing an expanded role for Registered Florida Paralegals. The board at a special November 8 meeting took up…
By the time John Stewart, chair of the controversial Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services, finished a three-hour session with the Board of Governors on October 26, board member Larry Sellers observed that Stewart now knew what it was like to have his deposition taken. The meeting was the second session where…
A legal laboratory has been suggested as a means to get hard data to test new ways of providing legal services to Floridians. John Stewart, chair of the Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services, made that point to the Bar Board of Governors on September 8 at the board’s first of two…
As the Board of Governors prepares to respond to the recommendations made by the Supreme Court’s Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services, it wants to know what Florida lawyers think. The court created the special committee in 2019 to study “whether and how the rules governing the practice of law in Florida…
With a commitment from the Supreme Court that it will wait for the Board of Governors’ input, Bar President Mike Tanner laid out a process for the board’s response to the Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services’ recent final report. Tanner said he wants former Bar President John Stewart, chair of the…
Acknowledging that some may take issue with its ideas, a special committee created and appointed by the Florida Supreme Court is recommending further study on allowing some nonlawyers to have an ownership interest in law firms, fee splitting with non-lawyer entities, and creation of a legal “lab” to allow testing of innovative ways of providing…
A proposal for a legal lab, where lawyers, companies, and other entities can offer innovative approaches to offering legal services, will be in the final recommendations of the Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services. The committee on June 10 voted 5-1 to include the idea of a legal lab, which has also…
Tinkering with its proposed legal lab for testing innovative legal services and approving in concept supporting a pilot to allow supervised paralegals to provide more help to clients occupied the Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services at its May 25 meeting. The committee is working to complete its final report, due to…
A giant, online provider of self-help legal forms and a Catholic order of nuns are among around two dozen entities that have applied under the Utah Supreme Court’s new legal lab that encourages creative ways to offer legal services to consumers. The head of that program, past Utah State Bar President John Lund, and Utah…
The Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services got its first look at an initial draft of a “legal lab” concept, where new ideas and pilot programs for delivery of legal services could be tested using provisional rules and data collected on the results. Meeting via Zoom on April 20, Chair John Stewart…
Why was the Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services formed? Across the country, the legal marketplace continues to change rapidly, and the Florida Supreme Court is monitoring the national trends in the delivery of legal services. In late 2019, the court directed the formation of the special committee and asked it to…
The Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services, a committee created in 2019 at the direction of the Florida Supreme Court, is now moving to draft its final report and is working to let Bar members know more about its activities. The special committee consists of 10 members of diverse backgrounds from across…
The Board of Governors was briefed on the work of the Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services and the Supreme Court’s Commission on Access to Civil Justice at its February 23 interim meeting. The special committee, chaired by former Bar President John Stewart, was created a year ago by the Supreme Court…
A potential rule change that could allow non-lawyer law firm employees to become partners and ease fee sharing rules with nonlawyers is getting a closer look from a special committee. The Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services, at its February 16 meeting, also voted to approve in concept a simplification of Bar…
Moving to what its members know will be sensitive issues on fee sharing and law firm ownership, the Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services is awaiting results from questions it has placed on the Bar’s annual membership survey. The committee, at its January 14 meeting, discussed a wide range of issues, including…
Bar advertising rules could be shortened and simplified — including ending the requirement that many ads be Bar reviewed before being aired or published — and rules that prohibit sharing fees with nonlawyers and partial nonlawyer ownership of law firms should also be looked at. The Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services…
The Arizona Supreme Court has amended that state’s lawyer rules to allow attorneys to share fees with nonlawyers and permit “legal paraprofessionals” to give legal advice in four areas. Arizona Vice Chief Justice Ann Timmer reviewed those changes on November 9 with The Florida Bar’s Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services. The…
A legal firm in England sees a creative way to meet end of life needs. It not only offers wills and probate services, but also funerals and cremations for its customers. “It sees itself as in the industry of death,” said Crispin Passmore. Passmore was involved with the 2007 law that rewrote legal regulations in…
The Special Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services has set up six subcommittees as it begins laying out priorities for its study of lawyer regulation and legal access issues. Immediate Past President John Stewart, chair of the committee, presented the proposed list at the committee’s August 25 meeting and members agreed with his suggestions….
Setting up a process to experiment with rules that allow new ways for lawyers to practice and improve access to justice is a way to get hard data on how the lawyers can meet modern challenges. Three states — Utah, Arizona, and California — are considering or implementing that approach, which is also called the…
As part of immediate Past Bar President and Chair John Stewart’s desire to have the Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services hear how other states are updating their regulation of legal practice, Utah Supreme Court Justice Deno Himonas has presented ways that state is seeking to stimulate innovation to meet consumers’ legal…
While the Special Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services’ mission is to find innovative ways to provide more and affordable legal services for Floridians, Chair John Stewart says, “the priority is that they are met by Florida lawyers.” “We are going to be thoughtful, forward thinking, and provocative,” Stewart told those attending the Bar’s…
The Special Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services, charged by the Supreme Court with examining how law is practiced and its regulatory framework, met July 14 to discuss priorities and how best to conduct the review. Topics ranged from lawyer advertising to legal education. But most of the interest revolved around how law is…
Finding innovative ways and regulations that provide more and affordable legal services for Floridians and more work for Florida lawyers, while protecting the core values of the profession, will be the priorities of the Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services. Chaired by outgoing Bar President John Stewart, the committee held its first…
Its initial meetings have been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but Bar President John Stewart thinks the crisis has made the work of the Special Committee to Improve the Delivery of Legal Services all the more timely. Acting at the Supreme Court’s request, the Bar began setting up the special committee late last year. It…
A special workgroup that includes two former Bar presidents as members is looking for ways to speed the resolution of civil court cases, according to Chief Justice Charles Canady. Canady told the Supreme Court Historical Society annual dinner on January 30 that the Supreme Court’s Judicial Management Council created the workgroup at the court’s direction….